Dogs urinating up my house

[GrettaM]

I have an end of terrace house that is directly on the pavement - no front garden or barrier of any sort. I have seen several dog owners stop and allow their dogs to urinate against the front and side of my house. I consider this is poor and disrespectful behaviour on the part of the owners. They would not lead their dog up a garden path to urinate against someone's house so why should my house be fair game just because it is on the street? I know it is just wee and washed away by rain but the same could be said about people urinating on war memorials etc. It is the "English mans home is his castle" and the respect issue. Grateful for views.

Separately I would be grateful for ideas on deterrents. I have tried sprinkling curry powder on the edge of my house and spraying white vinegar but the problem still occurs. Incidentally there is also a severe problem with people not picking up their dog poo in the road so I have been taking this action to try to stop that too. Occasionally I have to perform gymnastics to get my pushchair to avoid the poo when wheeling it in the house.

No I wouldn't walk my dog up your path to pee on your house if you had a front garden, but meh, I'm sure my boy has peed against terrace houses etc. Can't see the problem unless it's right by the front door. Part and parcel of having a house right on the street.

My dog has occasionally peed on the corner of on-street houses, but I would certainly not encourage it - it can be hard to pull them off if they just do it, though. Not picking up poo is gross and irresponsible. I've accosted people and given them poo bags before. If you can catch them and get a description I wouldn't hesitate to report.

Red chilli pepper flakes are meant to be a deterrent but if curry hasn't worked, it might not. You could try dousing with simple solution to get rid of the pee smell that will be attracting other dogs to pee, but unfortunately the minute one dog does it it will attract others.

Thanks for your replies which have given me more of an insight into dog behaviour and owner views (which have confirmed what I thought). I appreciate the problems with living right on the street but like many people was obliged to compromise when moving house. Plus I hadn't quite appreciated how unpleasant living on the street could sometimes feel until I had actually experienced it. I would certainly advise any potential mover to avoid it if possible for a number of reasons including the loss of privacy and ones house being so exposed to people. When, like most people, I want to get inside my house and shut my door to the world.

Round where I live a lot of dog walkers take a little bottle of water with detergent in it and wash away the dog pee if they pee against someone's house. Also other peole leave a full plastic bottle of water on the floor on the corner where the dogs pee. For some reason this deters the dog from peeing there.

Boca, the detergent idea sounds very considerate. I would imagine that would be something that goes on in a more well to do area on the whole so can't see it happening round by me.

Thank you for the bottle of water tip. I'll try that.

I would add that, what has particularly riled me (and my husband) on occasion is that there is a particular man who regularly lets his two dogs wee on my house including taking his dogs up my alleyway to wee on the side wall (we are yet to install a gate). On a couple of occasions he has seen me watching him do it and carried on regardless. It is not so much the hygiene aspect as the sense of "hang on a minute that's my home, not some random wall" thing. It is the complacency that bothers me. I don't mind so much if an owner recognises it's someone's home and makes an attempt to encourage their dog to move along.

Ok, I may be bang on the street but I still have pride in my home.The man I mentioned is a tall man and, given my slightly less well to do area I don't think I would generally want to take people on.

Thanks again.

And having earlier left my house today to see a puddle up my wall, if not on but right next to the front door, well, actually it is a bit unhygienic too.

A puddle up your wall is a miracle of nature and needs photographing..

Unfortunately, living right on the street dogs will pee on your house if another has before. Well, male dogs anyway! It'd be a bit hard to stop a dog peeing once it's started.

Must be awful by your door though, I'm not convinced there is any way to stop it tbh, but you may want to clean it away with dog urine cleaner to remove the smell.

Is it obvious the wall and alleyway belong to you?

I wouldn't let my dog pee on someone's house, I think it's disgusting. It's someone's home.

OP you need to clean it with something like biological washing powder solution or buy something like Johnsons stain and odour remover in order to remove the smell, otherwise dogs will just keep using your wall.

Buy a deterrent spray and be very liberal with it. Someone on the doghouse mentioned something a while ago that you can get from Wilkco, that's supposed to be very good but I can't remember the name, sorry - had the word pepper in it I think. Anyway, Wilkco will know, make sure you keep using it and replenish it if it rains.

When you see the damage dog urine can do to lamp posts and letter boxes, I'd really rather not have dogs using my house as a urinal, not to mention the smell.

I don't think it's remotely unreasonable to want people to try and avoid their dogs peeing on the wall of your house, especially near your front door.

