UKC

Our neighbours have two dogs neither of which really get taken for proper walks. Instead they seem to do most of their calls of nature in their back garden. I wouldn't normally give a toss(if they want their garden strewn with piles of dog sh*t that's up to them)

What I am concerned about is that the dogs seem to use a particular corner of the garden which is actually out of sight from the rest of their house. It is, however, easily seen from one of our upstairs windows. OK we don't spend all day looking out of our windows but nonetheless it's not a pretty sight. I'm also concerned that, come the summer and the rate at which it appears to be accumulating, it will stink and create a health hazard.

Whilst we are on reasonable speaking terms with these people they are not really the sort who give much thought as to how their actions can affect others - I have just spent an hour clearing up litter that has blown or fallen from their rubbish bins and ended up in our garden because they could be bothered to pick it up when it first fell out of the bins.

Any ideas about remedies?

In reply to FesteringSore:

I doubt there's much you can do beyond going round and bringing it to their attention...unless you think the dogs are being neglected, in which case a quick call to RSPCA might be in order. I'd go with the informal chat first, if as you say it's out of their sight they probably don't know they're going in one area and are just ignorant to it.

In reply to higherclimbingwales:

>...unless you think the dogs are being neglected,

No, they're not neglected per se but, as an aside, having had a dog myself many years ago I know that dogs demand and need a certain amount of attention - as if they were family members - which these two don't seem to get.

I take your point about an informal approach.

In reply to FesteringSore:


Weeeell. Who would *you* allow to tell *you* how to run your garden and your dogs? I bet it's a pretty short list. What do you think, might their list of people they'll take it from be at least equally short?

I'd say: Don't even try changing their behaviour until you've already built a really good relationship with them.

In reply to Sophie G.:

The difference being that I make damned sure that any rubbish stays in our bins until the council collects it. If it did happen to end up in the neighbouring gardens I do something about it.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Plant a bush your side of the boundary, then you won't have to look at it.

In reply to FesteringSore:

If it stinks in the summer then you would be in a strong position to do something about it. For now I would leave it.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Having been in a similar situation I don't think you have a remedy without confronting the neighbours (and accepting that the confrontation may not go as planned).

Think you have 2 options;

1 - ignore what is happening as much as you can and hope it is a relatively short lived problem (i.e. 1 or 2 years)
2 - speak to neighbours and ask them to resolve issue (from what you have said it seems unlikely that this will resolve issue)

It's unpleasant and will be worse in the summer but you will really have to go for it if you want support from EH, so consider whether you can live with what is happening rather than taking on what might become a major disagreement .

In reply to FesteringSore:

If you complain about it, you'll probably make enemies out of them as well as still being able to see their dog shit. Seems to me that you have to make an effort to do both of those things, so the question occurring to me is 'why would anyone want to do that?

In reply to Andy Morley:

my job requires me to frequently go into peoples back gardens and it astounding what some people think is acceptable regarding dog crap.
I've had to negotiate my way through gardens where it was difficult to find a square foot of grass not covered in crap, I mean there was perhaps over a hundred dog craps on one back grass area.
the stench was overpowering and had only a three foot fence on each side between neighbours.
don't know the answer but you have my sympathies.

In reply to FesteringSore:

What with Mrs Num Num and the Num Num daughters, and only having one bathroom, I quite often have a shit in our back garden and blame it on the mongrels.

In reply to buzby:

There is absolutely no aspect of our life on this planet so banal or revolting that someone somewhere will not want to make it the focus of their attention and the object of their passion, and on occasion, the butter on their daily bread

Great route name.

In reply to FesteringSore:

My way?.
Leave it and see how things go.
If the area starts to smell in summer I would go round and ask them to clear it up because of the smell in my garden but if it doesn't smell then it's not doing you any harm anyway.
Going round now saying it might smell won't archive anything positive.

Or maybe lateral thinking would help - maybe seek out a remedy for canecoprophobia or canecoprospectophilia - whichever it might turn out to be?

In either case, the practical response might well take the same form, i.e. the obtaining of a small stool (of the wood/metal, not the canine variety or worse) and a pair of binoculars. These would be of use in assisting a course of systematic de-sensitisation if it transpired that it were the former and would contribute to 'harm/risk reduction' if it were the latter (you'd be less likely to suffer eye-strain or a crick in the neck).

In reply to FesteringSore:

Option 1 Poison the dogs
Option 2 Poison the neighbours
Option 3 Poison both
Option 4 Move?

Sorry, feel your pain.

We have dozens of different dogs and owners walking past the house (enroute to the woods) in the mornings. When dark in the wee hours the dogs run ahead of the owners, have a crafty crap (mostly near/by my car) then meet up with their owners again. I often discover these 'gifts' when I'm halfway to work and the smell becomes more apparent in the car, oh and the sliding sensation of the shoe on the peddle, with abit of grit for crunchy effect.

Personally I'd go with Option 2, then adopt the mutts and give them a better life.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Oh FFS get a f*cking life.

Neighbours have now removed the said material from their lawn. It is now appears to be (in a plastic bag) decorating a tree in the wild woodland just beyond their fence.
:o|

In reply to FesteringSore:

You and your family should start shitting in your garden next to their fence. That should do it.

In reply to FesteringSore:


As a response, you could take to decorating your nearest woodland trees too. Voodoo fetishes, corpses hanging from their necks - that sort of thing. (you don't have to use real neighbours for this, guy-fawkes-style dummies interspersed with the odd bit of road-kill would be nearly as effective).

In reply to Andy Morley:


Nice one

In reply to FesteringSore:


Don't look at it, don't worry about it.
jk

In reply to FesteringSore:


Well that's out of order - recover it at night and place in their bin?

In reply to FesteringSore:

It's tough, but try to not let this become a grating obsession for you. Unless there is a material hazard or nuisance to you then there's not a lot you can do - it's on their own property after all. Don't stew on it.

I have my own dog/owner/dogshit "issue" which I am not happy with, but the law, practicality and common sense are all firmly pointing at a policy of "leave it alone there's nothing you can do", so that's what I'm doing and my blood pressure is all the better for it.

Sounds like you would have more luck taking action over their litter landing on your property!

Try this idea:

Take one nice squidgy poo (species irrelevant).
Lay the turd carefully in an old-fashioned brown paper bag with a very small amount of scrunched up newspaper inside also. (A true artist would add a squirt of lighter-fuel for seasoning)
Place the bag centrally on your neighbour's doorstep, away from other combustible materials.
Ring the bell, quickly ignite the bag with a handy flame-thrower-style cigarette lighter and run and hide somewhere you can watch from discretely.
With luck, your neighbour will answer the door in their carpet-slippers, notice the burning bag on their doorstep and immediately stamp out the flames.
Enjoy.

In reply to FesteringSore:

Sniper rifle

In reply to FesteringSore:



A haul bag? Or was it just one or two dog eggs?



Whenever I read this type of thread I feel sympathy for the OP, but always think try to resolve is amicably or it will hurt when you come to sell your house.

In reply to FesteringSore:
phone the council any saying you have a problem with rats you have seen them in your garden coming from that direction. they wont/cant say who has phoned them. the pest control people will call round and ask to have a look around (for the neighbours benefit) saying several people have reported a problem. oh look a big pile of sh1t in the corner. we did have rats coming in from a neighbours open compost, they had a couple of dopey dogs who i think the rats used to totally ignore. any road the pest bloke called round and had a chat and they got a compost bin. i would have just had a chat but they are very odd.

In reply to krikoman:

Flame thrower surely?