How to deter dog walkers

[AmyMay]

Which she says are on the pavement

Yes, but the complaint is about dogs pissing on flower pots, not how they use the pavement.

 

[FestiveG]

Yes, but the complaint is about dogs pissing on flower pots, not how they use the pavement.

I think we will have to agree to disagree, I find it somewhat ironic that someone who is claiming a public space as their own, then wants to be able to dictate to others, what they do with that space.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

My house opens on to the pavement, and in summer, I have pots and containers stood out under the window absolutely stuffed with flowers. It brightens up my house, and brightens up the street. But every dog walker seems to make a beeline for the pots to allow their dogs to cock their leg up. It stinks!
Can't blame the dogs, because they are walked there, but is there anything I can spray around to make it unattractive to scent marking?

Since you're saying it's the dog walkers making a beeline to your pots with their dogs, and not the dogs dragging their owners/walkers to your pots, it sounds to me like you have a just as big problem with the humans, as with the dogs.

Is it possible that there isn't really much other plants/bushes/trees nearby for their dogs to cock their legs at, besides your pots?
If so, would it be possible for you to perhaps place one of your pots as a sort of sacrificial pot a bit in front of your other pots, so that hopefully the dogs pee on that one, and leaves your other pots? Still yucky, but I'm thinking that 1 yucky pot is better than perhaps 10 yucky pots.

Would it be possible to place a sacrificial pot around where you see them start their beeline? Or perhaps do some other type of guerilla gardening somewhere near that area? Hopefully, they wouldn't bother to do a beeline for your other pots, if their dogs have already peed on something.

If you put cotton balls soaked in something like vinegar, on small sticks, and then place those sticks in the pots, that's supposed to be quite effective for deterring dogs. But presumably you would need to re-soak the cotton balls quite regularly.

That said, what I really would want to do in your shoes is to install some type of motion-activated sprinkler, and add a sign saying that you've done so to deter cats from using your pots as a toilet. Dogs + their walkers getting soaked would supposedly just be an accident.

 

[scats]

There used to be a local woman who used to let her dog poo on peoples lawns as she walked by. She did clear up after them, but it didn’t seem to enter her head that she could stop the dog doing this and wait until they got to the footpath with the grass verges.
A house around the corner has signs up saying it’s not a dogs toilet. They are on the bend of the road and a portion of their lawn wraps around the house to the side. There were always dogs peeing on their flowers. It’s just bad manners and another reason why dog owners are so hated.

On lead, my dogs toilet where I allow them. As a result, they know the areas that are toilet zones. They would not be allowed, or given the opportunity, to pee on plant pots or somebody’s property.

I think unneutered males can be a problem as they’ll sniff and cock their legs so fast. I have a few that pee all over my salon, everytime they come in and it drives me insane.

 

[twiggy2]

Would a window box for the plants resolve the issue?
Flowers and planter high enough the dogs can't pee on it and nice a narrow to keep the pavement clear.

 

[TGM]

Nope, I don't agree. When on a lead they toilet where you (one) let them.

I agree that you 'can', as an individual dog owner, make them toilet where you want. My dog walks on a short lead with no sniffing allowed when we pass people's driveways, gardens etc. In other areas she is allowed a longer lead and is allowed to sniff which then results in toileting. However, the general population of dog owners are unlikely to do this and even if a sign is put up they are still likely to let their dogs foul there. It may not even be intentional but just a result of being distracted by other things (such as mobile phones). Sometimes you have to realise that you are fighting a losing battle and think of other solutions to the problem!

 

[Sleighfarer]

I'm truly amazed that anybody would allow their dog to wee on somebody's planters, wherever they are. If it were me I'd lie in wait and then go out and confront them. I wouldn't find that hard because I'd be absolutely livid. Make yourself the scary person that the dog walkers want to avoid.

 

[Arzada]

I'm pleased to say that the neighbourhood pavements are currently being power washed by nature. It's a much needed dog pee stain and stench wash away.

 

[TGM]

By the way, I do think that YorksG has a point, it does sound like the flower pots are actually on the pavement itself, which could cause problems for people in wheelchairs or pushing double buggies etc., if the pavement is not a particularly wide one. Although it may be that the OP hasn't explained the situation very well and she has a small strip of privately owned land in front of her house which adjoins the pavement, and the flower pots are on that.

 

[Highmileagecob]

I'm going to go a little against the grain here, unless the op owns the pavement outside her house, then she has no rights to put out planters, which could be seen as obstructing the pavement.

I do, actually. It is on my deeds.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Would a window box for the plants resolve the issue?
Flowers and planter high enough the dogs can't pee on it and nice a narrow to keep the pavement clear.

