I have seen signs in people's yards saying "My Yard Is Not Your Dog's Toilet". I think it takes a lot of guts to post that. I agree with it, but I'm not sure how the public perceives it when they are walking their dog. I know a lot of people get upset when a dog urinates on bushes, flowers and mailboxes that are street accessible. When I see somebody walking their dog, I take the time to watch and see if they do come across my grass or if it's a male dog who urinates on my brick mailbox.

What's your opinion on this?

It is frustrating when you live in town or in a subdivision and you have a designated potty area for YOUR dog, but the neighbors walk their dogs on your lawn.

I just planted a new hedge out front this year. I have sat in my livingroom and watched the people down the street not even try to keep their dog moving and let their dog pee on my hedge. These are baby bushes, not well established trees.

I think it is disrespectful. If your dog just has to go that bad, let him pee at YOUR house on your stuff, not mine.

 Quote: denise hau

What's your opinion on this?

At least in America, I believe it falls under the Freedom of Speech, I believe the first amendment in the constitution....property ownership and a few others. There are people out there who cannot stand dogs, *especially* dogs who use their yard as a toilet. I see those signs sometimes too, and even people who have gone so far as to put bags out along with the sign. I always feel bad that these people have to resort to that action (having a stupid ugly lil sign in their yard), as I believe dog owners should be responsible by picking up (or not letting them go in the first place) and not give owners who *are* being responsible a "bad name".

My dogs don't eliminate on walks, largely for this reason. I don't want to ruin other peoples' lawn or shrubs. My dogs eliminate before walks, after walks, and during off-leash time at the park or on the trails.

I live in a rural area where lawns are not landscaped to the street. Dogs eliminating on the edge of the "road" is not considered rude. What IS a problem are the off-leash dogs who actually come right on the property.

One morning I found a woman with an absolutely obese beagle (off-leash) standing in my side yard...pleading and lecturing her beagle to stop eating the outdoor cat's food! She was holding a leash in her hand but it never occurred to her to put the damn thing on the dog and pull it away!

Meanwhile my dog is in the house,freaking out and sounding like Cujo 2, so I go out there in my "morning attire" looking like a character out of "Deliverance" and tell her to leash her dog and get the hell off my property or The Dog is coming out.

She yells at ME for the cat food on MY property, finally leashes her dog, and they both waddled away...but not before her dog pooped in the front yard!

I have noticed since this woman does use a leash now

My yard is not MY dog's toilet either.

We put in a 25' x 25' layer of pea gravel inside railroad ties in one corner of our yard. Then, every time we let Hans out to relieve himself, we escorted him over there, on a leash, and waited for him to do his thing. We did this over and over and over again, for months. One day, while out tossing a ball with him, he stopped what he was doing and ran over to the pea gravel to relieve himself.

Now, we open the back door, tell him to "go potty", and he heads to the pea gravel. If he gets distracted we say "No. Go potty.", maybe a couple of times, but he gets it and goes over there. I let him out before our walks telling him to "go potty", and when he is done I grab a couple of bags and off we go. I very seldom need to use the bags. If he's in the back yard by himself and has to go, he heads over to the pea gravel.

Where and when the dog goes can be influenced by training. Dog owners can train their dogs to use a designated area and with a little attention to detail (like sending them out to relieve themselves before going on a walk) can greatly reduce the amount of irritation their neighbors have to put up with.

we live on a street with many dog walkers in a suburban area. Unfortunately, there are plenty of dog owners who fail to use the curb strip and like to use our front lawns. I put up and leave up the lawn signs that have a picture of a child and a dog and warn that there are pesticides on our lawn and to keep them off. Works like a charm even though I only use natural fertilizers that are human and pet safe.

This is something I agree with to an extent. I prefer that peoples' animals don't relieve themselves in my yard or on my landscaping. To be honest, I don't get too upset when someones' animal urinates on my lawn, Its not like I have brown patches or dying plants so it doesn't really bother me.

However, when someone fails to pick up after their animal defecates, I get upset. I shouldn't have to pick up after their animals, and frankly, it pisses me off that they think its okay. If I happen to see it, I call out the person and have them pick it up, if they come up with an excuse like "I dont have a bag!" Well, I have a few in my garage, I snag one, walk it down to them and they pick it up. Works pretty well, I've never had to do that with anyone twice. I've only caught two people, but after doing the bag trick with them, I never found anything on my property again, so I figure it was them repeating it over and over.

While we can't really get anyone in trouble for it by law or anything, the county promotes 'pick up after your pet' stuff, so its rare that someone doesn't, just a few jerks out there.

I have an even crazier example!

One time I was living in a trailor park, and the folks next to us would tie the dog to their deck to a 20-30 ft line. Of course, this put the dog in our front yard every time it pooped! To top it off, they wouldn't clean it up and we therefore had about 15-20 piles in our yard. Finally, we said: Enough! and tried to talk to them about it, but they just didn't seem to understand the problem! Idiots...

The issue here is controlling your dog. Why should the dog get to pee and poo anywhere it wants? I think this decision should be made by the handler, not the dog.

 Quote: sarah_morris

....Meanwhile my dog is in the house,freaking out and sounding like Cujo 2, so I go out there in my "morning attire" looking like a character out of "Deliverance" and tell her to leash her dog and get the hell off my property or The Dog is coming out...

Sarah, I didn't realize I hadn't laughed yet today until I read your post . You crack me up!

I do what Rich does, I first exercise Lear in my backyard until he does his business before I walk him around the neighborhood; I also take a baggie with me just in case.

But normally, he doesn't have to do anything cause he does it in my own yard. If I see he needs to go, I keep him on the sidewalk and clean it up from there. It's all solid so no mess.

What irks me is male dogs peeing in my front yard. My last GSD used to pee over their pee (it's her turf after all). Lear only today has done that. Previously he would just sniff. Today he actually reclaimed his territory :laugh: . Go Lear!