Sign to keep dogs off lawn in Hillsborough
 

I need help in keeping dogs off my lawn. I recently moved to The Village of Hillsborough and I cannot believe how disrespectful some dog owners are. Do not get me wrong, I love dogs and owned one who recently passed. There is a couple that walks their 4 white dogs on everyone's lawns and do not seem to care if you are watching. The dogs pee (which leaves brown spots in the grass) and then wipe by scratching up the grass. Would we be permitted to put up a small sign on our lawn. I saw a very cute on on Anna Maria Drive. Would community watch speak with these people if we reported them?

Tell them to get off your lawn. Simple, at first nice, after that let them have it

Have never understood the need to take a dog to someone else's yard to pee, but I would approach the owners and ask that they curb their dogs

Years ago one of our neighbors put a small sign in his yard for the same reason. Community Watch asked him to remove the sign.

If the sign is small, it might not be seen, by Community Watch or by the offending doggie owner. The suggestion to tell the owner not to use your yard is probably the best though.

Doubt a sign would work - they would probably just pee on it. Try and approach them and see if you can't work things out. Some people just don't get it!

When you see these people allowing their dogs to pee on your lawn, TELL them you do not like it! Nicely, one time!

What makes you think a cute sign is going to keep an inconsiderate person from letting their dog in your yard?? :confused:

I thought there is a 2 dog limit.

How about a sign indicating that the lawn just had chemicals applied and animals should avoid the area.

I do plan on speaking with the owners and I was unsure about the signs. I had the same concern that town watch would ask me to remove it, or it would be ignored. I just don't want a confrontation but I don't want the dogs on my lawn either. I take very good care of my lawn and don't understand why others do not seem to care about that

If you have more than 2 when you move in, they don't make you get rid of the excess, but you cannot replace them once they die.

I feel the same way as you do and I have a large dog. Having focused on reading dog poop posts for a few months, I'll give you my version of the diversity of dog walkers

• Sneaks, knowing their dog on a long leash up in your yard is not right.
• Clueless that you mind their dogs going in your yard and would not do it if they knew.
• Brazen, know you might mind, don't care, think they are right that you should not mind.
• Responsible, non-collaborative, walk the dog in the street to appropriate public area, scoop, dispose at home.
• Responsible, collaborative, agree with neighbors as to which of them don't mind, and use each other's yards.

Suggestions have been posted to ask the neighbor not to and in your case with a pack of dogs that are repeaters that is a good idea.

I wish one could post a symbol, maybe just a red or green dot, on the lamppost to signify if it's ok or not to let your dogs go here. Many people don't mind at all if dogs go in their yard and that makes it impossible to have consensus on what is reasonable behavior.

Oh Lord, here we go again....

Why is it that OPs always start out establishing that they "love dogs"? These insipid pee/poop threads have been going on forever, if you can't deal with the situation maybe you moved to the wrong place.

Just for the record, I don't walk my dogs on my neighbors yards, not because I think it will damage the crab grass but because I don't think it's healthy for the dogs. I try to limit my walking to the cement areas in the town squares.

Oh Kitty, you are so funny! Like any of the disrespectful dog owners would respond to a dot on a lamppost! And I really don't think there are a lot of people who would encourage dog walkers to use their lawn as a bathroom.

If I were the OP, who is obviously distressed by the walker with the four dogs, I would politely approach the walker and ask them to please not let their dogs on their lawn. I really doubt that would cause a confrontation.

As I've said before, we need more dog parks!!

Oh Patty, how I love your posts! :girlneener:

If speaking to the owners does not work, I have read in related threads about the Scarecrow motion-activated lawn sprinkler - would have to be set up just right so that it doesn't spray people coming to your door, or neighbors mowing their lawn, but people have recommended it in the past.

I have a neighbor that everytime she sees me comes out to chat. She tells me every ache and pain she has ever had, how wonderful her job was back in the day and of course how smart, talented and beautiful her grandchildren are. In short... BORING.

I try to avoid that side of the street.

I love your posts also Patty. In response to Kitty's post, before reading these dog poop threads, I definitely fell into the "CLUELESS" category. Now I can't claim that status anymore.