The window box forms part of the display. The pavement is very wide and the row of houses own a strip of it right outside the house. I am at the end of the village, surrounded by open country.
I would like to install a movement detector linked to a water pistol, like the cat deterrents, but I suspect that would get me into trouble!

 

[maisie06]

Thanks all for the comments. Dog walkers are perfectly able to cross the road and let their dogs pee up the trees, but they walk past to admire the flowers and ........ Someone further down the road has put up a printed notice informing dog walkers that his garden is not a dog's toilet. Not sure I would go that far, but I do wish manners would prevail. Back to buckets of bleach every week I suppose.

My place is similar being an old fishermans cottage, I have been oaned at for washing down the front with bleach by a dog walker who lets her dog pee up the little planters I have - I told her to piss off and take her dog to the toilet elsewhere, there;s a green strip with trees opposite so why not walk there??

 

[SilverLinings]

Having seen the reaction of a dog that peed up against a metal drainpipe that was being used to earth mains electric fencing (the poor dog wouldn't even enter that yard again) that would certainly be one way to put a stop to it!*

It is gross that people think it's ok to enable (not just allow, as they could walk their dogs on the other side of the road where there's grass) their dogs to pee and defecate on other people's property. When I was WFH a few months ago I discovered at least one person on my road allows their dog to pee on EVERY recycling bin down the length of the road on bin day. The bins are short so it is very likely that your hands will then come into contact with it both on the bins and the lids. I have an autoimmune disease and have to be very particular with hygiene, but now someone is forcing me to deal with their dog's urine (and no, urine is not sterile despite what some people seem to think) in a situation that I wouldn't have otherwise even been aware of (we all put our bins just inside our gates so they aren't even on the public road).

Mind you, it could be worse: when I was a teenager there was a row of a few tiny cottages on the main lane through the village we lived in, with a narrow pavement and they all had little stone doorsteps. The cottages at that time were wall lived in by very elderly people. The lane was on the way to the village post office/butchers/grocers so busy, and the number of times we would see that someone had let their dog cr@p on the doorstep of one (or more) of those cottages was unbelievable. We had dogs so carried bags, so my mum and I would pick up if we ever spotted one. It's bad enough if someone steps out of their own front door into faeces, but what if an old person slipped and fell?

I am sorry you are bearing the brunt of such selfish and uncivilised behaviour OP

*however tempting this would be I am not actually suggesting the OP does this and risk killing off a dog with a dodgy heart.

 

[Arzada]

When I was WFH a few months ago I discovered at least one person on my road allows their dog to pee on EVERY recycling bin down the length of the road on bin day. The bins are short so it is very likely that your hands will then come into contact with it both on the bins and the lids. I have an autoimmune disease and have to be very particular with hygiene, but now someone is forcing me to deal with their dog's urine (and no, urine is not sterile despite what some people seem to think) in a situation that I wouldn't have otherwise even been aware of (we all put our bins just inside our gates so they aren't even on the public road).

My first house was a 2 up, 2 down mid terrace. Front door straight onto the pavement. No front space belonging to the houses. Back in the day when people had manners there was never a problem. Nowadays with dog population explosion and associated wild peeing, I can't imagine getting home after work to bring the bin into the house and out the back when the thing has been peed on. You wouldn't want to wash it down and bring it into the house wet. So you'd also have to towel dry the thing. Bins are required to be off the pavement by 6pm.

 

[SilverLinings]

My first house was a 2 up, 2 down mid terrace. Front door straight onto the pavement. No front space belonging to the houses. Back in the day when people had manners there was never a problem. Nowadays with dog population explosion and associated wild peeing, I can't imagine getting home after work to bring the bin into the house and out the back when the thing has been peed on. You wouldn't want to wash it down and bring it into the house wet. So you'd also have to towel dry the thing. Bins are required to be off the pavement by 6pm.

I realise that I am lucky that I am able to store my bins outside, I can't imagine how awful it would be for people who have to take them in. I thought I was also 'lucky' having a front garden and not having to leave them in the road as I really didn't think anyone other than the bin men would be touching them, but apparently I was very wrong on that!

I don't know if I am getting old (early 40s) but I really think that over the last few years people* have got more and more selfish and ignorant. I thought the pandemic would have the opposite affect after we all saw how much some people suffered and how much difference it makes working together as a society. Dogs seem to bring out the worst in some people as they seem to feel detached from the behaviour that they (the human) are responsible for- a bit like people feeling able to post hate online as they are one step removed.

*obviously not the people on here

 

[AmyMay]

I told her to piss off and take her dog to the toilet elsewhere, there;s a green strip with trees opposite so why not walk there??