Dog s**tting in garden

[Londonwriter]

We’re lucky enough to have a (narrow) 50ft garden during lockdown.

My DH has been allowing our dog to s*t in the garden. Everytime my three-year-old DS goes to play in the garden, which is currently his main outdoor recreation as the playground is closed, there is at least one or two cold, dry c*ps hidden in the grass.

My DH says that he feels sorry for the dog because, although we are using our one ‘exercise’ trip each day to walk the dog, the dog can’t manage. He says he doesn’t know the dog is c***g in the garden because he often wants to go in the dark.

I’m sick and tired of it. He’s pooing twice a day (on each trip out) and then, it appears, in addition, he c*d six times in the garden over the Easter weekend. I’m worried that my DS gets sick from the garden being a dog toilet. When my DH isn’t working from home, the dog manages perfectly fine on a short run in the morning, a brief walk around 4pm and a further brief walk around midnight.

I told my DH to try to get the dog to c**p in one place only, but apparently this is not feasible given he’s working full-time and we have a colicky baby.

AIBU? DH thinks I’m a hygiene Nazi and it’s fine provided the c**p is picked up.

Just come back and found people still posting.

We’ve solved the problem. At about 7pm, DH was chopping vegetables for dinner and he sent me upstairs to get older DS down for dinner. Came downstairs to find the back door open, and both he and big dog giving me identical guilty looks (big dog knew there was something deep going down...).

Basically, under non-pandemic circumstances, when DS gets home from work, he walks big dog before dinner. Now he’s working from home during lockdown, he comes downstairs, makes dinner and has been opening the back door to big dog. Big dog has been going out and pooing, but DH hadn’t noticed because he was cooking, and big dog doesn’t normally poo in the garden. I was then going out the next morning with older DS and finding uncollected poos. DH had apparently noticed big dog wasn’t always pooing on his nighttime walk anymore, but hadn’t thought anything of it - he’d assumed it was the disrupted schedule making big dog constipated.

Like some other people here, I find fly-covered dog poo next to my DS’ playhouse in my small garden pretty gross. I find dog poo residue between two parked cars in a nearby street non-disgusting - because people don’t picnic and kids don’t play there. This is why big dog (and our previous dog, jog dog) have been encouraged to go in the gutter between two parked cars.

We are, in fact, VERY responsive to big dog’s needs - which is precisely WHY he doesn’t go in the garden. I work from home, have done for the last decade, and have a downstairs office, largely chosen to keep big dog (and jog dog before him) company. Both jog dog and big dog sat/sit next to, behind or under my desk. Jog dog used to stand on hind legs and paw my arm when he needed the loo. Big dog stands by the door and barks, or shoves his head under my elbow. When that happens under non-pandemic circumstances, I immediately stop work to take big dog on a walk around the block, or - if I can’t stop right then and he’s pooed recently - go to the garden door to supervise him in the garden. If he looks like he might poo (he normally doesn’t), I call him in and take him for a walk (during the pandemic, we’ve been bringing his second walk forward when that’s happened). Thus, unless he has projectile diarrhoea, big dog (and our previous dog, jog dog) just doesn’t poo in the garden.

I remain amazed that a majority of Mumsnetters find taking your dog out for loads of short walks when they ask for them (‘cos they’re sat in your home office, next to your desk) abusive and weird, whereas letting them crap all over your kids’ play area because they’re alone in the garden is good dog ownership. Sheesh. (I guess we can all be a little judgy about how other people choose to live their lives).

We have an ‘area’ for the dog to go in, he’s about 90% reliable. It was surprisingly easy to teach him. It’s covered in a layer of pea shingle and never smells. YouTube it, if can be done in a day. For reference my dog goes about 5 times a day! You and your dh are both correct really so work together and find a way to manage the problem.

My dog also doesn't poo in the garden.

He has three walks a day & has never asked to be let into the garden for a poo.

Even in nice weather with the door open all day he doesn't poo there.

If he did I'd think that I wasn't walking him enough or at the right time & would be looking to adjust that.

I’m still puzzled as to why your dog doesn’t have the freedom to roam about his own garden. Why are you so annoyed at him being allowed in the garden?

Sheesh. (I guess we can all be a little judgy about how other people choose to live their lives)

No dog Shit Sherlock

Only one judgy drip feeding poster that I can see...

@Sheldonesque

I totally agree with BogRoll. We have a partition in our garden - dog area and child/adult area. It means you only have one area to clean up (in case you do miss a poo) and are confident that the area where your child plays and you sit is clean. Crazy to leave it in the garden with your child. It's a health hazard not to mention disgusting!!

I don't know why people are laughing at you trying to clean the grass before your D.C. go in the garden. The idea of my D.C. playing when there is actual dog shit on the grass makes me sick. This is why I don't have a dog though OP.

I think some people are just not cut out for it, I am certainly one of them, maybe you are too?

Not laughing at her for using bleach. No matter how much it was downplayed after.

Most of us were too busy being astounded/horrified that it wasn’t just plain or slightly soapy water.

Bleach and dogs don’t mix. From what I hear it doesn’t do much for wildlife or children either.

So not laughing pernicious - not even a little bit.

You aren’t far off the mark with the end of your post though.

What is St, c*p, and cg? You are allowed to say shit here OP.

Oh they are managing to say speak shit just fine.

Sme flk ae jst gady gbsh*tes.

Having read the whole pointless thread (nice backtracking on the bleach btw) I find the most disgusting thing of all is that you make sure your dog shits outside of the home. You know you can't always pick it all up, hence the bleach, but you are quite happy for other people to be exposed to your dogs crap. In fact, you prefer that everyone else is rather than you and yours. That's what is vile.

What about cyclists? won't they be cycling after the parked cars have gone. But I am assuming that the poo is picked up so fair enough. Still find it odd that you don't allow your dog in the garden though. What happens when you are all in the garden, barbecuing or similar?

Fgs the dog wouldn’t be shitting if it didn’t need one. They need access to toilet more than twice in 24 hours so he needs an area of the garden to do it.

Please let your dog to just poo in the garden then one of your family can go to pick it up.
Dogs , unless they’re service dogs, shouldn’t be subjected to human shitting diktats.
Whatever would you have posted if you had a cat, a rabbit or whatever?
When you need a shit , you go to the toilet, so let your dog have his space to shit by either training it to poo in a special place or just clean up after it. It takes but a minute.
I might shit more than once or twice a day. I use a loo. Your dog might need more than one or two poos a day. Let it poo!

My dog only craps and urinates in the front garden as my children play in the back garden but not the front.

She can go in and out the back garden as she pleases, and if she needs the toilet she goes and sit in front of the front door. If you're not there to see her, she keeps coming up to you getting in your face then running pointedly to the door. If you're upstairs she runs up and down the stairs a couple of times until you get the hint.

Some people would hate taking her for a walk, she can poo up to 5 times in a walk. She loves leaving her scent everywhere, so she just squeezes out tiny little turds where there's a good smell. When she runs out of shit she just takes a piss instead.