I would be worse then you I would scream out the window at them instead of tapping.... I think it is disrespectful when people does anything to anyone's yard.. When I walk my dog I let her do her thing in our yard before we head out. Just in case she had to poop I bring a plastic shopping bag but there is an lot that has no house ( the house was torn down or something) that and a small wooded area by the creek that I let her pee in.

Smart design, like substantial (2') decorative stones at the edges of beds to protect the plantings, is a good idea.

I would go out and point a garden hose at them. In fact, that's exactly what I have done. I watched a guy let his dog go on Conundrum, and raced out to confront him. The guy denied it, I said I watched him. I've never seen that person or his dog again. In the meantime, I hosed the plant down very well. You can also try scratching cayenne pepper around the plants, maybe that will keep them away.

Spray the DOG and the dog walker head to foot with fish emulsion.

They'll pick a different route!

Believe me a dog-- even a whole male-- does exactly what he's permitted to do. To allow a dog to go wherever they want, that's ridiculous and completely preventable.

Handicapped assistance dogs are routinely taught to eliminate on command. I teach all my dogs to do this.

People will be people. They should not do this, but unless you stand out there are guard the edge of your property, they will. And don't blame the dogs; it is the owners' fault.

I would follow HoovB's suggestion and do something clever with design. A border of river rock is a good idea, as is an inexpensive, low, decorative fence.

"Spray the DOG and the dog walker head to foot with fish emulsion."

*** ONLY do this if you wish to be arrested for assault.
Make no mistake, that IS legally assault.

I have a few hundred roses. I have three dogs, of some size. They urinate in the yard, and my male sometimes urinates on a plant.

I haven't seen any damage from that activity, so it's not on the list of things that raise my bloodpressure.

Jeri

I agree with hoovb and diane_nj I would spray pepper spray at the base and around the roses with it then a week later or something but a fence or stone border around it...

I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but I don't think one can expect neighbors to treat the median the same as they'd treat the yard around one's house. You may take care of the median, but realistically, it's out there in the middle of public space.

I don't think it's the best idea to plant something there if you know it will upset you to see dogs urinating on it. As neighbors we really do have to live and let live a little, and why make yourself crazy over something that many people will not see as wrong?

I completely missed the part about it being a median strip. While it is regrettable that dogs are urinating on your roses, it is a chance you take when using it as an extension of your personal garden. I think it is lovely that you beautify this space, a true gift to the neighborhood, but it is at best a gamble. I would not put your personal favorites out there, or anything that would break your heart if damaged or even stolen. Some rose growers on this forum have actually had plants stolen out right of their front gardens. A median strip would be even more vulnerable. I don't know if you technically own the median strip in your part of the world, or if it is considered municipal land where you live, but people are going to regard it as public space and they are going to treat it that way.

Rosefolly

yeah, I have been down this road of planting up public areas of common land near my house. There have been a few successes - 1000 narcissi, planted 8 years ago have naturalised in the grass and the council grass cutters leave them until the leaves have died down. On the other hand, 5 fruit and nut trees have been systematically vandalised by drunks and children. I would be very reticent to risk roses, or indeed, anything which takes more than a season to mature.

hmmm. i guess i am surprised, but i appreciate the heads up! i am nice about it. but i just thought people would recognize a cared for plot of land, with roses and all, and not let their dog lift their leg on it. ((and i know its the dog owner, not the dog)).

i do think "live and let live", in regards to many things, i guess i am naive to think that lady even knew what i was talking about.

so, yes, the garden hose. can't really afford to build a wall, and i don't have a sign requesting compliance. i've always thought that would encourage, rather than discourage this behavior.

ok, i'll smile and wave, and then go get the hose. gotta say tho, i sure got a chuckle out of the fish emulsion suggestion.

if it matters, i am in an urban area, where the distance from my home to the street is probably 16 feet, with 3 feet being the bed between house and sidewalk, 3' being sidewalk, and 10 feet to the curb.

thanks for the reality check!!

I think people are confused about what you mean by "meridian". Are you saying the strip where you planted is public property or private? If it's your own private property, then you certainly have a right to ask people not to let their pets relieve themselves in your yard.

If it were only happening once in a while, it wouldn't harm your plants, BUT if all the dogs passing by are marking the same plant day after day, dog after dog, you could have a problem.

Years ago, when we showed roses, we planted some real "bankers" in the small bed outside our fence, between the fence and the street.
This is a private Lane, so yes, it was our property.

