Dog weeing on our path

[SinkGirl]

We live in a small terrace, there’s a thin hedge between our house and our neighbours on one side.

Every morning a guy walks his dog past our house, and every morning his dog cocks leg at the hedge and pees all over our path. This is about 10 minutes before we have to take our twins to nursery - they’re nearly 3, both autistic, one is visually impaired and so sitting down on the path, picking up stones etc and trying to eat them are not uncommon occurrences. We spend each morning they go to nursery having to wrangle them around a big patch of fresh dog pee.

What’s even more annoying is that less than 20m up the road is a big patch of overgrown grass where the dog could stop and pee.

The owner clearly doesn’t see anything wrong with it - DH once made eye contact with him while his dog was peeing on our path and the guy just said good morning. He was carrying one of the twins at the time so didn’t want a confrontation.

I’ve never had a dog so I don’t know if this is just what happens when walking a dog. DH has dogs growing up and reckons its out of order - he wants to go out and say something next time but I don’t want there to be any aggression (DH isn’t aggressive but this guy might be, who knows). We’ve had dog poos at the end of the path too but I don’t think it was this guy as I’ve seen him carrying bags of poo.

So AIBU to think that you shouldn’t let your dog wee on random paths like this?

I think common sense dictates it’s fine for dogs to pee on the street unless indicated otherwise. People aren’t psychic so YANBU but pop a little sign by/on the hedge.

For goodness sake just tell him to stop. Explain that your children have autism and often sit down in it. I’m careful where my dogs are permitted to pee, but maybe he just hasn’t thought. Also, give the place a really good scrub down with washing powder, as that will kill the smell. You may smell nothing, but the dog is seeing there because it can smell wee. Don’t use jeyes fluid or anything with bleach as that’s toxic to cats. Also, the smell actually attracts dogs, as they try to kill the smell of bleach with their own wee.

Get one of those dog deterrent sound things for your hedge.

Put down some strong Jeyes fluid every day. The dog won't pee there anymore? Our next door neighbour used to let their large dog pee all over out communal path, shared by 4 houses. I put down Jeyes fluid every day and it stopped

YABVU not asking him to stop.

The dog’s doing it because he can smell that he’s done it there before, but I agree it is not very nice for you or the DCs. It might be worth your DH having a friendly word and explaining the situation?

Don’t use Jeyes fluid as it’s extremely toxic to cats and any run off will harm aquatic life.

Problem solved: www.amazon.co.uk/Esscherts-Design-HB16-Weeing-Sign/dp/B01DSZH7J0/ref=asc_df_B01DSZH7J0/?hvlocphy=1007239&linkCode=df0&hvptwo&psc=1&hvnetw=g&hvadid=310118432044&hvpone&hvlocint&hvpos=1o1&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl&hvqmt&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-306210641165&hvrand=16634924382487302381

ask him if he could pull his dog away from this area as he pees there every single day, it stinks and your kids have sat in it.

I wouldn't bother talking to someone who is crass enough to let his dog piss on someone else's path. Strong disinfectant or some other kind of strong repellent will soon stop this.

You can’t really stop a dog cocking his leg imo, they just do it with very little warning. I guess you could talk to this man and explain your concerns, hopefully if he’s decent he will understand and take a different route at that time perhaps?

The dog will go back to that patch every time as it will smell the scent from before and has learned this is one of its 'peeing places'. Scrub the area/spray with disinfectant to try and remove the scent and have a quiet word with the guy if you see him approaching. If you or your DH speaks to him nicely and explain the issue then he'll probably be fine and stop his dog doing it. If you go out all guns blazing then it won't solve anything.

Just talk to the guy, he is not currently BU because they don't usually give much warning but if you say can you please stop the dog peeing there as my kids have sat in it before, he will surely be able to hustle the dog past there to a more suitable spot.

Ps. If one dog is doing it are almost certainly other dogs doing it as male dogs use the same spots and try to cover up the smell of other dogs' pee. Vinegar works as a deterrent and will break down the wee

Just ask him. I am dog owner and if someone asked me that, I would make sure my dog didn't pee there in future. But I wouldn´t know you wanted me to do that without you asking me.

It's not pleasant but I can 100% guarantee he won't be the only dog doing it there - it's just he's the only one you see.

Put up a sign.

We have a dog and don't let him stop to pee on walls/hedges/gates etc., we hate that dogs pee on ours! We used to pull him away and now he doesn't stop to sniff (and he's old, so you can teach and old dog..!).

IMO the sound deterrent things don't work. Another neighbour has one, we hear it but the majority of dogs are oblivious to it and still pee up their hedge/wall!

A responsible dog owner will be able to stop it.
Clean it off with bleach and water, to get rid of the scent, and just put a little sign up asking dog owners not to let their dogs pee on your property - it is mostly scent marking rather than the desperate need for a widdle!

Spray something with peppermint over the area. If that dosnt work just explain everything to the owner

YANBU. I am a dog owner & I do not allow her to pee by people’s homes/gardens. It is possible to teach your dog to go on command so there’s no need for allowing your dog to pee against someone ‘s garden wall. We had a similar situation but in our case the owner was allowing their dog to pee against the wall of our kitchen! The garden surrounding our house is open & we’re not permitted to install a fence according to the deeds of our home. So we installed a motion-activated water sprayer. Funnily enough the dog stopped using it as his favourite pissing place.

If he’s there every morning I’d be outside waiting for him tomorrow and explain the problem. I had a dog for years and would have pulled it well away from drives if it was peeing. Some people don’t think but try the reasonable way first. If that doesn’t work buy loads of cheap bleach and douse the path before they arrive. It would be worth carrying your twins over it for a few days until he gets the message. I’d also put a sign up but I wouldn’t care if he thought I was being an arse. Your children come before his dog’s toilet habits. Good luck

Thanks everyone - interesting that nearly half of people reckon I’m being unreasonable but that’s not reflected in the comments.

Like I say, I’ve never owned a dog so I don’t know if it’s possible to stop them or reasonable to expect that, which is why I asked - I didn’t want to ask him if this is just normal dog owning behaviour!

It’s very difficult to get outside when he’s passing with our two little whirlwinds dashing about but will suggest DH goes out and makes a polite request. I don’t want to be a dick or piss anyone off, it’s just awkward and annoying, especially when there’s a much better spot just up the road for a pee if it’s possible to move him up the road a bit.

I’ll clean the area and see if that helps

It's not pleasant but I can 100% guarantee he won't be the only dog doing it there - it's just he's the only one you see.

It’s more the fact that the timing of it means it’s still a puddle of pee when we have to go out - there isn’t a strong smell of pee when it’s dry so that’s not the issue really, even if other dogs are peeing there.

I will try and get rid of the smell though and see if that helps.

If you had a word with me in a polite way, I’d do everything I possibly could to stop my dog peeing on your path. That might include walking the dog on a different route.

Thank you alsohuman - DH and I are both reasonable people (to a fault), which is why we haven’t gone out there and said something already. I really don’t want to put him out and ask him go another way, maybe just walk on the other side of the road for this stretch if he can’t drag the dog away?

It’s just another seemingly insignificant stresses in a world that’s full of them at the moment, it would really help not to have to worry about while getting them out the door.

He probably doesn't realise. If you went out and said something like, "I don't mean to sound too pedantic, but your dog's pee runs through the hedge onto our path and my toddlers keep sitting in it, plus it's starting to smell. Could you please try and pull him away and let him sniff around on that rough grass on there, see if he will wee there?" Most reasonable people would say they'd try.

You do realise that because that dog pees there other dogs probably do too, so it becomes a regular leg cocking place that dogs gravitate to.