Need advice - Dogs peeing on sidewalk garden

[innerkitten]

We planted a nice sidewalk garden in front of our house a little over a year ago. The city requires that property owners pay for repairs of the sidewalk in front of their homes. So with a little advice from friends of the urban forrest we put in a nice strip of plants and flowers when we re did the cement. Our neighbors did one too. It's one of a handful of sidewalk gardens on this side of San Francisco, and when we water it people always stop and tell us they love it. Anyway, it wasn't cheap to put in and we work hard to keep it clean and watered but people keep letting dogs into it to pee and poop and it's killing the plants. I just caught a repeat offender about five minutes ago. A guy that lives right next door! We had a sign up for a while but someone stole it. Any ideas?

 

[kenny]

Replace the sign.

When I walk my dogs I avoid letting them do their business on nice lawns or landscaping, mostly becuase those places are more likely to have pesticides/herbicides/fertilizer that I don't want to expose my dogs too.
I look for the neglected "lawns" that are brown and full of weeds.

Hey I know...
Get a big sign made with a skull and crossbones, that lists all the scary chemicals in lawn/garden fertilizers/pesticides/herbicides that are on your garden. (even if they aren't.)



BTW, dogs gotta do it somewhere.

 

[tammy77]

Motion activated sprinkler?

ETA: here's one on amazon that's not too expensive and has great reviews! http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000071NUS

 

[innerkitten]

That's interesting. Our neighbors garden is pretty neglected. The repeat offender I mentioned rents a place in the house with the neglected garden. Wonder why he uses ours instead? We have a low fence ( they don't have one) which you'd think would be a be a deterrent. We can replace the sign but we're going to have to find a way to keep it from getting stolen. Maybe a chain?

 

[innerkitten]

Motion activated sprinkler?

ETA: here's one on amazon that's not too expensive and has great reviews! http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000071NUS

I love that!

 

[monarch64]

I love the idea of the motion activated sprinkler. Another option I would think about is mulching around your plants. Several other ideas on a popular garden forum can be found using any search engine. Feces can be a great fertilizer though it isn't pretty to look at before it rots into the soil. I hate to offer such "crappy" advice (ohhhhh terrible pun!), but you can't change the behavior of other people or their pets, unfortunately. Of course it isn't right that people allow their animals to use your lovely sidewalk garden as their potty spot, but if you've ever walked a male dog you know you have to really struggle with them NOT to lift their leg when they want to mark things. Leaving fecal matter behind, OTOH, is usually just laziness on the part of the pet owner. Again, behavior that is not easily changed.

One more thought on the poop part: does your city have those little poo bag stations installed? I'm referring to those little plastic bag dispensers. If there isn't one on your block or close to your sidewalk garden, I wonder if you could ask the city to have one installed close by? That would take some time and effort on your part, but just wanted to offer that as a possible part of the solution to your problem.

Best of luck, I understand your frustration and empathize as a homeowner who has neighbors who are often similarly impolite.

 

[JewelFreak]

Letting dogs do their stuff in a garden is so darned thoughtless. In the burbs I've trained mine for many years to wait till we come to woods & they're pretty good about it. Also always carry a sack to pick up the poop. Like Kenny, I don't let them even walk on nice green lawns, for their own protection from chemicals. Cornell found a direct link between lawn chemicals & pancreatic cancer in Cairn terriers, so I'll extrapolate that to my Siberians. I digress.

It's a major pain, but you could chain a sign -- possibly, knowing SF (we lived there for 9 yrs) somebody would consider that a special challenge, but it's worth a shot. I love the sprinkler idea! There's always spray-on deterrent but you have to renew that all the time.

A weird thought -- marigolds keep deer & rabbits away from a garden; they hate the smell. Wonder if dogs feel the same?

 

[webdiva]

Dogs hate the smell of lemons so maybe sprinkle lemon peels around the area?

 

[iLander]

Dogs seem to hate the smell of oranges, so I would head down to Target and sniff around the cleaners aisle and pick up the citrus cleaner that smells the strongest. Spray that all over the sidewalk and fence. Then you can spray the plants themselves with a little orange dish liquid in water, it won't hurt the plants (it will also get rid of any whiteflies that you have ).

 

[TooPatient]

Dogs hate the smell of lemons so maybe sprinkle lemon peels around the area?

Both of our dogs LOVE lemons. They'll even sit in the kitchen when I'm cooking with them in hopes that I drop a half for them. Of course I try not to drop any, but the scrunchy face they make while eating them is just too funny.

