Not to want a stranger's dog to crap in our garden every day?

[sleeponeday]

So, in our new house we have a lovely local who lets their dog into our front garden every workday to take a crap between 6.30 and 8.30 am. They open the gate in order to do so - very quietly. It's absolute It was obviously going on for a while before we moved in (house was empty at least a couple of months prior) to judge by the amount of shit. Chilli powder on the stones (a local dog breeder suggested that this might stop the dog being willing to get into the garden at all, without harming them) isn't working, and nor are sleigh bells on the gate. Any suggestions on what we can do to deter this animal? And I do not mean the poor dog.

As long as it's properly diluted and left to dry before use it's ok but neat (which is how some people suggest using it as a cat/dog deterrent) it's very toxic, especially to cats.

Jeyes Fluid just about kills everything in the environment. Don't use it, ever.

www.gardenersworld.com/forum/thread/?threadId=921422

The Jeyes fluid leaflet is dated 2008 so might be different now.

You can get stick on alarms for doors and gates. I bought 2, one to stop toddler dc opening front door and 1 to stop dog putting his head into the bin.
You put half on the gate and half on the gate post. When the 2 sides are not together you can set them to either beep or make a horrific alarm noise that should stop someone or at least get you attention . They are cheap from amazon.

Another vote for Jeyes fluid in the area used and along the entrance.

If you have an iPhone, there's an app called Presence where you can use your phone as a security camera and view it on another iPhone/iPad

Have they been by this morning?

The kitties and the doggies should stay on their own territory. Then there would be no need for us to use jeyes fluid

Jeyes used properly doesn't hurt dogs or cats. I've used it in the garden for years and all local cats are fine but just choose to avoid shitting in my garden because it smells rank to them.

VICTORY! For today, at least.

Last night I bought those huge, really cheap packets of chilli powder and ground ginger from the supermarket, sold in the Polish/Carribbean sections, and absolutely covered the stones, with an extra line at the gate entrance. I should probably take a photo - you can't see the colour of the chippings for the powders - it looks like coloured light snow. This morning there is no poo. I'm not surprised tbh - there is no way any animal would want near it. Clearly the small pots from the usual spice section weren't covering enough - this time, it would be like a litter tray of pure chilli and ginger, and I imagine the dog wouldn't go anywhere near.

It's not a long term solution, obviously - rain will wash it away soon enough - but I'm hoping we have created a phobia that will stay with the pooch now - the poor thing will have had a rather horrible shock to its nostrils as it approached. As the owner seems to want a quick shit trip before work, and our garden ended up preferred for it, with any luck we've made it more hassle than it's worth and some other poor house will now have to contend with the idiot.

I hate irresponsible dog owners. People who can't be arsed to train properly, and manage the crap disposal effectively, give all dogs a bad name.

*Caribbean. I can (mostly) spell, honest.

Well done OP. Try to keep up the deterrents long enough that the dog will avoid like the plague.

I just can't get the logic "ah here's an abandoned garden, I'll open the gate onto this private property and let them shit"
"Oh look I think someone's moved in, I will continue to open the gate onto the now tendered private lawn and let the dog shit"

If the spices fail to keep the dog out and it is getting in through the railings, how about some unobtrusive netting or wire across the bottom half/part of the railings to block its path?

I just can't get the logic "ah here's an abandoned garden, I'll open the gate onto this private property and let them shit"
"Oh look I think someone's moved in, I will continue to open the gate onto the now tendered private lawn and let the dog shit"

Me either!

I'd wait for the fucker to come along, open my gate, let his dog shit in my garden .... all the time filming it on my phone and then I'd confront him (with a few choice words) still filming .... and put the whole encounter on youtube!

I just can't get the logic

Yes, this completely. I was annoyed when we moved in, and I had to get all this crap of varying ages up and bagged and properly disposed of, but that's somehow in a different league to someone actively letting themselves into an occupied house's front garden for the purpose. And the front gate is very clangy, too - to open it almost silently, you have to really be trying to do that. It's been happening in full awareness that they are trespassing for a revolting, and selfish, reason.

On the plus side, at least that level of selfishness meant we knew to target the dog and not the owner - the dog, we can influence!

We'll keep the chilli and ginger up for a couple of weeks, I think, so the hound gets into a new routine and is settled in hating our garden. Lord knows what the postman and non-immediate neighbours will make of it. Ant treatments, perhaps? Termites?!

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Jeyes Fluid could poison the dog. You are better off buying the spices in bulk if you don't want to kill it.

Are the nest cams better than a security camera? I want to catch the person that bags up their dog waste and then leaves the bag on the pavement.

Is it possible that whoever is doing it isn't actually letting the dog in, but merely throwing the poo into the garden rather than take it home to dispose of?

Would explain why so many of your deterrents hadn't work working and you haven't yet caught them.

No, there've been scratches in the gravel where the dog has done his little victory strut post-crap, plus there's been a main poo and then the mini-after-a-couple-of-paces (I've had dogs all my life till 5 years ago, which is one reason the irresponsibility of this makes me so angry - I'm very familiar with the ritual, because I always watched closely to ensure I picked up their mess!).

And the timings make it impossible that it's a cat, even without it looking like dog and not cat poo. Plus I can't see a phantom poo-flinger being deterred by the spices.

I'm really glad they're working. Neighbourhood disputes have immense potential to get very ugly, very fast, so deterring the dog is my very preferred option. I'm rather annoyed that the spices will be around a fiver a week for some arsehole's laziness, though. At least the bells are rather pretty.

Are you still poo-free?

I honestly would want to know who the dirty fucker was - have you managed to wake up early and see who it is?

We are poo free. Our poor next door neighbours (who are lovely, and warned us when we moved in) no longer are.

I'm going to buy them some chilli powder when I restock our own. See if we can mount a united defence.

Slightly disturbingly, DH found the mortice lock had been tampered with so the barrel had been twisted right round - you couldn't get a key in or out. He juggled it back again without difficulty, and it wasn't useable but we weren't locked in or anything, but he thinks it was a petty retaliation from this person because who else would do that? Creepy.

All in all, though - success!

The lock on the front door?
Thats awful. They tried to either break in, or lock you in/out of your house.