Precious lawn owners

Whether it is privately owned or owned by the council that strip of grass is there to be a pleasant amenity for everybody not to be a toilet for your dog.

Thing is, my dog doesn't say to me " I need a poo" he just hunkers down.He would love to talk but - dogs don't. If he's in front of someone's house (drive /grass verge) I try to drag the poor thing away but that results in a trail along the pavement which is much harder to pick up completely & traces get on shoes / pushchair wheels. Worm dogs regularly with approved wormers, then if there are any traces they won't harm humans.

Elegran

Even if you were going to pick up that lump of poo, you would leave a smear of excrement behind. Reread Marydoll's post at 11:06 pm yesterday to see what that could contain and what it could do to a child who played on that grass, or someone who touched it while gardening.

It also tells your dog (or the next dog that walks past) that is a place where a poo has been, so it is where they will go to for THEIR next poo - which soon turns it into a doggy public toilet for every pooch in town.

Would you let a child do it? You are just as responsible for where a dog does its business as you are for a child. FGS train your dog to shit in the gutter, not on someone's front lawn. Your dog, your training.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thank you for the stats you posted Elegran which are quite shocking and bear repeating in case missed.

Toxocara-type eggs found in 86.6% of parks in U.K. & Ireland.
25% of people sero positive for specific anti-Toxocara antibodies.
AND dogs should be wormed monthly but many aren’t.

It is a great responsibility owning a dog, so perhaps owners should undergo compulsory training before applying for one 🤔

What a bad tempered thread! I share many of the health concerns about Toxicara etc and pick up not only the family pooch's productions but others abandoned by inattentive owners along the walk way we use precisely because of these concerns. Our tiny village on a tiny island is plagued by drivers speeding erratically through from the ferry so perching in the gutter with poo bags, dog and clutching lead would be suicidal. Our pooch is a rescue and needs exercise to defecate but I will try and confine her poos to our small garden in future. Hers come in installments though so it is not an exact science! Well done OP for keeping your cool in the face of such an onslaught!

It's not an onslaught, surely?
Just people suggesting that responsible owners pick up their animals poo.

MissAdventure

It's not an onslaught, surely?
Just people suggesting that responsible owners pick up their animals poo.

Hear hear!

I can’t even bear it when dog owners let their dogs wee on the public verge beyond our front wall. Never mind poop on my front lawn!

Good grief!

valdavi

Thing is, my dog doesn't say to me " I need a poo" he just hunkers down.He would love to talk but - dogs don't. If he's in front of someone's house (drive /grass verge) I try to drag the poor thing away but that results in a trail along the pavement which is much harder to pick up completely & traces get on shoes / pushchair wheels. Worm dogs regularly with approved wormers, then if there are any traces they won't harm humans.

But presumably if your dog needs a poo when he's inside your house he doesn't just 'hunker down' and do it? Therefore he knows that limitation. How much training would it need to train him that he must go to the gutter or do it in his own garden? Do you really worm your dog every single month as mentioned in the link I think was posted by Elegran?

Rosie51

valdavi

Thing is, my dog doesn't say to me " I need a poo" he just hunkers down.He would love to talk but - dogs don't. If he's in front of someone's house (drive /grass verge) I try to drag the poor thing away but that results in a trail along the pavement which is much harder to pick up completely & traces get on shoes / pushchair wheels. Worm dogs regularly with approved wormers, then if there are any traces they won't harm humans.

But presumably if your dog needs a poo when he's inside your house he doesn't just 'hunker down' and do it? Therefore he knows that limitation. How much training would it need to train him that he must go to the gutter or do it in his own garden? Do you really worm your dog every single month as mentioned in the link I think was posted by Elegran?

