How to Keep Dogs Out of Your Yard
Was Rover in your yard again?
It happened again. Rover next door happened to visit your yard leaving behind unmistakable traces of his presence. What to do? Your neighbor poses a deaf ear to your requests of keeping his dog under control, your cat is terrified of heading out for his evening stroll, your flower bed is stepped all over and your lawn is starting to become yellow from Rover's frequent territorial marking. You ultimately seem stuck in an annoying situation where Rover is the ultimate winner, should you just give up and get used to the idea of having this four legged guest become the king of your yard?
The answer is no. There are many solutions you may resort to in order to claim your yard and enjoy it too. The secret is to turn your yard into an unpleasant place to be and if you are consistent and persistent enough, you will soon break Rover's cycle of visiting and re-visiting it after some time. Following are some humane and effective ways to keep your neighbor's dog out of your yard.
Innovative dog poop disposal systems
People love their dogs, but they dont love the mess that their dogs leave behind. Most people collect their dog waste in plastic bags and dump it in their trash can. This results in a smelly trash can and, more importantly, the waste ends up in our over-crowded landfills where it takes the plastic bag over 200 years to decompose! Even if you can live with the smelly trash can, consider this: there are 43.5 million dogs in the U.S. and they create over 10 million tons of waste every year. More disturbing is the dog waste that is not picked up and is absorbed into the ground or washed down our storm drains. It seeps into and contaminates our drinking water.
How to keep your neighbor's dogs out of your yard
• One Last Talk to Your Neighbor
Let your neighbor know that since he has been deaf to all your requests you now must step up in order to get your rights back. Often, this acts as a wake up call for any dog owner if they care for their dog. Tell him or her that you will take care of this in a legal manner and that you know that he or she is at a loss. This last talk just lets your neighbor know that you mean business and may ultimately help solve the issue before having to resort to other measures.
• Check Your Local Ordinances
If your neighbor cared less about last night's talk, then it is time to check your local ordinances. Most towns have leash laws that need to be respected or serious fines may follow. Dogs roaming free in neighborhoods put at risk drivers, people and other pets. Wandering dogs therefore may cause severe legal implications to their owners if legal ordinances are in place. Do some research and report the owner or make a copy of the law and mail it to him.
• Wet Your Lawn
If you do not want to go th legal route or if they are no traces of legal implications for free roaming dogs, then you may want to resort to some strategies to outsmart the dog. If Rover is left out each day at a certain time, turn on the sprinkler an hour prior. Most dogs do not like to walk on a wet lawn and hate to do business in it, when there are drier options around the neighborhood.
• Invest in a Scarecrow
No, you do not need to adopt a scarecrow to guard your property. A scarecrow is a water sprinkler device that is activated upon detecting motion. Rover will therefore get sprayed at with an unexpected motion and noise that will surely startle him and act as a valid deterrent. It may take two or three tries, or a bit more for very persistent dogs but all ultimately get the message sooner than later.
• Purchase a Dog Dazer
This tool emits a sound that cannot be perceived by humans but that results discomforting (not painful) to dogs. This tool works in keeping dogs away from a range of up to twenty feet. All that needs done is to press on the button as soon as an approaching dog is seen.
• Install a Fence
Obviously, this is the ultimate solution that will grant priceless peace and quiet and that will allow you to repossess the crown as king of the yard. You do not have to spend thousands of dollars in putting up a thick gauge chain link fence, rather there are alternatives to expensive fencing. Look into chicken wire or other cheaper alternatives that require little material and easy set up.
As seen, there are many peaceful and humane solutions to keeping Rover out of your yard. Please, please, please don't think about poisoning the dog or hurting it in any way. The poor dog has nothing to do with the problem, it's the owner's fault! These solutions may require a bit of initial investment but they ultimately pay off when you see your lawn turning green again, your flowers growing and no more stinky messes to pick up every day.
Effective and humane products to keep dogs off your lawn
Humane alternative to chemicals and traps, the Bird-X keeps unwanted critters out of the landscape. Effective up to 4,000 square feet, use it to repel stray dogs, feral cats, deer, rabbits, and more. Features a built-in motion sensor and sonic & ultrasonic sounds.
Comments
pepper spray or use ridda critter on the area that worked for me
I am sick to death of the neighbors mutt pooping and peeing in my yard!!!! I HAVE asked them twice to keep him out of my yard. They are too STUPID to 'get it!' I love animals, but NOT this mutt! I have thought of everything from poisoning to bb gun to paintball gun!! He is a pain in the ARSE!!!!!
@jeff for a second there i thought I had typed your comment!
i know im so tired of dog poop in my yard an dogs hiking thy legs up on my flowers ughhh Im gonna try the dog dazer
I am gonna try the dog dazer. Thanks for the hub
People need to keep their dogs and their dogs poop in there yard.
This is crazy.
- AUTHOR
No, this hub focuses on tame dogs visiting your yard, if you read through you will see that there are suggestions such as talking to your neighbor, checking your local ordinances and other solutions. Please do not poison the pets, it is not their fault! Now be decent and go talk to your neighbor or find a more humane solution, the dog is innocent and plus you can be charged if they find out you poisoned the dog!
That's for dogs running wild. What about rude neighbors that are just determined to let their dog go in the front of your house whether you like it or not. These neighbors don't have any decency. They are the rudest people I have ever seen. I am just about fed up with it too. I'm ready to put out poison-to hell with their animals. If they won't learn one way, then they'll learn another!
just get the dog shit and throw in neighbor front door
Great tips. The scarecrow was one that took me by surprise though.
Do you have advice to keep a fence-jumper INSIDE the yard? One of our dogs is a trouble-maker in this area... :P Good hub, though!
Good advice...never thought of a scarecrow, activated by motion!
very good advice. I didn't think of wetting your lawn. I like the footprint photo to start things out.
This is a good start for people who are looking to dog-proof their yard (I can definitely understand for people who have gardens and other landscaping). You can however, just put some nice/small fences around important areas (like your garden) and then just let the dogs roam around. I'm not averse to some doggie company :-)
My neighborhood only allows dogs on leases. Maybe you can creat some kind of neighborhood waste and have a meeting with everyone to discuss the. This would be quite a challenge. Thanks for a great hub.
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