I have people who live next door (I don't consider them neighbors). They have a dog. I have asked them on separate occasions not to let their dog poop on my grass. They have a backyard which the dog could use. They are smokers and anytime they go to their car, they let the dog run loose and naturally he hits my grass.
I have tried some products, the only drawback is I had to spray my lawn every three days. Does anyone have any suggestions to keep him from making my lawn his personal bathroom? My lawn guy will be getting my grass ready for the summer, and I really don't want him being greeted again by the dog poop.
Sure I was told that they would pay the extra money he would charge for picking up their dog poop. The problem I have is they will not honor my request. I don't want to harm the dog, just keep him off my lawn!
By Beverly from Detroit, MI
You didn't say if you/they own the home. If they are renters, start putting major pressure on the landlord by contacting them on every occasion that they let the dog do his business in your yard. (If you don't know who owns the house, you can look it up on the appraisal district by address and find out.) If they own the home, then start contacting Animal Control.
Dogs are not suppose to be off their property without being on a leash. Since you've talked with the dog owners about this issue and it's not being addressed to your satisfaction, then take it a step further; call the local dog warden of your problem and let them deal with your issue on your behalf.
If the problem continues after the warden's first visit, call again. The first visit is usually a warning and after that it gets tougher. If the owners love their dog, they will keep it confined on their own premise.
A fence makes good neighbors, so check the fence laws/regulations in your state/county. These change and you want to be up to date with what a neighbor must pay or may not have to pay if you decide to put up a fence. An agreement of what type of fence can be put up on a borderline for an example and find out the cost. You can put your own up off the borderline so many feet from it, but at your own expense and neighbor cannot dispute unless it's an electric fence, another example.
We used to have the same problem. My husband would pick up the dog poop and put it back in their yard. Didn't help. Then he started putting it right at their front door. A few times of stepping in it and they stopped letting the dog go in our yard.
I also saw a sign in a catalog (can't remember which one) that was in the shape of a tombstone, it said "Here lies the last dog that pooped in my yard!" You could maybe make up something like that. Good luck!
Margaret from Denton, Texas
Get an airhorn and every time you see the dog poop in your yard, blast away with the airhorn. Will not hurt the dog and will get your neighbor's attention. Will also get other neighbors attention; maybe it will embarrass them into being more considerate.
Buy some black pepper from the $1 store and spread it liberally where the dog usually enters your yard. I use it on my porch when my neighbors' cats start spraying my door.
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I have a 2 year old Lab who's been trained to poop in a marked off dog run area. Suddenly he is pooping also in the grass for the first time in at least 18 months. We can't think of any variables that have changed so we can't figure this out. We do a good job of keeping the dog run area picked up of his poop, putting down new pine straw, pulling any weeds in that area, etc.
But for reasons we can figure out, about a month or two ago he started pooping 50-70% of the time still on the pine straw in the dog run and suddenly 30-50% of the time in different areas in the grass around the yard. When in our yard he still only ever pees in the pine straw (always in the exact same spot of the dog run), so it's only the pooping that's changed.
We've consistently picked up the poop piles in those spots in the grass then watered them down and sprayed that area with some vinegar so it doesn't smell like dog poop and seem like a marker for the correct place to do it again. Like we did 1.5-2 years ago while training him as a puppy, if we see him circling and about to poop in the grass we'll tell him 'No' and he'll run to the dog run area and do it there (or finish there if we didn't see him in time and he'd already dropped some in the grass), but those haven't stopped him doing it like it did while we were at the 'tail end' of the training process with him as a puppy. Any ideas?
Vinegar is a deterrent. He could be overwhelmed by it and be looking for a new spot
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What can I get to keep dogs from pooping on my grass?