When the roses were blooming well, the blooms started disappearing. Whole sprays. Individual blooms. All were roughly wrenched from the plants, leaving damaged canes behind.
We finally caught the "perp" she was a disturbed woman who was coming around before dawn and "picking" blooms which (we think) she was using to make dried wreathes to sell. We had to call the police (who were mostly interested because of the pot in her car, and her strange behavior, but they scared her badly enough, she didn't come back.

A VERY noted ARS figure was plagued by whole rose plants disappearing from his very noticeable front yard. (Long before I knew him, I almost drove my car off the road, coming around a corner and seeing that garden in full bloom.) HE stayed up one night watching, and eventually, clothed in jamnmies and slippers, chased the perp down a highly-travelled street, on foot, at 3 a.m.

Four roses were stolen from our local park, not long after our rose society planted them. They only stole the newest and priciest. The cops thought that was pretty funny.

A very mature Reve d'Or was killed by "cable guys" who chopped it to the ground. (Yes, we'd been foolish enough to grow it on a utility pole.) The next thing we planted there was something eminently replaceable.

All I'm saying is -- stuff that is out next to the sidewalk is always going to be in a certain amount of jeopardy. It's wise to plant (IF you really have to plant) stuff there which is not your pride and joy.

Humans are more important than plants.
And DO NOT spray anyone with a garden hose, or even threaten to, unless you wish to explain your actions to the local cops. (Who generally speaking, won't be sympathetic.)

Jeri

I have 11 (yes, eleven) small-medium breed dogs. I volunteer at the animal shelter, and some are mine and others are fosters. I also have about 300 roses bushes, about half of which are in the fenced in backyard.

So....do these two hobbies mix? sure they do. Even with the 11 dogs (5 males) they haven't done much of any damage to the rose bushes. Dogs will be dogs...the rain will wash away most of what they leave behind. I guess I just think of the backyard as their playground, and I just borrow it sometimes to grow roses :)

Tammy

Peeing can damage a bush if done repeatedly in the same spot. A dog in our extended family had a "favorite" but some trimming took care of the few dead, small, branches. Pooping, however, is a different matter, a matter of hygiene. Many municipalities have ordinances regulating this. First I would check the city ordinances. If pick up is required, I would speak, pleasantly, to the offenders who might not be aware of the regulations. If they continued to offend, I would videotape them and bring the video tape to the police.

When I was a child, a woman used to walk her dog on a leash and allow it to poop on our grass every day. One day my mother went out and asked her to stop. The woman replied that she could not help where her dog decided to do its "duty". My mother replied that if she continued, my mother would walk our dog on her grass and that our dog was a lot bigger than hers was. That put an end to it.

So, I guess, whatever works.

Cath

HAHA -- Someone here commonly let their dog defecate in front of our place.

DH took a plastic bag.
Picked up the deposit.
Re-deposited the package in their driveway.

Only took a time or two. :-)
My usual method, in THAT case, is to call out "Do you need a plastic bag?" That usually works.

:-)

Jeri

Lol the lady in the Condo's next to my actual home (gardens are at moms) takes her dogs every day from their side of the road to ours for their duty. I used to pull up next to her in my car from her side of the street and yell...forget your bag again today? Just like every other day this week? She was a tad embarrassed when their condo association needed my help and she realized who I was. Now she has her husband walk the dogs and he does bring a bag.

But for the OP, I would suggest hosing the roses and beds down really well and then looking in to the dog/cat/skunk replants (ask to make sure it will not harm your roses) I would apply that and then edge the bed with a strong smelling companion plant. Marigolds, society garlic..etc. Something dogs are not going to want to sniff.

Then when the time is right for your area, dig up the roses you cut and move to a protected part of your fenced yard. Life is too short to make enemies out of your neighbors.

An electric fence used to keep animals on your property works wonders keeping them off. Just put a sign up to warn people. Have you ever seen a dog lift his leg and have his pee hit this type of fence??? Works wonders. The dogs WILL stay away from your property. I know a man in C.FL that did this. Just a flip of the switch and no doggie pee or pooh no more. The dog walkers also got the "hint".

Again -- If the land in question is not privately-owned, an electric fence around it would be of questionable legality. Not to mention pretty hostile.

I'd strongly recommend consulting an attorney before doing something that could injure, say, a passing child.

Legality aside, as Kippy points out -- "Life is too short to make enemies out of your neighbors."

i like kippy's words.

just wondering how y'all handle the poopers than aren't scoopers??

keep an eye out...

Aren't there organic dog repellents? No clue if they'd work or not, but seems they'd be harmless enough, no one would know they were there, and might quietly deter the dogs from your bushes. Worth a try?

