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?

Let’s talk about entitlement shall we? Your dog is entitled to go to the toilet on the grass if it is publicly owned and there are no signs banning dogs. That lady is not entitled to tell anyone how to use land that doesn’t belong to her. Job done.

Over and above her entitlement; she’s rude and aggressive to boot. I would respond in kind.

Is this parody?

If not then allow me to introduce you to nature, where birds, cats, rats and squirrels shit wherever they please.😂

You could be talking about me op.

I own a patch of land next to my home but not my garden, which others assume is council owned. I have planted lavender on it and it is on my deeds. But people let their dogs piss on it turning my grass yellow and killing my plants. I have gone out and asked people not to walk their dogs on it plenty of times and mostly they stare at me as if I have two heads. Dirty, lazy entitled people who see a nicely cared for patch of land and don’t give two shits and think it is perfectly reasonable to allow their animal to ruin it.

She doesn't know that everything has conspired for outside her house to be the only place your dog can possibly wee, due to builders/injury/dog peeing preferences.

Sadly this. I was going to say something but I won't bother.

She sounds like a twat. Of course she can’t. This reminds me of sitting on some verge stopping for a break on a cycle and being told I can’t because the nearby occupier of a property maintained the land and was worried my fat arse would ruin her grass. I sat there until I’d finished my twix!!

Why don’t you fence it in?

Not allowed to.

Good grief the crazies are out in force today. As for astro turf dog pee stinks on plastic but doesn’t on grass which will get washed in the rain. Yes my dogs pee in my garden, no I don’t have any pee smell and no I don’t rinse it away. Nor do I care if hedgehogs, foxes or cats pee in the garden either. The batshittery on this thread is hilarious.

On what basis aren’t you allowed? Genuinely interested. Because I wonder if the reason you aren’t allowed is the same reason people don’t recognise it’s not Council owned land.

Take your dog somewhere appropriate or if you're too lazy to do that, don't have one.

Omg it's dog piss. Dog isn't spraying the geraniums with the runs.

Those frothing over something so incredibly blah and minor need to get a hobby or just chiiiiiilllll.

What like another piece of public land 🤔

I take care of a patch of grass next to where i park my car i keep it short so I can see if dogs etc have pooped on it so I can avoid stepping in it before I get into my car i dont own the grass i dont tell people not to use the grass if people dont pick up their poo i will infact do it myself to avoid the kids trampling it into my car or house

Your neighbour is fucking crazy

You already have dogs pissing in your garden, so it’s hardly like you care about having a nice lawn. But what of those of us who have chosen to be pet free because we don’t want to live in piss and shit and be clearing up mess? My flowers matter to me, I tend to them and they bring me joy. When I’m abroad I pay someone to look after them and keep them healthy. It devastates me to see people abuse them by allowing their dogs to piss on them. My plants are more important to me than your dog.

Glad you are not letting any of the extreme posts get to you. @StreetStrife .
MN is often a bit bonkers on the subject of dogs. Not just non-owners, owners too. So many weird takes.

How about outside your house, so you can take joy in stepping in it?

I don’t really know to be honest. We aren’t allowed to fence off our front gardens either.
I did get DH to make a sign once on the laser cutter, but someone kicked it down.

Wow some of these answers are crazzzzy, of course she can't dictate what happens to a public bit of land and dogs piss outside!

This is very similar to an incident I had a few weeks ago. I was walking 2 dogs down a street towards a field and an elderly woman came up to me and said I shouldn't be walking anywhere near her house, that I was attracting other dogs to go near her house.

Her house was fenced off and I was walking down a public footpath, absolutely bat shit crazy to think she can say this to people!

I sort of agree with this - except for the last bit which is OTT in my opinion.

You’re right that she has no legal right to stop you. And she could have gone about asking in a nicer way.

However, she has gone to effort to keep that bit of the street nice. It is a bit unkind/ antisocial to make it smell of piss. It’s her immediate environment and of course she doesn’t want it smelling in this way.

I think it’s not too big an ask to ask you to take the dog elsewhere to piss. And dogs should be trained to piss where it suits the humans not to choose wherever they like. A UTI isn’t going to be relieved in any way by pissing on grass rather than into a gutter.

And that’s great in your own garden, but we’re talking about a public place.

Training

Could she? Are you incredibly rude and aggressive? It’s so weird that every person that lets their dog on your land is also dirty. Should make them easier to spot!

In all seriousness, if you can’t fence it in, put a little sign on saying private land no entry/no dogs. The vast majority of dog owners will not let their dogs wander onto people’s private gardens.

My parents own a small strip of land that they aren’t allowed to fence off or have as part of their garden. They tried once and the council wouldn’t let them. But they make a fuss if it’s not maintained!

Where would elsewhere be ?

You can’t use private land for obvious reasons and the parks pavements and grass areas you are calling someone lazy and entitled for using. So where exactly can a dog go for a pee?