I'm not a doctor, veterinarian, pregnant, immune compromised, too young, too old or any of those things I've been reading. I AM infectious disease (pseudomonas) compromised, currently have dogs, have had dogs and cats most my life. Oh, and I'm a g'Imp trying to grow edibles under heavy canopy. I don't particularly want to find dog poop or cat poop in my veggie gardens. Nor do I want to find squirrels, possums, and armadillo's digging up my veggie garden. What to do? Use a bit of common sense, knowledge and compromise. First off, if your veggie gardens are in your back yard, then it can be quite simple. Fence your yard, or fence your garden. Then you are dealing with only your own self and critters. If you are out in the boonies, well then you might need to fence your gardens anyway. If you are in an urban or suburban environment, most all have dog leash laws and pick up the poop laws. You should not be finding free roaming dogs in your 'hood. If you are, and they are strange dogs call animal control. If you know the dogs owners, talk to them or call code enforcement. Dogs and cats have habitual potty practices. They potty about the same time and place each day. If you have a dog or cat potty'ing in your yard, gather up the feces and take them to where you think they should be using the potty. Dogs will generally look for an open area to do their doo. Edible gardens are generally not very open. Cats like loose sandy type soil. Edible gardens are usually heavily mulched with stuff cats don't particularly like to squat in. Planting edible garden borders to deter cats, dogs, squirrels, possums, armadillos and what have you do help. These are generally things that have an odoriferous, hot and/or spicy nature to them. Small garden fence/borders can be ornamental and practical. My primary gardens are all in my front yard. Out by the street in my front yard. I have never had dog or cat poop IN my garden. Near it, yes. I have removed it. Simple, and done. I also have a raised garden area in my back yard. It is in a tucked away garden with a simple PVC pipe fence to keep our dogs out. I also grow some stuff in the dogs area of the back yard. These are all in tall pots, straw bales, or fenced off. It's compromise in this case. I'm encroaching on their playground, I'll accommodate them. No matter where you are getting your fresh vegetables from you should be washing them. If you don't know their history or are concerned about poo - well then wash more thoroughly. Mexico papaya and e-coli? If you are any of those things listed, such as old, young, feeble, febrile - then eat all your food cooked if you are worried about it. I am not any of those things that have been tossed about in this thread - but I am high risk for a soil born infectious disease. My primary doctor, my trauma surgeon and my infectious disease doctor all applaud my choice to grow my own food. Just be smart and...

I have lazy neighbors who have been allowing their two dogs to run freely and poop in my yard. It used to be an empty lot so I kind of get it but sorry, someone lives here now. After 3 years of going out to yell at the dogs or to actually chase them off (when I see them) and shovelling poop back to their yard the damn dogs still come over. I thought when dogs smell the poop they learn thats's where to poop? I must have sent 40 to 50 piles back to their side. The best part was just the other day either someone also returned them a present, in their driveway, or ome of their dogs actually pooped in the middle of their driveway. Karma is a b!tch. Anyway, dog deterrents DO NOT WORK so do not suggest them. Pellets were a waste of $$, ultrasonic repeller did nothing. I'm not wasting any more effort or $$ on solutions that don't work. And I'm not calling animal control. Range wars only make living in your neighborhood stressful. I want to come home to a castle, not to a war. We get along otherwise so why make things stressful? I'm not talking to them, either. They are already aware of the problem and really, I shouldn't have to ask you to clean up after your dog. Why are we all so entiltled to our rights over everyone elses's anymore? There is absolutely no respect left in this world which I think is really the crux of the matter. You can't ask anyone to do anything that they think infringes their rights. Uh sorry, but we didn't fight two world wars and countless others so it would be acceptable for you to be lazy and let your dogs poop all over. I'm done playing the game. I'm fencing the entire side yard on that side now, probably close to 200 feet. Enough is enough. No one else on the street of large yards has a fence out front so that part of it will stand out. But it's the only thing that will work. I know it's not an option for everyone but it is for me and I have no issues with the look of a beautiful 3 rail white vinyl fence with wire mesh running down the side. And landscaping the inside of the fence line will be fun! I will do the right thing and let them know I am doing it(no setback here so it's only fair to warn them). And when they ask why......problem solved. I'm sure the dogs will start going on the other side now; it will be interesting to see how that neighbor, who has 3 small children, swallows that pill.

I also agree about elevating the older dog to a dominant position in the house. When our dog died, and we brought in a new companion for Ricky, we intentionally always went to Ricky first, and said so. Ricky, let's go outside. Our pup learned to "wait for Ricky" as he would walk proudly out the door first. When we fed them, we would say Ricky eats first. Actually we only set down his bowl first, then fed the pup. Even now a year later, we always let Ricky go first and make a big deal of it. Blaze knows nothing else. Ricky leaves and enters the house first. He eats first and gets in and out of the van first. We brush him first and pet him first. Even if Blaze runs up to us to the gate first, we often will stop petting him and pet Ricky when he arrives. All of our dogs are lap dogs. We just sit on the floor. In time when the older one feels more comfortable, the little dog may be a more exclusive lap dog, but for now, I would sit on the floor, and pet the older one first. We keep our dogs in the most popular area of our house, so we go to them. They are rarely alone, but we do not allow them into our living room or bedrooms. Those are off limits, so we don't have dogs with us 24 hours, and we sleep without dog dander since we are very allergic. Therefore we can easily declare that Ricky is first in whatever we do. I don't think you will have a problem after a couple of weeks. If you do, you might consider discussing this with the Vet to see if there is a mild medication you can give your older dog for anxiety. One more thing - when we were walking our dogs, Ricky used to always poop. We would scoop it up, and walk with it. Once my husband hurt his back and had to stop walking with us for a couple of weeks, I quickly got tired of this process. Before our walks I would take the dogs out as usual, and I began telling Ricky to do his business. He would walk inside, and I would call him out. I kept telling him to do his business, and he began doing it. Now he understand that he must do it before we walk. We haven't needed the bags for about 6 weeks. It may be that your dog is performing for you in a more dramatic fashion than the pup can do. You might keep the dog outside with you (and not the young dog), and insist that he poops before he comes in. Even give him a treat if he performs for you. We all know that a dog's brain is wired completely different from ours. Sammy

Maybe you should walk your dog to their yards everytime he needs to take a potty break. :) I have trouble with my neighbors' dogs too. Sometimes I just go out in my front yard with a rake and start flinging poop into their yards. I know they think I'm nuts but I don't care. I had a beautiful stand of flowers that came back every year until one of their dogs decided to urinate on it daily. I need to start calling animal control on them. Unfortunately there are dogs in the neighborhood who are loose but stay in their own yards mostly unless they see you and run down to say hello. If I call animal control on the offenders then their owners will probably call animal control on the other dogs just for retaliation. People suck! LOL