I've never actually found a dog repellant that repelled dogs -- tho most of them certainly repelled ME. :-)

Jeri

Just revisited this thread and I hasten to say, I was KIDDING! I would not spray anyone with fish-e or plain water. And In re-reading it sounds like the poster took over a public median strip (NOT the curb strip in front of their house). Many long time residents may have walked their dogs on this median strip well before it was taken over for a private garden. No one has the right to convert a community green belt or public space to their own use.

Back when I had horses and we rode around the neighborhood (I live in the boonies), there was a dacshund with his gang that always ran into the road barking and chasing us. The dictator would even nip at their heels. I saw something that said to carry a squirtgun with soapy water to spray in dog's faces while you were walking. I got a squirtgun and loaded it with plain water because that burns your eyes without the soap. The first time we rode by the house, out came the dictator leading his gang and somehow I was lucky enough to hit him full in the face. He came to a complete stop and turned and ran with his gang on his heels. After that we did not even need the squirt gun, we just had to point our fingers and make noise. Ha, ha, ha! it still gives me a good laugh! Did anyone mention motion activated sprinkler? don't know why people don't want their dogs pooping in their yard and think it is okay to use someone else's as a toilet.

ken.n.ga.mtns, yes, I have seen a dog urinate on an electric fence. I had one inside a dog run because the dog kept digging under it and climbing over it. My daughter asked me to keep her poor Buddy for a few days and he wet it the first day. After that he just stayed in the middle of the dog-run. Had to give him extra love.

The people in our area are so politically correct (and we have strong laws about it) that EVERYONE who walks a dog (and the sidewalk in front of our house has a LOT of pedestrian traffic) carries plastic bags and uses them to clean up after their dogs. The only thing I can think of that I like about political correctness!

A few years ago we had a next door neighbor (male) who carefully brought his large dog over to use one of my flower beds to poop in every day. I talked to him (twice), but it kept happening, so I just got my shovel and moved the poop over to his yard each day. Finally stopped doing it, and then happily, moved away. No problems with anyone else.

We have also planted (with roses) the "hell strip" in front of our house which is about 90 feet long and 6 wide, and is between the sidewalk and the street. City property, but they do nothing with it and don't mind. If I keep it looking nice, no problems with dogs or with trash. I had neglected it this summer, and found 6 pieces of trash under the bushes in one day. Knew it was time to tidy up that bed! We pruned, weeded, fed, watered, and mulched all in one day, and since then there has been no trash thrown there.

Jackie

I had a lady with her small dog stopped by one rose garden all the time, the dog was alway inside the rose bed. I told her a couple of times that I sprayed chemicals on my roses, could harm dogs then she stopped. May be put up some little flags for chemical lawn treatment , they'd stop. I am not sure where to get those flags, I 'd love to have some too.

Beautiful dogs, Jeri. Some people use urine as a fertilizer. Saw this on a web site.

Jasminerose, Dog's urine can ruin a nice lawn. It can burn the grass and make spots. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/553.html

Here is a tip from HD on how to fix lawn damage from dog's urine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8vGXp1sRDk

Oh, sorry. I didn't realize they were talking about human urine, until I read further. Ew!

Lol.......that's funny! :-)

I didn't see anything about human . . .
But there are people who do pee in their own garden for fertilization purposes. And there was a whole chapter on use of urine in the book, "THE 3,000 MILE GARDEN". <G>

I do believe in conserving resources, but . . .

I'm sorry that dogs peeing on your roses upsets you. But it's a median strip next to a footpath, so I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's going to happen regularly.

I would rather have have a dog pee on my plants than a cat come into my yard to do their business I think.

And few of us around here any more have the luxury of "nice" lawns. No water.

Yep, pee is a great fert...but not neat. Diluted by at least 10:1 it is a sovereign plant food...and I do clamber on top of the compost hill for a pee when no-one is around.

Truthfully, I find the hidden cat presents far, far worse than any doggie droppings...nothing much wrecks your day as much as plunging your ungloved hands into the soil only to sniff (and feel) that unmistakeable odour of felis domesticus...and if dogs were allowed as much free reign as cats, not to mention the slaughter, they would be caged and muzzled.

Always a bit problematic since here in the UK, cats tend not to be house cats as they often are in the US (and not something I could personally condone anyway) and since one's own cats rarely use their own abode as a toilet, it is always a cause of neighbourly wrath in my part of the world when catching that huge red tom from down the road, squatting in my troughs again.

I suspect it's one of those things which you really can't control. (What does drive me nuts is when people don't pick up after their dogs!). Why not plant roses on your own property where you can enjoy them and they are safe from dogs peeing on them, and plant less desirable plants for the dogs to pee on that you wouldn't be so bothered by.