I always did Rosie51

It isn't an onslaught, it is a lot of statements by individual people that they very much dislike having dog-shit on their property - even if the solid lump of it has been picked up by the dog's owner and disposed of responsibly because a smear of it is always left behind. If the area is hardstanding it can be washed down but not grass. Strong disinfectant doesn't disguise the smell to other dogs with their sensitive noses, so they will reuse that spot. Why do you think dogs often sniff around a spot just before defecating?

The other reason to avoid soiling private lawns (and at a minimum, play areas in parks!) is the health risk. Someone posted that only 120 cases of toxocara infestation a year in humans were recorded - but a quarter of humans were found to have specific toxocara antibodies - which means that they came into close enough contact for their bodies to react. Why would you want to risk the horrific results on children?

Most non-owners like dogs, and most dog-owners love their pets and take care to have them regulaly vaccinated and wormed, and trained for the dog's own health and happiness. However some forget that the dog is also interacting with the rest of the community. Parents have to consider this with their children, parents of furbabies are no different. If so many posters find dog shot so revolting and offensive, surely offended dog-owners can take that onboard?

The time to toilet train (indoors and out) is when the dog is a puppy and just learning what is acceptable. Once they have a pattern it is harder to retrain them. I am surprised that professional trainers don't publicise more the dangers and unpleasantness of random excrement.

Shit, not shot. Spellchecker!!

You are rather rude.

I worm my dog every month along with his flea tretment, from the vet.

Also there are dog poo bins all around our walks, which actually do smell even to humans. Do the dogs go there? No, it always seems to me & other dog owners that they go in the furthest removed place. There's certainly not a hotspot.
Cats will use a soiling place repeatedly. Dogs obvs cock there leg & scent mark where another dog has done the same. But in all my experience I haven't found that dogs use a popular soiling spot outdoors (of course, if it's a patch of grass next to a block of flats they will but that's owner-determined). Happy to be corrected on this...

And as another poster has remarked, there's a real immediate danger to life for both owner and dog if I moved the dog into our road to do his business.

mabon1

You are rather rude.

Who, me? I am not rude to other posters. I state facts in a straightforward way, but I don't rant at people. If you are shocked that I have used the words "dog shit", then you have lived a very sheltered life. It is a word that goes back hundreds of years, which is used by many people. I have read ruder words on Gransnet, and heard worse in real life.

Hard surfaces are easier to clean than grass, and on pavements there is no danger to dog or owner, whereas dog excrement is a potential health danger to humans as well as an unpleasant addition to a garden or playpark. It doesn't seem much to ask owners to train their dogs not to use lawns as loos, just as they are trained not to use rugs, carpets and bedding in their owners' homes.

You have just suggested I train the dog to use the garden. He often does, & guess what - it's lawn.
The prevalence of T.canis in foxes in Europe was found to be 34.6% in a recent study so even if no dogs used the park, it would not be T canis free.

mabon1

You are rather rude.

😂😂😂 Priceless!

Elegran is certainly not rude.

I am partially sighted and occasionally miss bits of dog poo on the pavement.

I certainly do not want a dog peeing or pooing on my "precious" open-plan front lawn, and I am not allowed to have 10-foot-high fencing.

I don't understand why someone would sooner cause bad feeling, and argue their rights, than bene down, scoop up the poo, and put it in their bin.

MissAdventure If you are talking about a "precious" grass owner, of which I am one, I cannot physically do that—I would fall over. I use a walking stick, but that does not help my mobility problems that much.

No, I'm not.
I meant the dog owners.

Why would they cause bad feelings about them, and their dog, sooner than pick up after themselves

Its beyond me.

The area in front of our house is as the OP describes, with numerous trees. Less than 50 yards away is open country. Dog owners still allow their dogs into our PRECIOUS lawn, (which cost nearly £700 to returf) to wee and poo. When challenged, most owners tell me it’s ok because they’re going to pick it up. My reply ‘It’s my lawn and your dog is trespassing, if you can’t stop it from going onto my lawn, then your dog is not under control and I can report it’. That usually stops any further arguments.