Stupid F'ing Stray Dogs SHIT IN MY YARD

Now, before you get all up in arms, this isn't some "I hate animals and their owners" threads as of late, and it's NOT a copycat thread. Oh how I wish it was....

I live in a neighborhood that has had increasing numbers of stray dogs in the last....5 months or so. I don't know where these dogs come from--they run in packs, tear up garbage, shit in the street, shit in people's yards, and generally terrorize the neighborhood.

The town I live in has an increasing problem with stray dogs and wild dog packs as well, and as a result, animal control is severely overworked and limited in their response time to calls about stray dogs.

I have a fenced yard, fenced front and back. Never leave the gate open unless I'm running to the store for a quick second (we park our car in our yard).

I've never seen these dogs (three of them) before last week. Suddenly, they showed up, and now they won't go away. Based on their permanence, I'm lead to believe that they belong to some highly irresponsible owners, but I don't know for sure. THey have no collars or tags and they're really mangy looking.

Yesterday, I went to the store and when I came home, pulled into the driveway and there's two of the dogs standing in my driveway, bearing their teeth at me. I was really scared---would they attack me? Would they attack MY CAR??? Luckily, when I opened the door, they ran away. I closed & locked the gate, but within 10 minutes of going inside, they had dug their way into the yard and were proceeding to drink out of my bird feeder, scare off my birds, and piss in my yard.

Today, they've been in the yard ALL DAY. I chase them out, and they come RIGHT BACK IN.

They peed on my strawberries and onions.

I just went outside to chase them out AGAIN (like 5th time today) and I notice a big steaming pile of dog shit RIGHT ON MY FUCKING GARLIC PLANTS. Wonderful yellow dog-diarrhea as well, all over the garden area. In the grass, on the rocks, on my plants, on my tulips.

I chase the dogs out and I've FUCKING HAD IT WITH THESE DOGS>

I just called Animal Control and I had to leave a message. "Due to the overwhelming number of calls, your message may not be retreived for two to three business days". Gee. That's swell.

I mean, I understand that I live in a small town with an ENORMOUS stray animal population, and vicious dog population (There have been recent news stories of stray dogs that have mauled children and adults). I know they can't whip right out as soon as I call and pick these dogs up...but three business days?

My fear is that because these dogs wander around a 4-square-block area, they (animal control) may come down my street when the dogs are either on another street, or shitting up a storm in someone else's yard. So I have to call again, wait another 3 days....ugh.

IF--and IF these are people's pets...how fucking irresponsible. THey're not nice dogs. They bark, they growl, and they intimidate---you can't even drive down my alleyway when they're in the alley because they just stand right in the fucking middle of the street and DO NOT MOVE, EVEN IF YOUR CAR IS TWO INCHES FROM THEM....They shit in other people's yard, pee in other people's yard...how fucking inconsiderate and irresponsible.

Ugh!!! I can't believe they shit on my garlic. LIke i'm going to eat THAT come harvest time :not:

So--after this long rant--is there ANYTHING I can do (besides daily replacing the dirt that they've dug up) temporarily to keep these fucking dogs out of my yard? Please note--I am not interested in any 'solutions' that involve harming, injuring, or killing said dogs. I just want them OUT OF MY YARD...

I've never done this, but I've read about certain plants that smell bad, some electronic devices that emit sounds we can't hear but they hate, etc. You could even do an electronic fence. Contact the Humane Society of the United States or some other reputable group, I'm sure they have info on it.

Thanks for not wanting to kill the dogs, as annoying as they can be they're just trying to survive out there.

But oh my god..the intial thoughts that ran through my head as I saw a big pile of diarrhea steaming on my fucking GARLIC---oh, those thoughts would have said otherwise :)

I think one of the "attractions" to my yard is that there are dogs in the yard next door---so the strays come in and taunt the next-door dogs through the fence.

Ugh. I hope I can find something to do because they are just....really really really on my last nerve.

Oh yay. THey're outside again...PISSING ON MY LILAC TREE.

Dear god how I loathe those dogs

Sorry, just something I have to say when people say they'd "never hurt or kill an animal."

Anyway, sounds like the electric fence might be your best bet.

along the outside perimeter of the fence. You can get a portable solar charger at your local farm and ranch supply store or maybe at Lowes. You'll need ground rods and the special connectors (to attach the wire to the posts)as well as insulators.

