For reporting neighbour to the housing officer?

[FairCyanReader]

I live alone, in a groundfloor council flat with a couple above me with a young child.
About 6 months ago I hired a gardener to help cut the grass in the front and back garden so he comes out every 2 weeks for maintenence. 3 weeks ago he noticed, dog much all over the back garden and I shocked as I don't own a dog and I assured him my upstairs neighbours wouldn't be involved.
Well turns out I'm a fool and the neighbours have just been opening the door to their flat and letting the dog walk downstairs and right into my garden.
My sister went to speak to them as I was having a bad flare up and they apologised and said they didn't realise he was coming into my garden and not theirs for the toilet.
For about 5 days their dog has been seen in my garden via a security camera I now have but he's usually followed by someone cleaning up his mess.
This morning however he was in again and no one appeared after to clean up.
I had to call the council for something else anyway so I also mentioned the situation and was transferred to the housing officer and made a complaint.
Unfortunately, my sister came over this afternoon and noted that there was no mess in my garden and when she went out back for a cigarette, the camera only recorded her coming into the garden but not leaving which has led me to believe that my complaint was now unnecessary as it looks like the camera only recorded their dog and not them picking up his mess.
I cannot call the council back until Monday but now I'm afraid they will contact my neighbours regarded what appears to be a non-issue.

Their still letting their dog use your garden. Is their anyway the gardens can be fenced?

The back garden could potentially be fenced off but I don't have the money to get that properly installed right now and I'm in a very windy part of Scotland so something temporary will likely last a day if that

I think I'll start saving for a proper one asap though

They need to keep their dog in their own premises and if they can't then they need a lead and to walk the poor thing.

No, they need to pay to secure it so they can ensure that their dog cannot get out of their garden.

Their choice to get a dog, their responsibility

I'd speak to council and see if they can put fence up or your neighbour has a duty to keep dog off your grass

It's still a problem that their dog is using your garden. Loads of patches in your grass will be dead soon due to the ammonia in the dog wee. Quite right to have raised it with the council and the onus should be on your neighbours to install a fence since they are the ones changing the status quo.

Is it a non-issue? You refer to the garden as 'my garden'; assuming that you have exclusive rights to the garden, this couple and their dog should not be in the garden at all, whether they clean up after the dog or not. Or is it a shared garden?

She’s not said the gender of the dog, but it is more likely female dogs do that as they squat. Where as male dogs lift a leg,and spray over a wider area, and often onto something like a bush or a post.

Op, you were a bit quick off the mark given they’ve been cleaning up after the dog. I’d likely try to remove the complaint myself. And address if the issue really is the dog going in or it’s more the mess.

They need to secure their garden/pet.

I don’t have any advice on how to fix the issue but wanted to say you are not unreasonable.

you tried to raise it privately with them, they then completely took the piss by carrying on so you can’t fix the issue because they don’t respect you enough to care about fixing the issue so now the landlord has to be involved.

maybe if they realise that they could potentially be evicted for their behaviour (which they could under my council) they might actually care enough to do something about it.

my first thing will always be to try to sort something amicably with a neighbour and going to a landlord only when I’ve tried to be nice but you already tried this.

It's not a non issue if the dog still craps on your land. Even if it's picked up there's still plenty of residue left. They need to make the dog go on public land or their own property. It's not fair your grass should have dog poo on it when you have no dog. So the complaint is valid, the dog must not use your land as a toilet. If they can't control it then they must install a fence.