[winniec777]

Our neighbors have a small terrier that they let out to roam the neighborhood to do its business. Of course it uses our yard as a bathroom. This irritates the heck out of me since we leash walk our dog to a special potty area we created for her precisely because we hate finding random piles of poop all over the yard and grass that's been killed by pet urine.

We have 1.5 acres, unfenced, so the little bugger can stroll over here any time to pee/poop. It wouldn't be so bad if she selected one spot, but she's doing it all over the yard.

So.....We will talk to the neighbors about it and I'm sure their intentions will be good, but I have no hope of retraining them to take care of their dog. And fencing isn't an option since I can't fence off the whole property (local ordinances). I can only fence the back half so she would still be free to poop in the front.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how we could train this dog to stay off our property? When we see her out there we take Poca out because she's afraid of us and Poca. But that only works when we catch her.

Any humane suggestions would be welcome. I don't want to get into a war with the neighbors. I just want their dog to stop using my yard as a bathroom.

[misty073]

I had the same issue as posted somewhere else on this site

We are fairly new to the neibour hood and down the road there are two big dogs that are left to roam free and crap where ever they want. I have noticed that there is dog crap in my yard (and it wasnt from my dogs because they can only ever be leashed in the yard with us and my dogs are small and fed raw...there is a difference ) And they live right across the street from the community mail boxes and there is dog crap all over there...I even stepped in it while getting out of my van ...but the biggest for me is I have almost hit the bigger one while driving home in the dark. (Oh and to note we have not seen any other off leash dogs and my husband saw one of them on our property...so we are sure that is where the poop is coming from)

I didnt want to cause grief between us or any other neighbours so I called animal control and talked to them. The took the address and dogs descripton and issued a warning letter to them. Next step is to call if we see the dog and they will hopefully be able to come out before the dogs are brought back in. So far I am happy with the situation (I didnt want animal control to come out, I just wanted a warning) I have not seen them since I called No more poop in my yard that isnt my dogs and the dogs are safer for it.

If things dont change for you, you could do the same...I am sure your yard isnt the only potty he is using (hence anyone could have made the call )

[rzrbaxfan]

When I lived on a smaller lot, I set up a motion sensored water sprinkler. When the dog got near the property line, the sprinkler would turn on for 5 seconds and was quite noisey.

Now I live on a larger lot. My issue was similar to yours, but in addition to the poop, I had the little foo foo dog from next door camp out on my front porch and bark at 6 am. I had been keeping a careful eye on things for days and anytime I spotted an off leash dog on my property, I'd chase it. Yeah, I looked like a fool, but I struck fear in those dogs enough that they stay far away from my house. In fact, they can be on their own property and can see me tooling around my yard, and they run the other way.

[TxRider]

Originally Posted by winniec777

Our neighbors have a small terrier that they let out to roam the neighborhood to do its business. Of course it uses our yard as a bathroom. This irritates the heck out of me since we leash walk our dog to a special potty area we created for her precisely because we hate finding random piles of poop all over the yard and grass that's been killed by pet urine.

We have 1.5 acres, unfenced, so the little bugger can stroll over here any time to pee/poop. It wouldn't be so bad if she selected one spot, but she's doing it all over the yard.

So.....We will talk to the neighbors about it and I'm sure their intentions will be good, but I have no hope of retraining them to take care of their dog. And fencing isn't an option since I can't fence off the whole property (local ordinances). I can only fence the back half so she would still be free to poop in the front.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how we could train this dog to stay off our property? When we see her out there we take Poca out because she's afraid of us and Poca. But that only works when we catch her.

Any humane suggestions would be welcome. I don't want to get into a war with the neighbors. I just want their dog to stop using my yard as a bathroom.

Every time you see it in your yard, call it over and take it in and keep it until they come get it.

No harm in taking in an obvious stray dog.

[Purley]

A lawyer I worked with years ago had a similar problem. After he talked to the owners of the dog and they took absolutely no notice. He picked the poop up on a shovel. Rang the doorbell and when the dog owners opened the door, he threw the poop in their house and walked away!!