The fence would shock them as they try to dig in. I have my horse contained by an electric fence. I've been shocked on occassion and, while not harmful, it packs quite a charge.

Good luck.

really - it's startling but not harmful, although I probably wouldn't want to actually pee on the damnthing.

And she had an electric fence to keep the horses in their space. Well once I was about 11, and thought "Hmmm...." and decided to take a branch off a weeping willow tree and put one end of the branch on the wire, and hold the other end in my hand.

At first, it wasn't very strong--I'm sure the current was 'lessened' by having to travel through the branch...but after about 2 minutes, I started to feel funny and realized that I couldn't release the grip of my hand. It was freaky. When I finally did let the branch go, my hand was sore and tingly, but not painful.

I am shocked at least once a week at the farm. It's my fault for touching the wire. The horses know not to touch it. They can sense the charge. It just takes touching it once to keep them away from the fence.

I can afford a moderate price, but nothing too haughty.

Also, the way my fence is, it's a square around my house. There's a gate which we drive through to allow us to park our car in the yard, and shut the gate behind us....if I ran it 6" above the ground, would it be affected by me driving my car over it (as I would have to to get my car in the yard)?

Good idea, though. I'll defintely check that out

I use one to keep my critters from stomping my vegetable garden

At the horse farm, we run insulated wire under the ground at the gates and then back up the fence posts. You can T or Y the wire coming from the charger to go around each side of the fence and thus avoid going under the driveway.

There may be a pre-packaged system for gardens. Check your local garden center too. At the horse farm we use fiberglass posts with heavy plastic ties to attach the wire to the channels in the posts.

You may be able to get something like little posts (like tent stakes). A plug in charger might be cheaper than solar.

The chargers come in different sizes and capacities. The one at the farm is really powerful and charges up to 5 miles of fence. You can adjust the voltage. They work like this: high voltage (shock intensity) - low amperage (it pulses, not continuous shocking which would be harmful).

my cat killing neighbors walk their bulldog up and down the street and he always shits on the sidewalk right in front of my house. Now I don't mind a turd from an old dog now and then, and I'd rather have it on my grass,

but EVERY FUCKING DAY IN THE SAME PLACE! I am mounting a laser cannon on my front porch . . . to vaporize the, uh, turds.

I've had it. I am capturing my neighbors and taking them to the pound. They've probably had their shots, and I'll even throw in an extra pair of buttless chaps for the dog so they'll all three match.

If I wanted dogshit in my yard, I'd have my own fucking dog, ya know.

The dogs from next door sometimes come into my yard--I don't mind them. THey don't pee, they don't shit...they just lay in the sun and bark at the birds (and the birds laugh back at them since one of the dogs only has one eye---probably lost to a bird!). The neighbor's dogs are nice, and even though they sometimes steal garden gloves or shoes left on the porch, they're nice enough and don't cause any trouble or destruct my property.

But these strays--oh my god. It's like Cujo x 3. They're mean and mangy and SHITTY--literally.

My yard is like an acre big. There's only ONE small place that we have plantings....why oh why did they have to shit there? ON MY PLANTS? IN MY GARDEN? It's not like there's not enough space outside the garden to do their fucking voiding.

but I like! Do you know if they have any super laser cannons or photon torpedo rigs? I'll bet you those work EVEN BETTER!

:evilgrin:

How rude... and nasty.

If I could I would rig up a sprinkler and turn it on just as he starts doing his business.

to other dogs, cats, & humans.

sugg you call animal control.

but I had to leave a message on their machine "Due to the increasing number of calls, your message may not be retreived for 2-3 business days".

In the last 10 minutes, I've had to chase those fuckers out of my yard FOUR TIMES.

dogs can turn feral very quickly, y ALWAYS follow the alpha male. if he decides to attack, you're in deep trouble.

sonic horn, like they use on boats (comes w/ a compressed air canister) wd prbly be your best non-lethal defense.

...maybe they could goose things along with Animal Control.

they can't do anything but refer me to call animal control.

There is SUCH an overpopulation of strays in this area---throughout the whole town. It's an epidemic, according to the local news. Around Christmas, a little boy was playing in his yard when this dog (stray) came up, jumped the fence, and bit the boy NUMEROUS times in the head, neck and chest. I think the little boy ended up losing his eye.

