I know what you mean. Absolutely.
Here's what my neighbor has done:

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:666147}}

Ianna- That's so rude! I don't blame you for being upset.

I'm very lucky to live near a small town, where everyone knows just about everyone else, so all are held accountable for their actions. I'm surprised about the teenage girl's actions at church. Some parents seem to be MIA, even when they're sitting right next to the kids.

As for the dog, maybe you can time it so you and your neighbor out at the same time as the dog walkers go by...possibly saying to each other how much damage dogs can do and how nice it is when people respect your space. Timing may be tricky, but it would be a positive way to point out that dog mess is not acceptable in your yard :)

GGG- Great sign!

GGG where did your neighbors find that sign? That's clever.

Lavender -- I see rude people every day. I see them on the trains, I see them at work, etc... sigh.. sign of times? I'm afraid timing things so I'm out there isn't going to work. I work and commute home late.

Then I would get GGG's sign :)

Devil's advocate here because this is one that bugs me from the other side...

What do people expect dogs (and their owners) to do? If you live in an urban or suburban area, the only realistic way to exercise your dog is to walk it on a street. The vast majority of 'pee' is actually scent-marking, which is low volume. My dog does her high volume pee at home but scent-marks when walking. For a dog, a walk is as much about communicating with the local 'pack' via scent marking (pee-mail) as it is about purely exercise. Dogs rarely mark scent - or pee - on the road because it doesn't hold the scent as well.

Any dog-walker who does not pick up solid waste is a disgrace, but there's not much you can do about pee! In small doses, it's actually a fertilizer (ever notice lawns with patches of bright green, vigorous grass...? Application of urea fertilizer :-)

You'd probably be equally upset at hearing of a dog that was constantly tied up and never exercised. And the dog would probably bark a lot because that's the only way it could communicate with the rest of the 'pack'.

I was once told by a neighbour to not let my dog pee on her property. She told me to take her to the 'forest' nearby. I am disabled and use a walker. How did she expect me to walk in the forest?! And to get to the forest, I'd have to pass her place anyway...

Expecting a dog to not pee or scent-mark is totally unrealistic. And if they don't do it on your property, is it OK to do it on your neighbours' - because they will do it somewhere!

I have no problem with dogs peeing at the roadside of our property (it's not actually our property since the Town really owns the bit by the road - we just get to maintain it.) But solid waste I do expect to be picked up and will complain viorously if someone doesn't. We have foxes and coyotes in the neighbourhood so some of the solid waste that appears overnight is probably from them.

And now you will all hate me and think me very rude....

I can see this both from Ianna's point of view, and also from Woodyoak's.

Dogs definitely do mark their territory, or walking routes so that others of their kind will know they have been there.

We all have pet peeves, and we all, also, do things that peeve others.

There's a lot of give and take to living in this world.

FlowerLady

Woodyoak- You are so funny! I would never hate you LOL. Just because you don't agree, how boring would it if everyone agreed on everything, all the time?

It sounds like dogs weren't the only problem facing Ianna the other day. It seems rude people are just everywhere and she's had enough. People who walk their dogs have to do it somewhere and I think all of us who have had dogs are guilty of this. However, I don't think I would intimidate my neighbors, so they could tell me if it bothered them. I'm guessing you wouldn't either :)

I for one walk my dog curbside, not in peoples yards.

I make my dogs walk on the side nearest the road so that when they go they are not doing it on peoples lawns. they want to go and sniff on the lawns sometimes but if I think they are about to pee or 'poo' then I just give them a little tug and they know that they are supposed to move and do their business on the opposite side of the sidewalk near the road. Now I know that some people are equally fussy about the boulevard area and I try to be as careful as possible.....I know the ones that it matters to so I am extra careful to walk the 'girls' a little faster past those houses so they don't stop to do anything.

the girl in church?? wow surely there were others that she was annoying too. Maybe someone will speak up if she does it again. :) sad case though. Some parents are afraid to speak to their kids.....the kids might get mad at them. :(

My dogs do their business in their yards but on walks they will mark and I have them curbside but they really don't have any pee left. Every night they go by themselves to the end of the street to explore. We are on a deadend and there are only 7 houses on the street. I have a new neighbor across the street and he does not mow and has scads of weeds and every time my dogs go near his yard he screams at the top of his voice NO. Go figure.

I live on 6 acres in the country now so it's not an issue, but I swear in pre-country days going for a walk stimulated my dogs rectal passages. Works better than a suppository. Put on the leash, leave your own yard, and it's a fight from there on out to get them to hold it till you're in your own yard.

I could have cared less about pee. I also don't care if somebody else's dog pees in my yard. In pre-country days I actually didn't mind if somebody else's dog pooped either as long as it wasn't a regular thing. Sometimes it happens. The rain washes it away. And, I was a renter, not a gardener. I could imagine being unhappy if it was my beautiful garden, though.

Snotty teenagers, though...man, oh man, give me a peein' dog any day of the week. Give me a whole pack of dogs! Let's hope the parents weren't aware of her behavior. And, those parents not being aware is why our kids won't be sitting with their friends in church as they get older. Husband says we sit as a family. Your post has reminded of one very important reason why that's a good rule!

I feel like I've seen more and more parents afraid to discipline their children. I work with kids and have noticed many (not all) have a general sense of entitlement. It is frustrating.

Look I grew up with dogs, in fact, my family owned as many as 11 dogs at one point in our lives. We never ever allowed our dogs to pee in any other people's yard. In fact, we allowed the dogs to do their business in our yard. Better our yard than our neighbors'.

BTW woodyoak, no I don't hate you but I respectfully disagree with you. I also appreciate your situation. However, Thisn't good enough an excuse to allow a dog to destroy another one's yard. DOG pee is potent and burns. And yes, dogs will actually pee in one's own yard if it doesn't have a choice or if it's trained to do so.

Dogs pee (any pee) is potent and we know the remedy is for one to wash down that pee with lots and lots of water before it begins to burn the grass or the shrub. However I don't really see a lot of people carrying buckets of water to do that job... (sorry being funny here)

Being that I'm a former dog owner, I understand the nature of dogs and the need to scent mark... but the idea of someone allowing their dog to go up to people's yards and pee there is absolutely, absolutely rude. It's no more as rude as someone coming to my yard to snip off a flower. There is a sidewalk strip in my neighborhood but no... the dog had to go up a few steps into my neighbor's yard to pee. Or to go up my yard to pee on my carefully trimmed topiary. My yard is meant for kids to touch and to feel. My neighbor spent over $300 to have new sod last year -- only to be damaged by this. My yew cost me $30 andhad many years of pruning behind it.

The point is, dogs can be trained -- I know. I was a dog owner. I've used many technics in training but I'll give you 2 implements - a gentle tug on a leash when its misbehaving and a spray bottle filled with water. Sprays are gentle but stops a dog from certain behaviours fast.
I've also used it to control too much barking (we had chihuahuas, dalmations, dashunds, pekenese, terriers)

I have dogs. I also have a garden. Dog pee is a plant killer, not a fertilizer. I don;t care if dogs pee on the grass, what bugs me is the lovely flowers I have lost to dog pee.

Here, dogs run where they wish, and my garden is a huge crows favorite. Our three indeed pee in the yardm but are not allowed to pee on the flowers. They do love to investigate where others have marked.

kay

I guess you could try to get one of those sonic things that dogs don't like?

I totally agree with you. Whenever we go to the theater, people are texting on their phones all the time... the light ruins the experience. some people even talk on the phone! even though they have no less than two ads saying "turn off your phone!" and if you complain, people curse at you. :( (or worse!)