I just posted an anonymous letter to a neighbour. Oh God. Panicking.

[LetterPostie]

I live in a Victorian terrace with a back lane. There's a man who lives about 20 doors down from me who let's his dog shit in the back lane.

It's hard to confront him because he lets his dog out into the back lane, then he buggers off back into his house. So its not like he's stood there while the dog's shitting so you can say "Oi, mate, your dog just shit, pick it up".

Anyway, I'm sick of it.

So today I posted (like into the post box, not through his door) an anonymous letter which says the following:

"Dear [Man]

A group of neighours from [My Street] and [Next Street] have seen [Dog's Name] fouling in the back lane on multiple occasions.

It's selfish, it's a public health hazard, and we're sick of it.

We have gathered photo and video evidence that its [Dog's Name] doing this. If you don't start picking up after [Dog's Name], we will be sending the evidence to the dog warden team and environmental health at the Council.

Yours,
Neighbours"

I was feeling all brave and bold about it. But now I'm panicking that I actually went through with it. 😂

Forget letters. Post the shit through his letterbox.

Fucking right and good on you. Dog shit shirkers should all be hung at the very least.

How often does he do this? When's he next due to let his dog out (poor thing).

You could always pop one in the post, I suppose!

Your letter was polite and factual. Don't stress about it!

Suspect he'll just ignore, prick.

I'd probably have cut out the middle man and reported straight to the council/dog warden.

I mean it’s not wholly anonymous though.

@LetterPostie well done and hopefully he’ll appreciate his neighbours unlike him are kind enough to give him a chance to rectify his disgusting, not to mention illegal behaviour!

I would be surprised if he can read

and if he does, I’d be surprised if he reads past the first line before binning

annoying but true

I hate inconsiderate dog owners too. Hopefully he’ll take note and your problem will be solved.

Did you actually write on behalf of a consenting group? I have moved now but an old neighbour of mine used to stick an A4 sheet of paper on four sides with tape with an obnoxious typed and printed note huge font on cars he didn’t approve of the parking of - usually parking too close to the corner he lived on along the lines of “the residents of this street would like to inform you that your parking blah blah… “. He thought he was doing it anonymously and was hiding behind the “royal we”. Used to piss me off no end that he made out he was speaking for all of us when 90% thought he was way too sensitive and his passive aggression wasn’t representative of the vibe of the street.

This isn’t anonymous op, he will likely guess surely

It would be tempting to shovel up the poo and fling it back into his garden

I also want to know if the bits in your letter which speak about other neighbours is true?

Well done! I hope it has the desired effect. It was really annoy me too. It’s gross.

Well done. I don't think there are any ifs or buts or very justified criticisms. Selfish, inconsiderate dog owners are unlikely to be any less selfish or inconsiderate face to face and why should you take that risk anyway? Now he knows how at least one person feels and now it's up to him to look after his dog properly.

You're too nice, I would have gone straight to the dog warden team

👏 Well said OP……to the point, non-threatening and I hope he gets the message.
I would have been tempted to scoop a few deposits up and chuck them on his yard though……..nothing gets my goat more than dog shit…..oh, and cat shit.

Excellent, no excuse for that, filthy sod.
My dear, long departed granny had zero tolerance for people not picking up dog shit. She once picked up a dog turd that had been left outside her house and posted the bag through the door of a repeat offender. Your next step perhaps?

@LetterPostie

You appear to have signed the letter on behalf of yourself and others ("a group of neighbours"). So the letter gives the impression - to me at least - that you are acting as spokesperson for several households in the street.

Did you discuss sending this letter in advance with other neighbours in the street? If so, were they okay with it?

And have you actually gathered this evidence?

I'm not defending him in any way - the clatty bastard. But the above jumped out at me.

Exactly this. Someone else beat me to it.

You can report him to the council. It would be difficult for the the council to prove the offences but they would likely send him an official letter which might scare him into correcting his ways.

So have you actually put it in a post box so it's delivered by the postman? Did you put a stamp on it?

You did the right thing.

To a previous poster: For the record, many folk (myself included) prefer our dog/cat/parrot to people but don't expect other people to pick up after them, that's the wanker behaviour that draws us to animals over people in the first place.

Good observation!

I had this a few years back. I told the owner her dog kep escsping and had crapped in our drive, but I was more concerned about thd dog possibly being stolen, so next time I see it I’ll call the dog warden who’ll take care of it. Did the trick.

Presumably the OP would be videoing the dog, not the owner, so no issue of privacy, unless the dog is very shy, which if it is crapping in public suggests it isn’t!