dog poo in garden

[thisisyesterday]

thinking of getting a dog.
but does having a dog have to mean dog poo in my garden?

i feel a bit weird about letting the kid out if there might be poo out there, and even if i clear it up straight away it's still potentially going to leave erm, residue..

can you train dogs to only poo when you take them for a walk? i have never had a dog, so honestly don't know if that's even realistic
or can you train them to only go in one area in the garden?

You probably can train them to poo only when they walk provided you can walk them frequently - but I doubt you can do this right from the start. People certainly do train dogs to use one area but again it takes time.

The 'residue' really isn't an issue provided (a) you worm regularly (but you'll be doing that anyway) and (b) use a good food that results in solid poops. Mine eats Royal Canine and the output can be picked up without a trace.

You get bird poo in any garden, and other animals - if you've got a dog it helps reduce the likelihood of your DC encountering catshit in your garden.

When our DD was very small we fenced off an area for the dog to use - that's an easy enough solution. We just tied trellis panels together, so it was temporary and movable for mowing. Worked fine for small dog.

Our two rarely poo in the garden - mainly due to timing walks to coincide with most likely times to poo (after breakfast, mid-afternoon, after dinner).

I must admit though, they do wee in the garden and when it is sunny this can smell as our garden is a real sun-trap. I do know someone whose dogs neither poo nor wee in the garden, so it is possible. Otherwise, watching where they wee and pouring a watering can over the area helps dilute it and reduce damage.

I pour water over the pooed areas to get rid of the residue. In theory, if you dont raw feed and use a good quality dog food and worm regularly the poo will be hard and there will be no nasties in it. Some people with children divide the garden up and the dog exercises in a separate are to the children.

So in short you aren't happy with a dog you own leaving dog poo residue in your garden where your DC might step in it, but you are absolutely fine with him leaving it anywhere else, where other people might step in it

Tbh I think you are completely unsuited to dog ownership. That sort of attitude gives the rest of us a bad name.

noinspiration where the actual fuck have I said that????

where, in my original post, did i say "can i train a dog to poo when i take it for a walk AND NOT PICK IT UP"?

hmmm?

yeah fencing off an area is a good idea. our garden is quite tiny so not sure where we could fence off, but it's something to think about for sure.

Feeding the right diet you get nice firm poos that are easy to pick up. Arm yourself with a little trowel to pick them up. On the rare occasions that their is a sloppy one water over it.

DD is brillant at dog poo identification prior to running wildly in the garden.

I was using your own terminology - residue. You miss read me.

Look, no hard feelings, it's just that if you are stressing about a bit of poo in the garden the whole dog thing is not for you. A pup will poo in your house, an adult dog will sit his slightly grubby bum on your carpets.

Sorry, I was a bit rude before. Not like me, bad day. I hate stepping in scraped up dog poo smears though, it's a major bug bear of mine. Mine are trained to go under the hedge in our garden.

I have seen these funny little plastic posts you can put in the garden, then you can train your dog to only go in that spot. Only speaking from my recent experience, our pup seems to prefer going in a certain area, and I started off taking him in the garden on the lead because we have a pond, so he got used to going where I took him IYSWIM.

right, .so you can train them to go in a certain area then.

i'm not sure what sort of attitude you think i have that gives dog owners a bad name?
if i pick up dog poo and there is some residue how can i pick it up? or am i supposed to take a pressure sprayer with me?

i am more concerned about it in my garden because my kids play out there every day. they don't generally roll around on public footpaths

I've got one of those plastic pots mentioned. Its a dog loo. TBH I'm not so sure its any good - just a swamp of mushed up dog turd.

I've got 3 kids who play outside every day and they have never trod in any.

Most poo is easily picked up. Its the really squitty ones when they have an upset stomach or something that leave stuff behind, but really, you would see and smell those first !

Dogs are a bit like children. Their poo becomes almost sort of acceptable, whereas somebody else's children's nappies or dog poo is just the pits

good point typicalvirgo, not sure a giant pot of poo sounds that appealing

we were considering paving our back garden as well, because it's so waterlogged and unusable during rainy weather... do dogs need/prefer to have some grass to play on?

we have parks etc nearby so would do walks there, but does it matter if our garden doesn't have grass?

My dog almost never goes in our garden - maybe 4 or 5 times in a year. We manage this by taking her for regular walks and timing them for when she is most likely to want to go. After a while you will get to know the dog and its habits. Sometimes I take her on a longer walk than planned ,so she can 'produce' something before we go home.

We have three little kids - 6 and under. We have trained our dog to do his business in our garden, rather than when he is our in the parks/commons which are inherently communal areas. Our dog, our poo!

typicalvirgo - the thing I was thinking of wasn't a doggy loo, but a stick they wee and poo near here. It looks like a giant golf tee. No idea if they actually work though

I do a pick-up tour of duty 2X/day (rain, shine or blizzard!) and have trained the children to scout for lawn ornaments before they play in the backyard. We've never had any issues. Washing hands after playing out (human) and regular veterinary care to take care of nasties (canine) should go without saying .

I think it's a perfectly reasonable line of query, btw. You sound like a thoughtful would-be dog owner. Good Luck!

Dogs are a bit like children. Their poo becomes almost sort of acceptable, whereas somebody else's children's nappies or dog poo is just the pits

So true!!

My pup has decided for himself the best place to poo in our garden - under the swings He is only 10 weeks though, so the fact that he refuses to poo indoors is a bonus and I'm not going to worry about where outside he does it until this rain buggers off and the kids go outside again he is a bit older!

I second/third etc what everyone else has said. Don't worry about residue. The sun has amazing disinfecting ways, and other living things will come along to tidy up. It's sensible to clear up after your dog as there are so many dogs, and most of them are owned by people, and it's horrible to squelch through dog turds when it's unneccesary. It may help to go and watch a dog training session to see what happens. Most trainers should welcome people who are thinking of getting a dog.
If you do go ahead, you will get used to what comes out of dogs' bottoms - bits of grass, bits of shoe/plastic bag/toys... If you see something go in that isn't edible, you will be watching like a hawk to make sure it comes out the other end!