Dog poo - so angry at h

[svengandhi]

We have 2 dogs. We have them because H wanted them. I do not like dogs, they scare me and I avoid them at all costs. H promised to take care of walking and cleaning up after them. I pay the license fees and make sure that dog food is on the shopping list. His idea of walking them is to open the front door. Now, I live in a suburb on a 60 x 100 lot, not out in the country. The dogs don't always do their dirty work in our yard. I have fought with him about this for years (the dogs are more than 10 years old). I have even toyed with the idea of complaining anonymously about him so animal control would take them away. The only reason I haven't done it is that our town shelter is a kill shelter and it's not the dogs' fault, it's H's. I don't like the dogs but I would never be knowingly cruel to them. If animal control would take H, they could have him.

Anyway, yesterday, my son found a bag of dog poop in his car. I'm pretty sure it's from my disgusting across the street neighbor, who left her H and kids for a woman and who was at her former the other day. However, I can't do anything because H does let the dogs poop all over the place and doesn't clean it up. So if I call the cops, there's the chance I'LL get a ticket. I hate being "that" neighbor. H wonders why I won't socialize with the women on our street.

I told H when these dogs die, there will be no more. It's a dealbreaker. I didn't divorce him when he cheated on me but I will if he gets another dog.

Just needed to vent. I KNOW the dogs need to be walked on leash and cleaned up after but he won't do it. Please don't suggest that I do it. It was not our agreement and I can't control them anyway. I won't walk them, I'll get rid of them first.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Hound dog]

Would he consider putting them outside on a lead to do their business? I'm going to venture to guess your yard isn't fenced. Or better yet, how about one of those invisible fences for the dogs. Cheaper than installing a fence, and yet dogs won't go out of the yard to get into any sort of trouble.

Now over the years I've had other peoples dogs use my yard as their toilet. I might get irked, but I don't say anything. Like you said, not the dogs fault. But I wouldn't go as far as bagging it up and sticking it in a car. One that's trespassing no matter what the reason and probably would count as vandalism with my luck. I have been tempted to leave a bag of the stuff on the door step. I'll admit. Especially easy child's neighbors dog who never ever goes in his own yard........and stopped going in easy child's yard after sister in law whacked him enough times. (not a good solution, I admit)

Or you could bag some up and start placing it in husband's car.......or his side of the bed.........or in his favorite chair............or I'm sure you could think of lots of places. lol

Not really fair for husband to promise to care for the dogs and then drop the ball so totally like that, especially knowing you don't really like them. My husband was not so fond of the dogs. Oh, he liked them........from a distance. He didn't want bothered by them or to care for them or anything. He wanted them to be there when he felt like patting them on the head and the rest of the time be invisible. But I AM a dog person and to me a house without a dog is not a home. So........anything that had to do with the dogs fell onto me. And I held up my end, unless something came up and I couldn't.

Hugs.

 

[1905]

Wow, I feel bad for the neighbor who had to do that. That is something nobody would do lightly, it's gross. He doesn't take care of the dogs and your neighborhood shouldn't be subjected to dog doo. Since he won't change, you can. You said you would get rid of them. You may have to, think about how you would feel if someone was doing that on your yard or street all the time, many times a day.

 

[DammitJanet]

They actually have a portable electric fence you can put out in your front yard or back yard so the dogs would stay in there and you wouldnt have to dig a trench.

While I wouldnt want to live in a subdivision and have a bunch of dogs pottying in my yard, I dont think I would go the effort of bagging it up. That just seems a bit over the top.

 

[TerryJ2]

Oh, I'm so sorry! Can't believe how irresponsible your husband is. He's GOT to walk those dogs.
Invisible fencing is expensive and takes lots of training. I do not see either you or your husband taking that much time for dogs that are already ignored, as you have said. I hate to say it, by the way, but as dogs get older, they get lazy and sick, too, so it's not going to get any better. I'd have someone build a fence or something, or just find someone who will take the dogs. Dogs should be a joy to have, not a chore. It's too much for you.And your husband doesn't give a sh%t (excuse the expression).

 

[donna723]

Ordinarily I wouldn't suggest this at all but in this case it's the best alternative. I'm assuming that these dogs are in the house the rest of the time unless they're outside to potty? If they're only outside to potty, you could get two very long leads or thin chains and attach them to something sturdy like a porch rail. You can buy the little clips that attach to their collars in any hardware store. Then several times a day, instead of just letting them run, just attach them to the lead where they can walk around and roll in the grass and potty but still be in your yard. I would NEVER advocate for leaving them out there any longer than it takes them to do their business but that short time won't hurt them.

I know in my own neighborhood, those few people that let their dogs run loose infuriate me! I can't walk my own dogs on their leashes without having someone else's dog right up in their faces and risking a dog fight! They poop in other people's yards and they get in other people's garbage and scatter it. And roaming loose also puts the dog at tremendous risk of getting lost, stolen, or hit by a car and being killed/injured. And even if you think that no one would steal them, there are those scum bags out there who look for dogs, any dogs, to use as "bait" in the dog fighting rings. These dogs are torn to pieces while still alive and die horrible deaths. I know it's not part of the "bargain" but it wouldn't take much effort on your part to clip a lead to their collars a few times a day and let them out in their own yard to potty. Remember too that if these dogs do any damage while running lose, especially if they were to ever bite someone, YOU would be responsible to pay for any damages. And if they are hit by a car and injured, it would be YOU that ends up paying the vet bill, to say nothing of the pain the poor dog would go through!