They also like limes and don't mind oranges.

 

[Haven]

Dogs hate the smell of lemons so maybe sprinkle lemon peels around the area?

Both of our dogs LOVE lemons. They'll even sit in the kitchen when I'm cooking with them in hopes that I drop a half for them. Of course I try not to drop any, but the scrunchy face they make while eating them is just too funny.

They also like limes and don't mind oranges.

My Bailee is obsessed with oranges, and she *thinks* she likes lemons until she actually tastes them.
I love the face she makes eating oranges! She has huge jowls, but she tries to lift them up to avoid letting them touch the orange as she eats it. It's hilarious.

InnerKitten--That would drive me nuts, I'm sorry your neighbors are so inconsiderate. Do these offenders leave the poop behind? If so, does your city have a law against that? Ours does, so if I saw someone allowing their dog to go in my garden I would totally report them for leaving the poop behind. I think they get a ticket for doing it.

Otherwise, I'd put up a new sign, and maybe consider ringing the guy's doorbell and asking him nicely to stop allowing his dog to go in your garden.

Or maybe take pictures of the offenders and post them along the garden as WANTED posters?

We trained our dogs to only go in the parkway, so they never even walk on people's lawns. I hate it when I see neighbors allowing their dogs on our lawn. Even without a garden, we take a lot of time to care for that lawn!

 

[iLander]

That's so weird! My dogs Hate oranges and all things citrus. Apparently this is not true for all dogs.

My cat loathes lavender, how is everyone else's cat with lavender? And he LOVES bleach! He'll come running when I clean the bathroom and rubs himself all over the bleach if he can get past me. Then I have to wash him off with a paper towel, which he also loves.

There is that bitter apple spray that they sell, but mine seem to like that!

 

[innerkitten]

The sidewalk garden is still there, but there have been a few issues since I last posted. For the most part the fence is working out. We had another sign but it was stolen probably for the metal chain ( to sell at the recycling center). I guess we need to go with plastic next time. Also about a month ago a human took a dump in our garden. Then last week the same thing happened to our neighbor. Worst smell ever.

 

[Enerchi]

The sidewalk garden is still there, but there have been a few issues since I last posted. For the most part the fence is working out. We had another sign but it was stolen probably for the metal chain ( to sell at the recycling center). I guess we need to go with plastic next time. Also about a month ago a human took a dump in our garden. Then last week the same thing happened to our neighbor. Worst smell ever.

SERIOUSLY insane!! OMG! - a new level of low has been reached!! holy crap - literally!

Can you report to bylaw or your city ordinance department? Can they monitor your street/lot/area/neighbourhood? Wow - innerkitten, I hope that's the last of *that* behaviour!!

 

[LibbyLA]

Do you have a place that you could mount a game camera in a locked protective box? If so, put one up and put out a sign that says that there are security cameras out. You don't need one that transmits anything, just something that will take photos and/or videos.

liz

 

[TooPatient]

Do you have a place that you could mount a game camera in a locked protective box? If so, put one up and put out a sign that says that there are security cameras out. You don't need one that transmits anything, just something that will take photos and/or videos.

liz

I like this idea. It would probably take care of the human issue (WHO would do something like that --- EW!!!) and might even be enough to discourage the dog owners.

Keep in mind that security signs (monitoring company signs especially but I'd assume video surveillance also) are specific targets of theft. People steal them to put on their own homes to protect them from theft...

 

[MissGotRocks]

I honestly think if humans started doing that in my sidewalk garden I'd have to consider moving! That's completely insane!

 

[innerkitten]

We may have to install a camera. We called the local station to report it and they told us they can't do anything unless we catch them in the act with a photo or video. I hope it doesn't happen again though.

 

[innerkitten]

I honestly think if humans started doing that in my sidewalk garden I'd have to consider moving! That's completely insane!

I know. And it's funny because this neighborhood has become very desirable. The flat next door just sold for one million dollars ,and it's just a flat not even a whole house.

There is one change coming to the neighborhood that I think will curb some of the stranger behaviors that have been happening ( stealing of metal etc). The local recycling is moving. For years there have been a lot of homeless people that hang out on the street because they depend on the recycling center for money. But when it moves they will probably follow.

 

[arkieb1]

You can buy a product from the Pet stores like Dog Off and there is a different one for cats that dogs smell and don't want to pee there. It doesn't hurt plants at all it just makes dogs keep moving somewhere else. No clue about stopping the humans maybe plant some cactuses.