I try as much as possible to make sure mine don't cock their legs against anything which might result in it being unpleasant for other people. So no weeing on people's walls/flower beds/cars/bins and also anything that people might have to work on like lamp posts/exchange boxes/etc.

I agree with getting some proper cleaner (Simple Solution Urine Destroyer is great stuff) as once one dog has been it'll encourage others.

Triptrap, yes obvious the wall is mine. I'm not quite sure of status of alleyway as not lived there that long. I think it is unadopted. We plan to put gate up and give neighbours keys. It is currently inaccessible due to foliage so no reason for anyone to be up there.

Pigsdofly, cornflake. Thanks for your sympathetic responses. You both sound like very considerate dog owners. I will try your suggestions. I have a wilko 5 mins down the road. I agree that it is a case of regularly putting on solution. I have also tried "get off" spray but I think I wasn't applying frequently enough.

I never let my dog wee up someone's house or even garden wall come to that. Also he is not allowed to wee up post boxes, cars, bins, flowers. My dog is quite big but it's easy enough to get him moving if he stop to sniff any of those

Just by way of update. I purchased Out! Stain and odour remover from Wilko. And Doff dog and cat repellent from Aldi. I applied the Out stuff just once. I have applied the deterrent most days but lately just every other day if it's not raining.

I have so far noticed a huge difference. I had generally been noticing 2 wet patches of wee on my house a day and now don't notice any. We have also put a gate up in the alley. So feeling a lot happier about the situation.

Just seen your update Gretta. That's great, albeit a pain that you have to keep doing it, but I'm glad you've got a result.

I have the same problem in Barnard Castle Greta & the fact is some dog owners are simply ignorant &/or malicious. We have a lot of stone architecture in BC & it's all covered in dog urine stains. Even after complaining to our local authority nothing improves, it's simply disgusting behaviour & should be treated the same as usual dog fowling i.e. hammer them with a penalty notice.

The problem is once one does it there is a strong attraction for others to pee in the same place. Glad you have found something to deter them.

I don't have a dog anymore and it took me a while to get used to the one we did have when i lived with my ex partner. I can honestly say though that i grew to love our dog after training it to do it's mess out the back and not in the home. What i believe (and i will still maintain this belief) is that dogs don't need to be walked on a daily basis as many avid dog owners would claim simply because of exercise. Our dog was a small terrier and we had a long back yard. My partner would only walk our dog on occasion if we were taking our children on a park. But at home everytime our dog heard anyone walking down the side entry of our house he would bolt up and down the garden like his ass was on fire and would do this for a fair time before coming back inside. My partner and i agreed that from the level of panting our dog was doing it did not need to go on a walk outside of the house that day. There is this myth that dogs need to be walked because of the species behaviour pattern (which i think is utter tosh and most dog walkers like to take their dogs out on walks so they can socialize with other dog walkers and get some fresh air themselves. I too cannot stand it when dog owners let their dogs dawdle near a wall to cock it's leg up for a piss. There is no need for any of that. If dog owners need to walk their dog (fair enough) but why don't they walk it around their own back yard first and then after it has had a shit and urinated then take it out for a proper walk? This would at least reduce the chances of dogs doing their mess up or around outside properties where the smell of piss overwhelms and is annoying as well as unhygienic. Considering that ignorant dog owners (and there are many of those where i live) would walk their dog on the small park near me at least three times a day and do this on a daily basis the smell of urine that meets your nostrils before you have even walked through the park front entrance is disgusting. I am desperate to move away from the area where i live now as the populace of dog walkers has risen by at least 50% in the last three years of the six i have lived here. I will ensure my new premises will be miles away from any parks or busy streets. Because as well as the local resident dog walkers there are also the travelers who live miles away that regularly park their cars all over the place so they can bring their dogs to this park for it's daily excursion. I will finish by saying that if the powers that be really wanted to help reduce the level of pollution from dog piss and excrement that is dominating our streets and parks ( just like back in the day before certain restrictions came into play ) they could simply enforce a law stating that all dog owners should only own a dog if they have home facilities to maintain it so that they can clean up their own dog mess from their own back yard..especially dog piss which cannot not be picked up off the ground but can be hosed down. It would be fair on non dog owners who have to smell dog piss on the outskirts of their homes. Of course this would not stop drunkards after a night out or vagabonds looking to relieve themselves from doing the same thing if gone unnoticed but that is a separate issue because they are human beings and should know better. Dogs behave according to their design and do not know any better but their owners do and it is them that this debate is targetting.