About a month ago, a woman was in her yard or on the sidewalk and a stray came up and just mauled her leg and thigh

THere was another case of stray dogs mauling people. There are HUGE packs that roam the city. I live in a very small town, and they just don't have the resources available to deal with them adequately.

..does a child have to die first? So sad.

I might try sprinklers but they may not mind.

Good luck. Sounds like an awful situation. :(

unfortunately, the spigot leaks when you turn it on, so I can't leave it on, but I can quietly run to the side of the house and turn it on and spray the dogs. That has seemed to work the last 2 times I did it.

I know folks in New Orleans who were routinely facing drug dealer's dogs (rottweilers, dobermans, pit bulls) that had gotten loose and started running in wild packs, posing a real threat to them and their own cats and dogs. Go to a sporting goods and buy some big three-pronged fish hooks. Wrap some hamburger meat around the hooks into an egg-sized balls. Just toss like grenades around the dogs whenever they are around. Problem solved.

As much as I loathe the existence of these dogs, I find it extremely cruel and inhumane to encourage the dogs to EAT fish hooks---that's bad fucking mojo and I want no part of it.

I'm sure it's 'effective', but that's not a route I'm looking to travel down.

Throw fish hooks wrapped in hamburger so that the dog can swallow it and die a horrible and painful death.

nasty torture. Would you like to die of gut infection? I think not. It's a pain morphene doesn't even touch.

kilgore, i wonder.....................about the freeper inside this dude?
am i just making assumptions?

First off, go down to your local hunting store, and if they have it, get some mountain lion piss(if they don't have it, you can get it off the internet, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, etc.) Run it all along the edge of your yard, especially where they've dug under the fence. Most dogs are instinctively afraid of the large cats, and will leave an area so marked alone. I use the stuff on my garden, and it keeps out all sorts of pests.

Also, go down to your local fireworks stand and get some whistling Moon Travelers, those bottle rockets that whistle as they go up. I've shot these over the heads of dogs before, and they don't like the noise, and quickly get the message to go away.

Good luck

I like...I like

I've been researching online and have seen some of the Mt. Lion pee stuff---maybe I'll check that out.

You don't think it would scare away my birds, do you?

But the food will bring them back. I spray around my garden, which is about 150 ft from my bird feeders, and it doesn't seem to bother my flock in the least.

and I would most likely just spray around the fence and dug-up areas under my fence.

Mountain lion pee, here I come

This is my first comment here at DU and some may not like this suggestion but I deal with this problem quite often, with both dogs and cats.
Just last week a male cat started hanging around and pissed all over my front porch, it smells horrible. Bleaching the area gets rid of the smell but does nothing to keep them away... so I shot at him with a paint ball gun 2 days ago and he hasn't returned since.
The paint is non toxic, the impact is non lethal and the problem seems to be solved.

just my 2 cents

which said I am not interested in any 'solutions' that involve harming, injuring, or killing said dogs. I just want them OUT OF MY YARD...

I figured you would see it that way, I don't consider it harmful though, actually I didn't even hit the cat directly, just splattered paint on him. Messing up a cat's fur will usually be enough, they hate that. With dogs a direct hit on the butt causes discomfort, like an electric fence, a major motivating factor in the animal kingdom but not harmful IMHO.
Good luck

to shoot coyotes that wander into yards with paintball guns. I would not want to use it on a cat or a small dog though.

Sorry you got flamed on your first post. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

sounds scary! call your republican congressman & say your unborn child is being threatened.

Republican Capital of Eastern Washington.

ANd you're right. I'm sure if I told them the dogs were OBVIOUSLY homosexual and forcing me to get an abortion, an Animal-Control-Swat-Team would be at my door in a heartbeat :)

http://www.liquidfence.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=203

I have heard coffee grounds have a deterrent effect on them too.

Good luck. I hate dog shit and I totally sympathise with you.

I'm checking out tons of these now. I hope they work. I hate these dogs

You could lie in wait for the dogs and then blast them with water.



history of the super soaker link: http://stuffo.howstuffworks.com/water-blaster.htm

out the front door to chase these fuckers out of my yard.

They're just at the fence, playing with the dogs next door through the fence...peeing on my bird-bath, peeing on my lilac tree, peeing here, peeing there. It's like a big fucking piss party.

Oh look...they're drinking out of the bird bath now. How quaint.

Anyone got an extra Xanax to spare?