I don’t let my dogs pee or poop on other people’s lawns, but I will let them use the green space between the sidewalk and the street…unless it’s obvious that someone has included that in their yard/garden/planting area.
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Harder than one might think because it’s a corner lot, so the sidewalk goes along the front yard and then along one side, so it’s a big expanse. Crossing the street might make sense, but the house across the street has an electric fence and their dogs run to the sidewalk barking (I wish people wouldn’t extend electric fences to the sidewalk, but trying to walk on that side would be difficult, not to mention that it would involve crossing that street in an area where people are often looking the other direction).
Yesterday I just made sure to keep the leashes really short and to put the male dog on the right so the trees wouldn’t be quite as tempting. The trees are in the curb area, they’re old and have been peed on a lot over the years, and they’re in bad shape but not from that).
It isn’t a huge issue. I mean, I don’t know what one would really do if a dog started going in that yard. Shoot, I’ve tried many a time to make it to the city parkway before a dog went #2 because it’s less of a spectacle, only to have the dog do a #2 in the middle of the street). It’s kind of one of those things where I’ve decided to try my best.
To me it just seems a little bit like asking people not to walk their dogs, but maybe I am being unnecessarily grumpy.
I’ve long suspected that some people in the neighborhood are mistaking coyote scat with dog poop. I took my dog out the other night and there were 5 coyotes in the yard. They’re thick as thieves, along with deer, rabbits, raccoons, etc.
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Dogs give warning before they poop. If you can’t keep your dogs from pooping for a neighborhood corner, that’s a training issue, not a neighbor issue. Put the dog in a working heel past this house. Problem solved
I disagree. My dog’s bowels are stimulated by exercise. He doesn’t choose to have a poo - that thing has a mind of it’s own and It Is Birthing Time!
You can teach a dog not to mark territory on a walk, but I think that trying to hold back a motion that is clearly IN motion is painful and potentially damaging for most beings.
Easier to teach a pet to have a wee before you walk, and to do a “poo stroll” before going out in public, rather than trying to train a dog not to poo at all.
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Interesting to see the differences in who owns what. Where I am, So Cal, the “green space” referred to as the strip between the side walk and the street belongs to the property owner who is responsible for maintaining it. Actually, our property line is from the back of the lot to the middle of the street in front of the house. There is a right of way for the street and the side walk, but basically, it’s all ours.
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FYI, grass burn is more likely to occur with the first pee of the morning, the more concentrated pee.
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Generally speaking it’s pretty common where I live… Im just happy if the dogs are leashed/ non-reactive and bonus points if you clean up after. I always carry extra baggies, but yes my girl goes through phases (mostly rainy weather) where our fenced yard is no longer acceptable and only an adventure will stimulate a #2. And then some other times a loose dog or other thing makes her nervous and we have an extra poo that is pretty gross. Anyway this whole topic makes me think of a saying amongst running groups that is funny because it’s true “never trust a fart after mile 5”. Moving just gets it all, uhhh, moving.
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That’s what it seems like with my dogs.
One is very concerned about the traffic next to the park. Tonight we went for a walk there, and the traffic spooked her a little. She doesn’t outwardly react, but a minute after a loud truck passed she had sudden loose stool. She’s just very stressed by environment and if there’s a storm or something makes her nervous, she gets loose stools.
This is definitely an issue that is being addressed by a vet and she’s seen a behaviorist as well. I’m very careful with her feeding program within certain limitations she has, but she has a very sensitive system.
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I think your experienced is uncommon. Maybe your dogs get their morning rituals done in the backyard before you walk them, but that’s not the case for a lot of dogs, or families.
A lot has to do with the timing of when they woke, ate, and then got out on the walk. If you’re on a regimented schedule, maybe it’s easy to time it all, but lots of people aren’t that structured. They oversleep or have to care for children, or start doing work, and their dogs might be somewhat off schedule. And really, who cares?
Since you’re not letting them stop on the walk anyway - your dogs “walk” is not for bathrooming. But other people have no choice and/or their routine doesn’t work for that.
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Apparently the people who own this house.
There are a lot of times in life where we find a request from others perplexing. We can choose to be kind, and do our best to comply despite not understanding, or we can be an asshole and ignore it.
This is ONE HOUSE on a walk. One house! Put the dogs in a heel and let them all bathroom at the next lawn. Keep them on the sidewalk. Train them to shit in the gutter, like they do in NYC. There are so many ways to extend a barest modicum of kindness to this home owner. Dogs are so trainable.
What do you do when you encounter a lawn with one of those “pesticide/fertilizer was recently sprayed, keep pets/kids off” signs? If you can control your dog & keep it off the lawn for that, the skills already exist for this question.
