Neighbour’s dogs poo outside our house every day Wwyd?

[ThisBrickPombear]

We have a footpath that runs down the side of our house. Our kitchen window looks straight onto it and my DC use it every day to walk to school. We live on an estate and the footpath goes all the way round in a loop. It’s very popular with dog walkers who are mostly very respectful. We have a dog ourselves so no issues with dogs.

I have is an elderly neighbour who has two very aggressive terrier type dogs. He walks past at least twice a day and his dogs poo on the path right outside my house in the same spot every single day. And he doesn’t pick it up. I know it’s him as I’ve seen him on my security camera.

The problem is that this man has dementia, lives on his own and has very poor eyesight. My cleaner also cleans for him and tells me the dogs regularly poo inside his house and wee on his bed and he doesn’t notice. I can’t talk to him about the poo as I can’t get close when I see him as his dogs go mental and I’m genuinely scared of them. I wonder if he just can’t see the poo to pick it up? On the other hand My neighbours have seen him kick it into the gutter rather than picking it up.

I really sympathise with him but equally I’m heartily fed up of picking up dog shit every day and me and my DC stepping in it frequently. I don’t want to look out of my kitchen window onto a pile of stinking dog crap every day.

What should I do?

People with dementia can ‘mask’. My Dad, who had early onset Alzheimer’s at 59, had set phrases he would use which would make him appear far less affected than he was to strangers.
He would then inevitably forget the encounter just moments later.

Yes, I wash down the area around our fence with bleach too, if poo starts to regularly appear.

I would pick it up in the short term because that's realistically the only way it'll get picked up, but absolutely report to the council, including what the cleaner has said. If he's that far gone he needs help, it's not fair on the dogs but more importantly it could be dangerous to his health to be living like that. It's also important that they know the context so don't just report the fouling - a prosecution with no understanding of what he's going through won't do much good either.

If the dogs bring him comfort that might have a sad outcome but so be it. It doesn't sound sustainable to continue in this vein.

Yes ppl can and do mask , but again my point stands.
Not everything is black and white.
I think most problems on here could be sorted out with a conversation, she could try talking to him, maybe even more than once to gauge a reaction or level of acknowledgement; then make a plan.
I'm getting more replies than the " post it through his letterbox ppl" which is weird.

Just thought it was worth mentioning having had first hand experience with dementia.
There is definitely no help for those with the letterbox suggestions 🙈

Another one for report to adult social care and the RSPCA.

If he can't remember to pick up their poo how long till he forgets to feed them, take them to the vets if they are ill, give them water, or if his dementia progresses fast then how long before he has a personality shift or mistreats them.

Our late next door neighbor used to have a golden retriever. He also had dementia. After his wife died he used to still make a roast dinner every Sunday and shared with the dog instead of the wife. As time went on he forgot necessary steps like cooking the meat, then not taking it out of the packaging and eventually just put a bag of raw chicken in front of the dog. The dog ate the whole thing and died of an intestinal blockage at the vets. The distress was noticed by his other next door neighbour but it was too late by the time she'd got him to the vets.

Once necessary steps to an animals care are being ignored or forgotten I think it's time those animals were removed for their own welfare.

What-fucking-ever. You are so overinvested in being right. Have a gold star x

I agree with bleach or Jeyes on the path, although they'll just be shitting outside another house I guess. It is a sad situation but I would be tempted to get the authories involved. Perhaps, as I often think regarding most dog owners, get it to shit in your own garden before taking it out?

Nope. Only if they are registered blind and happen to be out alone.

Under the Dogs (Fowling of Land) Act 1996 (section 3 (3)), any person registered as blind in accordance with section 29 of the National Assistance Act 1948, would be exempt from picking up after their dog in a public place provided they are alone, especially where the dog in question is an official assistance dog. [King’s Printer of Acts of Parliament (1996) Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/20/enacted]

However there are also places that are legally exempt for any member of the public and include any land running along a highway where the speed of the vehicles exceeds 40mph, woodlands or land used for agriculture as well as land which is predominantly marshland, heath or moorland.

I'd do the same in this scenario, poor chap.

@Sossijiz I haven't said he is or he isn't. Maybe he's not. Is that resolved by kindly dealing with that issue or by posting poo through his door, putting on his doorstep or in his garden as multiple people have suggested?

@StormingNorman ah I see, you're just downright nasty altogether. Got it.

Whilst dementia is awful, I think anyone who has it to the extent that they can't pick up after their dogs should not be out walking them alone.

If what the cleaner says is true he needs an assessment by social services.

It is harmful though, especially if children are on their way to school, traipse it through the classroom and then have to sit on the carpet in their shoes.

we had an issue with cats pooing in the garden when DS was little and he managed to get it all over him in seconds. We got one of those cat scarers mentioned above but I don’t know if would work on dogs and if they got scared they might run off with the elderly man in tow!

In this situation, although it’s annoying, I doubt talking to the man would help, it’s not the cleaners job to do so and I doubt ASC would be interested in dogs pooing outside (and the cleaner shouldn’t have told you about his house, if she has concerns, she should report them herself). From the above suggestions, I’d say the best would be to wash the area with diluted bleach.

To what end? The poor soul has dementia. Please have some empathy.

This. Just pick it up. Poor bloke.

I totally agree with your last point. It annoys me that I clean up after my own dog wherever we are but sometimes open my gate to find a pile of dog poo on the pavement left there by someone who is in perfectly good health but lazy. In this case, the poor man has dementia, I'd just pick up and wash down the area.

You really don't understand dementia do you?

'He's still functionally performing that task so he must, must be able to understand this thing.' 🙄

As a dog owner I'm used to picking up after my dogs, it doesn't bother me.
What winds me up is when I go to open my gate and find someone has walked away leaving their dog's poo on the pavement. I always clean it up because I don't want to step in it, I don't want my dog to step in it, I don't want others to step in it and it's unsightly. Happily, it doesn't happen often.
I have in the past rushed out with a couple of poo bags as the person is walking away and I've said "excuse me, I have some poo bags." I say it in a friendly way so they think I'm being helpful. I've found that works.

On one occasion, I saw a man bag up his dog poo and then casually toss the bag down some steps which are at the side of my house. I retrieved the bag, caught up with him, handed the bag to him and told him I would report him to the council if he did it again. I've not seen him since!
Most dog owners in my experience clean up after their dogs, a minority, however, are bloody lazy.
In regards to the man in this case, as we know he has dementia. There's no suggestion his dogs are being neglected and they probably mean the world to him. They may also be his only company beyond seeing his cleaner. The most likely reason his dogs are soiling in the house is because they're not being let out to toilet frequently enough, (4 times a day for adult dogs) This is an easy fix as the cleaner could let them out into the garden when she arrives and again before she leaves. The dogs will quickly adapt to this routine and it should reduce indoor soiling or possibly eliminate it, depending on what time of day they are fed.

Likewise, I've been appalled. There's a distinct lack of empathy and neighbourly spirit in some of these posts.

I think most peoples neighbourly spirit would evaporate fairly quickly if they had to clean up dog shit on their property every day.

I certainly don't advocate putting it through his letter box or contacting social services, but I certainly would try something like bleach or pepper so the dog does its ablutions elsewhere. Maybe they will pick one of the "be kind" posters instead and they will positively enjoy this opportunity to help another human being.

If he has dementia the you should raise concerns with social services as it may mean he needs additional help.

Neat jeyesfluid

Clean it up and buy Enzyme Spray
it will discourage the dogs.

Jeyes fluid is toxic to cats