Actually, the guy was a riot! Another time he was jogging home and saw a wooden barricade. He jumped over the barricade and landed in some wet cement and then and someone punched him in the face. He was so astounded, he got up and continued to jog home. When he got there, he had come to his senses a bit so he phoned the City; told them what had happened and said he wanted to see the culprit in his office!

The guy duly showed up at the law firm, all contrite and told this guy that he was the fourth or fifth person to jump over the barricade and mess up his wet cement!!! He went home with just a talking to - don't do it again - you may end up in serious trouble another time!!

(sorry - got off the topic!!)

[Maura]

I was going to mention the passive aggressive suggestion of luring the dog inside, too. Nothing like hunting all over the neighborhood for six hours looking for Muffin to get one to reconsider the potty situation.

[Lonewolfblue]

I personally like the idea of sprinklers. If there's a way to have some set up around the area where the dog goes, then as soon as the dog gets in the middle, turn the sprinklers on and drench him. If he doesn't like water, he'll never come back.

[rzrbaxfan]

Originally Posted by Lonewolfblue

I personally like the idea of sprinklers. If there's a way to have some set up around the area where the dog goes, then as soon as the dog gets in the middle, turn the sprinklers on and drench him. If he doesn't like water, he'll never come back.

Here is a link to one: Motion Sensor Water Sprinkler.

The range of the sensor is about 35-40 feet. This one has some pretty good reviews. I've seen a video of one in use but I can't find it right now. They are pretty noisey, so if the water doesn't scare them, the noise will. They might take a few trials to get set up right, but are effective once its adjusted.

[Independent George]

If you don't mind a little deception... you can walk over to the neighbors, and explain you've got a pest problem on your lawn, and will soon be injected full of pesticides, so it would be best if they kept their dog under control for its own sake.

On the other hand, anyone who isn't worried about their dog getting run over at night likely wouldn't care about it eating pesticides, either.

[winniec777]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I think we'll stop short of throwing crap in their front door () but there are some ideas worth trying here. We'll try enlisting our neighbor's help first and have a few fallback plans in place if that doesn't work. I won't put up with my own dog's poop all over the place; I certainly am not going to tolerate it from the neighbor's dog!

[Robrowe]

I had a similar issue with neighbors but their dog wasnt running free, it was while they walked it. They had a rountine, you could watch them come out here door and walk their dog to do its business in other peoples yards, mine being one of them. I tried the polite approach letting them know that I had spent a lot of time and effort on my lawn and would they mind going the extra hundred yards up the block where there is a huge open area and no homes. They were of course friendly and said they didnt realize it was causing an issue. Not an hour later I watched the mother of the family I had just talked to walk the dog and pinch a loaf in my front yard. I opened my front door and simply said "Do you mind?" to which I got a dirty look of "How dare you interupt my dogs poop!" On to tactic #3, called animal control and they stated they didnt have the resources to stake out a pooping dog. So along comes tactic #4, I gathered up poop their dog left behind in a gallon ziploc bag and when it was close to full I hung it on their front door wit a note tha I didnt spend over a half million on a home for their dog to have a place to poop. Still inaffective. After looking around a bit I came across sonic deterant devices. They are battery operated with motion sensors. Dog enters covered area they emit a high pitch sonic sound that is very annoying to the dog and will make them do whatever they need to to get away from it. Put them out so basically anything enters the sidwalk in front of my house triggers them and sat in the living room watching out the window and as they approached I saw the dog go alert then start straining the leash in the opposite direction. The more they tried to force the dog forward the more it pulled away. I left them on for a few weeks then took them up. The dog is now conditioned that as soon as it gets near my yard it crosses the street and refuses to get near my yard. Now its another neighbors problem as these type of people really have no regard for the property of others and will continue until the dog passes away and will most likely get another and have the same routine. The worst part is their back yard borders woods that is free from underbrush. If my yard was like that I would train the dog to go back there but with narrowminded people like this their thought process does not involve others.