To think that this is especially scuzzy, even for most dog owners

[PeeWeeTree]

Yes, it's a dog one.

I live opposite a green where over the last couple of days, people have been putting out there live (now dead) xmas trees, ready for collection. Looking out of my window, I see a couple walking their dog, sniffing around the trees (fine!), then cock its leg and begin urinating over the trees. Some poor tree collector guy will be along to retrieve these trees, perhaps he is wearing gloves, perhaps not - even if he is, I doubt he'll take them off between pick-ups, meaning he'll be transferring dog piss on the steering wheel.

Or is it no big deal, and the trees may have squirrel pee on them anyway and he'll know it's a dirty job?

YANBU - it's gross and thoughtless
YABU - meh, don't care

Maybe you should picnic in your own garden or let your kids do cartwheels in your own garden the. You won't have to worry about other people and dogs using public spaces 😊.

I sure love sitting in a park having a picnic with my husband and dog and someone's bratty little kids are jumping around, doing cartwheels, being loud and annoying.

Don't like it? Don't go. Use your own garden. Hope that helps.

LOL @ the idea of persuading dogs to only piss in their own gardens 😂

Or stay at home and let your children play on their AstroTurf lawn? Because you come across someone who has one and isn't suited to outdoor living.

The thing is, it's not just a case of getting a dog to empty its bladder and that's it. Dogs don't just urinate because they need a wee (though obviously they do that sometimes). Most of the time they do it to mark and a dog will do this dozens of time on a walk - a squirt here and a squirt there.

But I agree owners shouldn't let their dogs pee against doors/gates. That is quite gross. We live rurally so our dogs are peeing out in the open where lots of other animals will have peed/pooed before them so I don't really notice it. I did however go for a walk with a friend and her greyhound in a town a few months ago and the greyhound seemed to pee on every few gate posts. I was appalled that she let her dog do this and told her so. It's not difficult to stop if you're watching what your dog is doing/about to do.

All I can say in reply to that is try it. Next time you take your dog for a walk try and stop it marking. I wait the report of your success with interest.

@BIossomtoes - you can await my report as long as you like but you won't get one! As I said, we live rurally. This means my dogs are walked, usually off lead, in fields/woods/moorland where cows, sheep, horses, deer, horses, rodents etc have been. Not sure why I need to - or could - stop them marking in that environment?!

Try it in a street and see how you get on. We have to walk down a street to get to our rural walk, presumably you have them too.

@BIossomtoes - nope. We live 6 miles from the nearest street. So dogs either go out the gate and straight onto bridle paths/fields/woods or are driven further afield to similar environments. Sorry to disappoint.

But if we ever did need to walk along a street I wouldn't be letting them mark gate posts etc - I thought that was clear from my first post.

When I was younger and doing all sorts of casual and temporary manual type jobs, I have had jobs involving picking up outside stuff.

I can assure you I would not have given a toss whether a dog had pissed on it at some point!

Anything that's been lying around aside is filthy and you'd wear gloves anyway. so it's just not something I'd ever have cared about. Dog pee is no different from rat pee, cat pee, fox pee, bird shit or whatever, and you'd fully expect all of those things to have been in contact with dumped trees, so it's a non-issue.

I prefer minging.

You did make it clear. I’m just intrigued as to how you’d stop them.

@BIossomtoes - ah right, I see. Just a gentle pull on the lead to move them on if they're positioning themselves to cock their legs. They usually sniff before they cock so it's not like there's no warning. I'd also walk between the dog and house/shop fronts.

You correct them! If a dog is just marking and not desperate to unload a wee, then it's really easy, I've done it with loads of dogs as long as they are on a lead of course.

I'm quite conscious of where I allow my dog to cock his leg, if I saw him sniffing around a shop doorway or a persons bike or anywhere that I didn't think was appropriate, I'd give him a slight tug on the lead, and say something like 'come on', anyone who knows their dogs, would normally know the signals of imminent cockage, and you can normally distract easy enough, you need to pay attention to the signs though.

Dogs cock their leg to scent mark, not because they need to urinate, so its pretty easy to stop them and move them on.

A fox could piss on them, a hedgehog or some other mammal (I cant work out what has taken to hiding in my tree that has been half cut up waiting for the compost heap that my stupid cat and dog are hissing and barking at) - I very much doubt that some working class lad or lass is remotely bothered about germs or viruses from cat or dog piss 😀 they can catch from picking up a tree (that none of us should of had in the first place) - they are probably laughing at us for spunking £60 upwards for a tree we throw away each January whilst insisting climate change is a thing.

edited to add, I know climate change is real, but it’s pretty obnoxious to get a real tree and then throw it away after Christmas whilst telling the working classes who collect them we all should be environmentally conscious despite your income

Sorry I missed this gem of a post yesterday. Pretty much every dog in the neighbourhood will have assumed the trees were positioned there specifically for their enjoyment. I doubt any dog could walk past without making a contribution, once the first dog left his aroma. I’m sure the collection team will have gloves anyway, so let the pooches have their fun.

I’ve worked as a bin woman in the past, honestly that’s probably the least gross thing they will have picked up this week, it wouldn’t bother me, you have gloves on and if they’ve been sitting out you know they’re going to be gross.

You are right, I have dogs and love dogs and still think a lot of male dog owners are really antisocial with where they let their dogs pee. Up walls in towns, in doorways, on fences, they seem to think its OK because they don't know how to prevent it and can't be bothered. It's gross and it stinks.
All dogs need to pee somewhere- but the vast majority of leg cooking isn't a desire to empty the bladder it is marking, and can be prevented by moving the dog away when you see it start to sniff.
I compete at a dog sport that uses barrier fencing. At the end of a event it is rolled up by hand by volunteer helpers. Everyone knows this yet many people still stand and watch their dogs pee up it.

I’d understand if it was dog shit, but dog pee? Who cares ?
The guy has an outdoors job and probably not precious