How Do You Stop Your Neighbor’s Dog From Pooping & Peeing in Your Yard?

It can be really frustrating to have your neighbor’s dogs poop and pee in your yard all the time. Sometimes you’ll notice piles of excrement in very inopportune places in your yard. Stepping on piles of dog droppings when they aren’t even from your own dog is enough to make anyone mad. You can try talking to your neighbor about it, but sometimes this won’t get you the results that you want.

If your neighbor isn’t going to keep his or her dogs from coming into your yard to do their business, then you can try to take matters into your own hands. There are actually a number of different safe ways to stop your neighbor’s dog from pooping and peeing in your yard. Take a look at the methods below to get some ideas for how to handle your situation. I’ll go over each of them in detail, and you should have a better understanding of what options are available to you.

5 Safe Ways to Stop Neighbor’s Dogs from Pooping and Peeing in Your Yard

1. Watering the Lawn Regularly

You may or may not know that dogs don’t really seem to like wet lawns. If you’ve ever taken care of dogs before, then you might have noticed that they’re very skittish about going outside and taking care of their business after it has rained. You can potentially use this to your advantage to make your neighbor’s dogs shy away from using your lawn as their personal bathroom. Simply water your lawn more often to keep things nice and wet.

If you already make use of a sprinkler system, then this should work out nicely. You can set your sprinklers to go off during times of the day when you suspect that the dog is normally let outside to relieve themselves. If you don’t know when the dog is scheduled to be let outside, then you can simply do your best to water the lawn regularly. The dog may wind up avoiding your lawn due to not wanting to get wet, and your problems will be solved.

Remember to set your sprinklers, and this idea will be easy to implement. The only potential downside is that you don’t want to have a soggy lawn. In addition, you might not like making your lawn grow faster due to all the watering. It’s still a good idea, but some people might not see this as being the most practical solution.

2. Creating Some Natural Deterrents

It’s also a good idea to look into creating some natural deterrents. There are certain things that you can do to make dogs stay away from your lawn. Dogs have very sensitive noses, and applying certain things to your lawn can make it less appealing to them. There are likely several household items that you have lying around that will be useful for making these natural deterrents.

For instance, you could spray vinegar on your lawn to keep canines at bay. Vinegar is very strong, and dogs won’t like having to smell it. They’ll naturally shy away from your lawn if you go this route. The only problem is that methods like this and using ammonia can cause harm to your plants and lawn, so you might want to go another route.

Another idea is to sprinkle some chili pepper around the yard. This is something that can irritate dogs, and they’ll definitely want to stay away from your yard once they get a whiff of it. You’ll need to do this sort of thing regularly in order for it to be effective, but it is something that will work. It’s up to you to decide how practical this method is going to be.

3. Landscaping Deterrents

There are some landscaping ideas that could act as deterrents to keep dogs away, too. Certain types of plants will make it tougher on dogs to use your yard for their purposes. You could plant things that are thorny such as holly or berry vines. This could wind up making it very impractical for the dog to work their way through your yard.

Some plants can keep dogs away just due to their scent. There is a plant known as the Coleus Canina that has an odor that animals seem to hate. It can work as a very good dog and cat repellent. The plant definitely doesn’t smell pleasant, so this may or may not be a good option for your home, depending on your perspective.

You might even want to consider putting down some mulch that will be difficult for dogs to walk through. Something like pine cone mulch is going to keep dogs away from your yard. It’s too harsh on their paws and it makes them not want to walk on it. This is a simple way to keep your dogs out, but it wouldn’t be fun for you to walk on either if you like to stroll around without shoes on.

Finally, you could consider putting a fence around your property. It’s true that some dogs can jump fences, but it’s going to act as a good deterrent. You could even make the fence quite tall to give yourself some added privacy. This option is worth considering if you really want to keep dogs and other stray pets off of your property. 

4. Consider Dog Repellent Products

You’ll also find that there are commercial products that are advertised as dog repellents. These products work similarly to some of the natural remedies I brought up earlier. The only difference is that you will be able to go out and buy these in a convenient spray form. You won’t have to mix anything up, and applying these dog repellents might be easier than using the natural remedies.

For the most part, these dog repellents are going to be using natural ingredients that won’t harm animals in any way. They just smell bad or taste bad, making it so that dogs will want to stay away. All you need to do is spray these on your lawn regularly to keep dogs away. They do work really well, but they might not be as cost-effective as using some of the natural repellents mentioned earlier in this article.

You’re usually going to have to re-apply these repellents once every couple of weeks. This could get pricey pretty fast if you’re going to need to use the sprays that often. Also, if it happens to rain, you’re going to have to spray things again due to the scent being washed away by the rain. Consider how practical this is for you before proceeding.

5. Complain to Your Neighbor

If you don’t want to use any of the above methods, then it might be time to talk to your neighbor about what is going on. Some people will want to avoid doing this due to not wanting to get into a confrontation. Truth be told, you should probably consider just speaking to your neighbor before you go through with using any of these dog deterrent methods on your yard. It might help you to save a bit of money so that you can use it elsewhere.

When you go to speak to your neighbor, remember to approach the situation as calmly as possible. You might be livid about the dog pooping and peeing in your yard, but try to calm down before going over there. You don’t want to come across as someone who is being threatening, and your neighbor is less likely to work with you to fix the problem if you’re rude to them. Be cordial, and mention that the dog has been going into your yard a lot before asking if there is anything that can be done.

Typically, people will be nice when you approach them in a kindly fashion. They might be willing to try to work to keep their dog from going into your yard. You could suggest that they buy a stake and chain for their dog, or that they walk them instead of just letting them out to run freely. There are many ways that they could solve this problem, so hopefully, they’ll be willing to go through with one of them.

More on Keeping Dogs Away from Your Yard

Keeping dogs away from your yard will be a lot easier if you can make use of the advice listed above. I know that your neighbor’s dogs are annoying, but they won’t be quite as big of an issue if you take the right precautions. You don’t have to keep stepping in piles of dog excrement as long as you know what to do. These dog repellent ideas will all work pretty well, and you should be able to get things under control.

Which of these options is going to appeal to you the most might come down to budget. The commercial dog repellent products are easy to use, and they make a lot of sense. Having to spend the money to re-apply them every few weeks might not be practical, though. Also, some of the natural repellents aren’t good for the plants in your yard.

Many people decide to use multiple methods to keep dogs away. Putting up a fence, planting things that dogs don’t like, and using some dog repellents might work to provide a complete solution. Decide what is going to be the best route for you to take, and then take action.