Hickory Woods Civic Assn.

I am in the same situation. My neighbor also allows her large dog to roam free. And not only does he poop in my yard and gardens but he also rolls around and sometimes sleeps in my garden beds. I put a lot of time and money into these garden beds so I find this quite frustrating. But I also have seen and heard enough of her aggressive behavior to feel unsafe about trying to approach her. To make matters worse, a small child member of her family has been coming into my yard and leaving my gate open so that a couple times my own dog got out of my fenced in yard. I have had to lock my gate which is frustrating, because now I have to inllock and relock every time I come and go from my own yard. I am so shocked that in such a relatively nice neighborhood so many people fail to curb their dogs, and or clean up after them. It's a fairly routine experience for me to find huge piles of dog poop in my yard. As for a suggestion? I called animal control and they said they wouldn't come out unless I had the "stray" animal in my custody. They suggested I trap the dog in my garage or shed. Only then would they come out and do something about it.

It is really unfortunate and disrespectful to boot! I can say that I did end up confronting her because at one point, I ended up stepping in her dogs feces. I walked right over to her porch (poop on shoe an all) and as politely as I could requested that she either put her dog on a leash, clean up after her or use her own back yard. I guess she wasn't happy about the poo I left on her door mat because after that, she had the kids out often cleaning up the yard. Recently, she moved away. Can't say that I'm sad about it. But, your issue...that's horrible! And landscaping is very expensive. Have at least attempted to speak with your neighbor yet? I'm not sure what other suggestions I'd be able to offer up that would helpful :( and if you have already called animal control and even they weren't helpful, I'm not sure. Maybe a small amount of poison or itching powder will keep the dog away. I did read somewhere about hot pepper seeds sprinkled in the area to keep unwanted "pests away.". Not sure how helpful any of that is. I'm not suggesting hurting the dog, but cause him a little discomfort so he doesn't want anything to do with the garden or your yard.