 

[Hound dog]

Donna, Mr Rowdy uses a lead and has his whole life. Now, this is no short lead by any stretch of the imagination either. Main lead is run the entire length of the yard like a clothesline with a pulley and another lead dangling down that attaches to the dog with not much lee way otherwise so he can't get tangled in it. He basically has the run of the yard but can't get out of the yard. And he does stay on it for hours at a time. He enjoys it. Heck before we had a house with a fenced yard, Molly enjoyed it too. Maggie will learn to enjoy it as well because she's a digger.......and I'll have to be certain I can trust her not to dig under the fence before I trust her off lead in the yard without me. If it's long enough and set up so the dog can't possibly get tangled up, then it can and is a good thing in certain situations. And honestly, it's a pretty cheap solution.

It lets Rowdy romp around and enjoy the yard safely, then he goes back into his kennel in the evening. (I will never have another outside dog again either) Also keeps his poo to a certain area and makes clean up easier and quicker.

You can get the stakes you put into the ground (but they're easy to mow over and hard on mowers) but you have to make certain there is nothing within range or the dogs will constantly tangle themselves in stuff. When I used the ground stake (no choice at the time) I had a 40' lead attached and a wide open yard with nothing near the lead.......with an enormous old oak tree that kept them in shade much of the time.

 

[AnnieO]

Bubbles has an invisible fence. No problem training him - after about a week of wearing the collar, he gets near and hears the beep, he backs off. And honestly I've felt the shock, the EMG test I had last week was worse.

However. I am not a dog person either (we joke that Bubbles is a dog-shaped cat). I do NOT LIKE DOGS. BUT - Your H is neglecting them. YOU should not have to do anything about it.

 

[donna723]

I used to keep my bigger mixed breed, Freebie, on a long lead too but she wasn't out there all the time. I did keep her out there while I was at work though and honestly, she preferred to be outside. She had to keep track of everything going on in the neighborhood and didn't want to miss anything. On the really cold days or really hot days though, she stayed inside. My front porch goes all the way across the front of the house and it has a roof on it so it's always shady. She had a bed on the porch and food and water and her lead was plenty long enough for her to go out in the grass and run around. She's thirteen years old now though and enjoys being inside in the air conditioning more than she likes being outside. I still take her out to potty and go for walks though but she's on a leash.

 

[DDD]

Husbands and their dogs is on the DON'T talk about it list this week at my house too. Geez, Louise! You have my sympathy. DDD

 

[svengandhi]

There is a long history here. I've had many problems with this neighbor over the years. She is an odd duck, however, she has a point about the dog poo. Before we had dogs, I remember staking out my front yard after I found poo there 2 days in a row and then chasing the woman and her dogs who'd left the mess and shrieking at her down the street. She never walked her dogs in front of my house again. Sadly, I have now lost my moral advantage!

My neighbor and I have called various agencies on each other over the years. She called on me claiming I had standing water in my back yard - it was a chlorinated pool as the Health Dept. discovered when they came by to check for West Nile virus. She got a fine for watering her lawn on the wrong day during a drought, courtesy of my anonymous call. She called the cops because my mother in law parked in front of the hydrant by my house on Easter! The water dept (which already didn't like her) offered to move the hydrant to the front of her house. I threatened to call the police because a pruning shears was taken from my side yard; I knew it was her because she had said it was dangerous to her kids, who should not be in my yard. Her son, 18, has a substance abuse problem, which I feel badly about but he once pounded on my door and threatened to beat up H, who has a heart condition, if he ever parked in front of his house again. My difficult child won't even pass the time of day with him and they are in the same grade.

Anyway, H claims that the dogs don't roam and that may be true now. They are 11 and 12 and moving slowly. When they're let out, they usually do stay in the yard, which is not fenced. I have taken to standing on the stoop and watching them when they're out and they stay put, but I don't know what happens when I'm not home.

As for the dog poo, oldest boy said they also poured urine from red plastic cups on the hood of the car and he thinks it was the son. I didn't realize until my son told me, but the dog poo incident happened when he parked the car across the street in front of their house. Neighbor son has this idea that nobody can park in front of their house (witness his threats to H) and my son, who found the poo, said it was tiny dog poo (like their Bichon) and not bigger dog poo, like my border collies, so he thinks the kid took his own dog's poo, not mine, for this task.

Now H thinks it has nothing to do with where my dogs poo but where my son parks so he is not on board with walking the dogs. I talked to him about the options suggested by all of you. He was vehemently opposed to the electric fence but he did agree to put the younger dog on the lead when she's outdoors because she does occasionally leave the yard. I told him I was afraid the neighbor boy might hurt her if he caught her on his property and he accepted that I might be right. The older dog is arthritic and the furthest she goes is across the sidewallk to the strip of grass in front of my house. If she goes there, that's my property. These people live directly across the street.

My yard is not fenced. None of the front yards in my neighborhood is fenced. I just don't think it's done here. I'm not in a subdivision, I'm in a neighborhood.

Any way, thanks to your input, we may have reached a solution both H and I can live with. Fortunately, we have a handicapped ramp attached to our home, so I don't have to walk across the lawn when I leave the house.