Should residents be able to 'police' sections of their street?

[StreetStrife]

After just being shouted at by an incredibly rude and aggressive woman who barged out of her house to have a go at me for letting my dog wee on a patch of council owned grass at the end of her close I thought I would ask wise Mumsnetters their thoughts.

The woman who took it upon herself to police her street, and also, apparently, takes it upon herself to 'look after' this small patch of grass by planting a few geraniums in the middle, claims that because she looks after it and children play there sometimes I should not let my dog on it. Apparently my husband has "already been told not to use it" by her, so how dare I.

My thoughts are that children play in gardens and parks where dogs go all the time, that this is not her land, and that this is a convenient place for my dog to wee while we temporarily have no garden access due to building work. It is the closest bit of public grass we have, and I am currently injured and can't walk too far (although this is not a visible injury). My dog is prone to UTIs and likes to wee on grass rather than pavement, and often refuses to go if there is no grass. The next nearest patch of grass is an extra five minutes away.

This has reminded me of many incidents I've been involved in or heard of over the years, often to do with parking spaces on public highways but outside someone's house.

Should residents be able to 'police' the use of the streets directly in front of or around their home? I think no, so AIBU? If you are one of the people that think I am unreasonable I'd love to hear why, and if you do this on your street do people abide by your demands?

IMO if you are going to try to exclude certain things (or exercise control) over land that you have absolutely no entitlement to, you have to be reasonable and polite.

Leaping out of your house to shout aggressively/rudely at people is not going to get you what you want, nor should it. The neighbour should be appealing to people’s good nature, not behaving as though she owns she place.

Yes I'd prefer that dogs didn't wee on my front wall but I accept that if they have to go, they have to go. And pray for rain.

This is a joke, right?

This.

I'm astounded at many of the responses here- dogs need to go and it's not her land. All she had to say was 'is it possible that you can get your dog to wee away from the flowers I'm planting to make the verge look nice" and you'd have been "oh of course" then taken it elsewhere another time. There's no need for aggression. And getting the dog to wee in the gutter...boy dogs in particular want to mark their territories and sniffing out other dog's scents is part of their socialising process. Ignore the batshit woman and just take your dog elsewhere. I hope you feel better soon

As a dog owner myself you will be in not be surprised that I think this woman is being totally unreasonable.

This is not her land, she plants a few cheap plants and treats it’s like her personal RHS.

No one asked her to plant them, does she have her own garden to plant the plants she chooses to plant - if so then i suggest you tell her to do that in future.

Public space is for all to enjoy, unless she wants to arrange a 24 hour surveillance on this particular patch of land she needs to get a life.

No reasons from you are needed in my opinion, you dog needs a walk and will of course need to wee etc that’s life if not in your garden then somewhere else.

She has no right to restrict or intimidate you or you dog those that think otherwise are also control freaks !

When I was little and we had a dog, we always had to put it in the gutter when it started to do a poo, but I have never heard of it being done when the dog only wanted a wee. Most male dogs go up lamp posts or anything else that takes its fancy. The smell from dog urine seems to dissipate in the air almost immediately!

So you want the right to allow your dog to piss wherever it wants, even if that is essentially in a space she's adopted as a community garden. 🤔

YABVU. Sure, its not "hers" but she's doing the community a favour by taking it in hand, and this is how the "community" repays her. By getting their dog to piss on it.

Well, they do say no good deed goes unpunished.

What I can't understand is why you're not mortified, but instead have decided to defiantly assert your dog's right to piss wherever it pleases.

I like this or had no idea dogs once peed in the gutter would make life so much more pleasant if mine knew how to do this

It was YOU wasn't it? 😈

The premise of what she’s saying I don’t think is wrong, it’s the way she went about getting it across. Yes she may be annoyed but if anyone thinks you can just stop a dog peeing, think again. Dogs have to go like us, they don’t use a toilet and can pee wherever they are. The bottom line is, annoyed or not you can’t stop people from using a public space 🤷🏻♀️ But you can get them to take care of it by getting your point across in a non-aggressive way.

Dogs wee and poo (which we pick up) when out on walks. Usually mine have always had their long wee in garden prior to taking out so the rest are just fake pees.

For those who live in flats their only option is to take for walks, which they should.

I dont understand how this is so offensive? Public grass, so anyone who plants flowers is from own free will and while lovely to do so, the reality is that they will be trampled on by kids and dogs.

I do understand but sorry no one can claim a public area? Xxx

Why don't you buy a square (as big as you can carry) of artificial grass, let the dog use it, then take up up, put it in a bag and wash it for next time?

I can see your neighbour's point of view. She's trying to make the area look nice and you're letting your dog piss on it. Surely you can get the dog to go in the gutter.

I think this thread is pathetic. How small your life must be to care about a patch of council owned grass and a bunch of geraniums. There are much bigger things in the world that are way more important.

It's more the being shrieked at in the street by someone trying to take control of a public space that bothered me.

Yeah, I am with you OP, that is a complete overreaction. And the over inflated disgust towards you is unnecessary!

Tut OP.
You should know by now that the only animals that cannot pee outside in public spaces are dogs.

OP I'm sure the thread has morphed into something else entirely now like should dogs pee on the moon or planting geraniums is a health hazard .
My head says she should not shout at you of course and you can't really help where dog goes to loo.

However on the other hand I think our environment plays a huge part in our emotional and mental health and this lady has made the effort to put time and work in to make this area look nicer and imagine if every road had someone like her getting scrappy unloved bits of land and turning them into something loved and pretty.
So my heart says ...as upsetting as it was...forgive her ,look at the higher picture and try and avoid that patch of grass.

Yes, you are being unreasonable. Someone evidently cares for that small patch, and dog urine is toxic to grass and plants so your dogs urine will spoil it's appearance - causing yellow burn patches. Sounds like you are talking about a small patch so is it really so hard to keep your dog off it assuming it's on a lead?

Do to pee in a gutter yano😂😂😂. It’s a bloody dog. You do realise that rats, cats, mice, etc will all be peeing on it? U will also have birds peeing n pooping from the sky. A dog really isn’t going to make a difference

This site is full of weirdos honestly half of them sit there bored with no life and get gobby on here cos it gives them a wide sense of excitement.

it’s your dog and it can pee where ever it likes so long as it’s legal, ignore anyone else! Foxes, cats, rats, mice, birds will all be peeling on it! Your dog isn’t making a difference. Maybe some people don’t want children playing on the grass because they may want to chill and not hear screaming and screeching or balls being bounced - but tough. Life happens. And so does dog pee!

Some here who have similar have planted thorny shrubs such as pyracantha, also called firethorn, which is a dense prickly evergreen, or berberis or hawthorn. Hawthorn loses its leaves in winter. You can keep them low with regular cutting or high if you want, depending on the layout. Pyracantha is fast growing. If you put gravel, they'll still use it as a toilet, no? Same with flowers.

This. Plus the amount of rain we get in this country means it’s not going to stink of piss for very long. And it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that a human has pissed there on their way home from the pub.

Why can't people train the dog to piss into the kerb near a drain? I wouldn't ever encourage my dog to piss on flowers that were clearly planted by someone to make the area pleasant.
Why is dog piss seen as acceptable all over the bloody place?