The entirety of the outside world isn’t a bathroom for dogs. I know you show–this isn’t different than visiting a park every day to walk and poop, and this weekend there’s a show there. Don’t shit in the ring. Take care of that business outside the ring. Same here.
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If it is just one house, agreed, it’s no big deal.
If it was every other house on the block - it would be a big deal.
We are both speaking in general terms. You are saying “your dog does not need to pee/poop on a walk - ever”, and I’m saying “lots of dogs have to pee/poop on the walk - that’s what it’s for.”
In general - dog walks are for pee/poop and exercise. People need to expect that dogs might pee or poop on the verge between the sidewalk and road.
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No, I’m saying that it’s possible to go walk and not bathroom–so one house is NBD. Dogs are infinitely trainable.
If you (general you) walk your dogs to bathroom them, whatever, your world. But control where they GO. Ensure they’re going in an appropriate spot. This house is no longer an appropriate spot.
It’s not a totally unlandish thing to remove this one single property from the dogs toilet, like this OP says here. And given that she has multiple dogs toileting daily on this property (multiple times a day?) there’s a good chance the new signs are targeted AT her…
And just to add…
People are allowed to say they don’t want dogs in their lawn. Even if it’s every other house…or EVERY house. It’s still on the dog owner to comply and either keep their dogs off the lawn or go elsewhere. You might find a neighborhood like that unfriendly, and that’s certainly your prerogative, but it doesn’t give you the right to let your dog potty on someone’s lawn who is requesting you keep dogs off.
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We have our dogs potty in our backyard before we go on a walk. We see a LOT of people in our neighborhood use the walk as the potty break. It’s always a crap-shoot ( 
) if they pick up after their dogs. I have never done that with any of my dogs. Walks are for walking with us too and the dogs are expected to heel and have some modicum of manners. That got instilled in puppy school AND I don’t want to carry around bags of poop. When we get back home we offer another potty break in our yard and they will both usually pee before going back in; they definitely know the word. They know the word “poop” too.
We got an email from our HOA president yesterday on this topic. We don’t have sidewalks or tree lawns in my neighborhood and people are getting tired of dog owners essentially letting their dogs use other peoples yards as their bathroom or playgrounds. There are a few greenspaces here and a dog park, and everyone has a backyard that is grass. We are in townhouses so decks are not ground level, but the second story of a three story house. It’s also in the bylaws that you can’t have a ground level patio; so grass for all. I generally don’t like it when I see other dogs being let in my front yard either. The yards are quite small, not everyone picks up, and you can get the aforementioned crop circles.
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I don’t know who the sign is directed at. I walk multiple dogs - and I always let them go to the bathroom in my own yard before we start out because it’s easier. I take one walk a day. The bathroom breaks are in my own yard (all of the yards are fairly large).
Walks are primarily for exercise …. But:
• I carry water. It’s not common for the dogs to urinate on walks, but it’s not bizarre.
• Sometimes, at some point on the walk, a dog has another #2. I believe this is brought on by the walking. I always pick this up, but it isn’t unusual for my dogs to go to the bathroom again along the route somewhere.
I will certainly try to prevent it at this house. People make me nervous. My paranoid mind would think that they were going to attempt to poison my dogs one of them has an issue in that yard. Honestly, that’s what bothers me about the sign - it gives me a vision of them putting antifreeze hot dogs by the sidewalk or something. (I know they’re probably not, but I knew a lady that didn’t want animals - domestic or wild - in her yard and she did things like that).
I doubt the sign is directed at you. It’s directed at the people who let their dogs run loose on walks, hardly ever pick up the dog’s poop even when it’s easy to do so.
I live in suburbia on a fairly quiet street without sidewalks. I feel sorry for the guy on the corner who has to replace plants every 2-3 months because dog urine has killed them. It’s frustrating to try to have a nice yard and be weeding a flowerbed adjacent to the street, and realize I’ve stepped or kneeled on dog crap. I see the lazy a-holes all the time, letting their dog crap in the corner of my yard and not picking it up. If I’ve seen them from my home office and go to the door, they back track and pick it up.
I walk my dog at least twice a day. I always have bags, and always pick it up. She sometimes has digestive issues because she’s a bush-diving garbage eater, and it’s hard to get it all scraped up. Then I pray for rain. I see those signs all the time, and completely understand where the owners are coming from. It’s not hard to keep my dog off their lawns.
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All the more reason to keep the dogs on the sidewalk and install a solid “leave it.”
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In addition to a, now somewhat faded, no pee or poop sign in my front yard, there’s one that says “Caution. This area treated with dihydrogen monoxide.” I think the latter might be more effective at times. Some people will actually cross the road when they see it.
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I had it made.
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