Our neighbor's dog is getting our newspaper out of the paper box. What household products can I use to keep him away from the box?
By CT3434
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Make some sort of latch and wire it shut with bread wrapper wire until dog discovers it can't get in a few times. Then you probably won't have to do it anymore.
This might not be nice, but it was effective for my dad. When I was a kid, one of our dogs kept pulling laundry off the clothes line. Dad took some rag towels and put an assortment of peppers on the bottom edges (Tabasco, some Korean hot pepper from the Oriental food store, etc.). He hung the towels on the line and waited. He watched from the kitchen as the dog went to pull the towels off the line. Dog tried, then stopped and licked his mouth a long time. Dog didn't pull laundry from the line any more.
So if you don't mind causing some temporary discomfort to the neighbor's dog, maybe you could do something similar with a newspaper. Take your day-old paper, put hot pepper sauce on it, and leave it for the dog to pull out. Or you could put citronella oil or citrus peels in the paper. I hear dogs don't like the smell, but it won't actually harm them.
Best of luck. I hope you find a good solution. It's no fun when someone elses pet messes up your stuff.
IMHO Pikka's suggestion is the kindest and most reasonable if what you mean is the mailbox type but even if not that kind why don't you simply ask the paper carrier to place it under your doormat? They're putting it in a specific place already so it's really not a big deal to change the delivery spot.
I suggest that you take some small empty plastic pop bottles with the twist caps, and fill them with small rocks. Make a noise make out of the pop bottles. Put them in your mail box so when the dog pulls out the paper they will fall out and make a noise and startle the dog.
Once he has this happen a couple of days in a row, he will be afraid to take the newspaper because he will think they will fall out on him. Let me know if that works.
If you know approximately the time the neighbors dog gets the paper, sprinkle cayenne pepper around it. They always sniff first. The pepper will burn their nose but not hurt them. They also will remember and stay away.
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