To be annoyed by people using my garden as a dog toilet?

[StationaryMagpie]

All the houses in my street have a wall - some prickly horror, on the end of their gardens before the pavement, over the years, most of us have pulled up the prickly horror and put plants down where it was instead, ours is currently covered in slate gravel type stuff with alpines and scrub grasses dotted through it.

Now, this is OBVIOUSLY not part of the pavement, and very clearly part of our property, but literally everyone who walks a dog past, uses it as the bloody dog toilet.

WIBU to stick a sign in the gravel that reads "this isn't a dog toilet" and point them to the park that is literally 3 houses further up? OR alternatively hide behind the wall and spray the buggers with the hose.

that should be wall and hedge on the end of the gardens.

People aren't using your garden as a dog toilet. Dogs are because there's a dog scent. Disinfect the area and if there's no scent dogs are less likely to 'go'.

It wouldn't hurt to have a word with the regular walkers.

They’re peeing there, right? Not pooing?

The dogs pee there because another dog has peed there. They’re scent-marking over the top of each other. So yes, it will be a doggy piss parade and your only option is to stand there like a looney day after day haranguing owners. I mean, put up a sign but odds are it’ll make no difference. Whereas they may cross the wrong to avoid the mad lady with the swivel eye…

I’d replant a hardy hedge and forget about it, if I were you.

girlmom21, are you seriously suggesting that all these dogs are unaccompanied by their owners? Feral pack dogs, pissing at will?
The fact is their owners are allowing their disgusting animals to foul OP’s garden gravel.
OP I would rush out whenever you spot them and demand they clean it up. Hand them a bucket and scrubbing brush. It may deter them in future and word may spread among the local dog shit producers walking community.

@Babdoc

girlmom21, are you seriously suggesting that all these dogs are unaccompanied by their owners? Feral pack dogs, pissing at will? The fact is their owners are allowing their disgusting animals to foul OP’s garden gravel. OP I would rush out whenever you spot them and demand they clean it up. Hand them a bucket and scrubbing brush. It may deter them in future and word may spread among the local dog shit producers walking community.

No. I'm saying that it's not like the owners are all encouraging their dogs to stop and wee on the OP's garden. The wording was weird. That's all.

Dogs can't read

I'm having trouble envisaging this, you mean you have a thin strip of gravel and alpines in the footprint where the wall / hedge was and there's no physical barrier separating your garden from the pavement?

Dogs do pee on walls and bushes, and there's little owners can do to stop them - even being pulled along on a lead won't stop a dog determined to try to mark a specific spot.

Your best bet to deter this behaviour is either to disinfect / use something strong smelling so that the urge to scent mark is gone, or install another physical barrier like a fence or hedge.

no, there's a brick wall, then about 2 feet of more garden where a hedge used to be, that is now gravelled/planted up, then pavement.

And yes, they are letting their dogs poo on it.. most do pick it up, but its the fact they let them use it as a toilet.. they wouldn't let their dog do it on the end of someones lawn, so why is this ok? They literally stand there, often staring in my living room window at my own dog that usually barks at them, and don't care.

My dog wees on people’s wheely bins if I’m not careful. Sometimes he is so quick to cock his leg he succeeds before I can drag him away.

@StationaryMagpie

no, there's a brick wall, then about 2 feet of more garden where a hedge used to be, that is now gravelled/planted up, then pavement.

And yes, they are letting their dogs poo on it.. most do pick it up, but its the fact they let them use it as a toilet.. they wouldn't let their dog do it on the end of someones lawn, so why is this ok? They literally stand there, often staring in my living room window at my own dog that usually barks at them, and don't care.

They would let dogs do it on a lawn. They often do. We've got electric bollards and dogs regularly piss up them so I do understand your issue.

So there's your house, then your garden, then a wall, and then this gravel in question. Given its the wrong side of the wall and next to the pavement they probably assume it's not your garden to be honest.

It's a bit of an unusual set up. If it were me, under the circumstances I'd just move the wall out and bring the land into your garden proper, remove the plants and just have gravel, put the hedge back, or let it go.

I'm assuming it's definetly your land and not council land that used to have a hedge on it?

*definitely, even!

@Lockheart

So there's your house, then your garden, then a wall, and then this gravel in question. Given its the wrong side of the wall and next to the pavement they probably assume it's not your garden to be honest.

It's a bit of an unusual set up. If it were me, under the circumstances I'd just move the wall out and bring the land into your garden proper, remove the plants and just have gravel, put the hedge back, or let it go.

I'm assuming it's definetly your land and not council land that used to have a hedge on it?

^This. Around here a lot of people have "adopted" the area outside their front garden and are fiercely protective of it - one even has one of the OPs daft signs - but that area is part of the public highway, so not their property at all.

BTW OP what are you talking about in relation to "Prickly Horror" I couldn't work that out at all.

Spray white vinegar and peppermint oil. Keeps both Dogs and Cats away.

put some bricks there to block it off

Put up hedge/ wall and spray something discouraging over the gravel.

I had this problem at my last house. Dog poo just on my drive, obviously early morning dog walker. I stuck a sign to the wall saying CCTV installed, owners allowing their dogs to foul would be reported. It stopped.

We had this problem so I bought some dog repellent spray and it worked immediately. Dogs couldn't run past my house fast enough.

In order to get this to stop, firstly you need to clean up any dog mess that is currently there (if any). I'd advise getting a garden trowel and scooping it up and throwing it onto the road (so long as there is no one else around that might get hit by a flying turd).
Secondly, you'll need to wash the area down with a strong solution of washing up liquid and warm water. This apparently breaks down the scent of the pee/poo that dogs are trying to mark their spot by, well, marking their spot.
Lastly, you'll need to sprinkle this down and keep doing it for about a month or two:
www.homecareessentials.co.uk/categories/pest-control/animal-repellents/product/get-off-cat-and-dog-repellent-crystals-460g#:~:text=Get%20Off%20Cat%20and%20Dog%20Repellent%20jelly%2Dlike%20Crystals%20are,and%20dogs%27%20sense%20of%20smell.
and you'll have to keep sprinkling it every couple of months to stop the dogs using the space as their toilet.

I'd also go with a good dose of getting the hose out until such time as the owners and pets know not to use your garden as their pet toilet.