Neighbours Dog Fouling on Front Garden

LeighO86

oystercatcher said:

How about a peaceful approach to this family who have been bereaved. As OP is a dog owner surely they could just bag and bin the mess as they would their own dogs and then when they happen to next see the neighbour just light heartedly say " You owe me 4 dog bags" or whatever to drop the hint that the dog is still getting out. It sounds unintentional and the family are stressed. It's not the dogs fault. No point in making mountains out of molehills. The problem may well stop soon once the family get back to normal routine.

I can see your point to an extent. They've always let the dog roam free since we've moved in so it's not due to bereavement etc - it's just irresponsible ownership at this point. The interaction I had with them was probably the second time I've seen in person and spoke to them since we've moved in (first time was the bloke that died, he was really nice), so it's hard to make light of the situation. But again, we don't want to get the council involved as it's more stress they/we don't need. We're waiting to see if we get the dog on camera and will discuss in a calmer manner. We're concerned about the son at the moment as he's very irate. If not then it will have to be council/dog warden. We've decided once this mortgage deal has run it's course, we will be looking to move elsewhere.

Soot2006

Seriously, fence pins £25 ish; mesh £30 ish. Temp fencing to block out dog, done.  Remove as soon as not required. You can probably even get free mesh on Marketplace/Gumtree.   Filming the dog, confronting the owners, it's all very unnecessary esp if they are unreasonable and bereaved or just don't like you.  I know it's annoying to spend money on the problem, but sometimes it's better to go for the passive response, rather than the passive aggressive (or outright aggressive but you weren't suggesting that).

TBagpuss

Soot2006 said:

Steel fencing pins, 60cm mesh roll, run a cheap and temporary fence around your front garden. Dog will get in the habit of !!!!!! somewhere else. No confrontation required. When you do your driveway, dog now won't be in the habit of !!!!!! in that location, which will be a good outcome for your cars ...

This sounds like the most sensible solution - alternatively, a deterrent such as he powders / gels sold to for this exact purpose - presumably you could keep your own dogs out of the front garden temporarily if you don't want to put them off using the garden in future.

You might even find that putting deterrent gel or powder round the edges where a fence would go would work, it might discourage the dog from entering your garden in the first place