I will say, I currently have a small dog but in the past have had large dogs also, generally they have already done their business before even leaving our yard and when they are lifting their leg to pee while on walks, they are already empty and just going through the motions where they might pick up the scent of another animal - "PEE-AIR" was the name my father-in-law would give them.

(quote snipped by me.)

Why is it that you think someone who loves dogs can't ALSO love a nice green, unpooped/unpeed upon by every dog in the neighborhood lawn & landscape? I grew up with dogs & have always had at least one for most of my adult life. But love them as I always have, that doesn't mean neighbors or whoever have an open invitation to bring their dogs onto my property to let them do their business. That seems pretty "common sense & common courtesy" to me. When we move to TV we'll likely have a dog & will ALWAYS be respectful of other's property. Likewise, I'll expect (demand) the same from my neighbors or anyone else walking their dog(s) by our home. What seems to be wrong with that?

Time for popcorn
 

A favorite subject among TOTV'rs....We have two small signs in our yard, "Please no pets", with no problem....I'll never understand why someone thinks it's OK to walk your pet across the street and pee in neighbors yard when you can let him pee in his own yard...We've been told by reliable sources that dog pee, when concentrated (and believe me, when one pees, they all pee) can kill the grass....So be kind to your neighbors that are toleratiing your bad behavior....And Oh, btw, pass the popcorn...here we go!:popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:

IMO, people always start off with "I love dogs, as a matter of fact I had a wonder dog "Muttley" for 47 years...", but the truth is they loved THEIR dog. Their dog was never a problem, but they didn't live in TV, they lived with more property, where the dog didn't have to be leashed. So, guess what? They move from their 47 acre farm in Iowa to here and can't understand why there's a problem.

As far as having an unpeed/unpoop lawn, good luck with that, take a quick wiff of the sprinklers.:shrug:

The only problem is uninformed, or I would imagine in most cases discourteous, disrespectful pet owners. Why do you insist on defending bad behavior??

Yup and have you ever noticed when Pit-bull owners are interviewed on a news report after their pooch chews the face off some innocent passer-by, they always come out with line "I don't understand it, he is as good as gold at home and wouldn't hurt a flea"

Same old story, it is not the dogs that are the problem, it is the owners. Seems that dogs are way easier to train than their owners.

I had a condo in Kissimme and our owners forum had the dog issue postings every month but nothing ever changed.

So these issues will endure, very little we can do other than talk to the offenders (owners that is, although the dogs may be more receptive!)

You are right Murray. I don't understand why people think that continually starting complaint threads on TOTV about dogs is more effective than walking out and talking to the offenders. :ohdear:

Prior to moving here I researched the pet rules and had no problem, still don't. Why would anyone insist that following the rules exhibits bad behavior?

Query me this, why would anyone consider moving to a place where they take issue with the rules?

We moved to The Villages for one reason .... because it is a dog friendly community and allows two pets per household with no size restrictions. Why are people surprised or concerned that there are hundreds of dogs? Didn't they read the rules, or see the dogs being walked in the Town Squares? We did.

Living in a dog friendly community means that we all need to be respectful of other residents' private property. For the most part, this happens. If someone is trespassing on your property, ask them to stop. It's that simple.

I do love dogs and was very upset when our toy poodle of 17 years passes away. I started out with that comment, because I did not want to appear as a dog hater. I do not feel that I moved to the wrong place by moving to the Villages. I do, however, know that I bought and paid for a piece of property that has my name on it and no one should thinks that this is common area to walk their dogs. I do not walk on other people's property as I have respect for each and every person. I would like the same respect

Barefoot, they DO invite people to use their yards! Some neighbors collaborate to use each other's yards. It's a thing of beauty where not many solutions work.

:agree::agree::agree::agree:

Kitty, I stand corrected. I haven't seen it happen. Perhaps it's a Gilchrist thing ... I hear it's a very friendly community!

It's the disrespect for personal property ownership.

And it's the growing population of people who are entitled to what belongs to somebody else.

People speak out here hoping that normal, respectful, considerate residents mount some public pressure on these brazen jerks.

We need a euphemism for neighborhood poop collaborative! What would we call it?

If I have this problem I will sneak into my garage and turn the front sprinklers on manually. I bet after the second or third time they will be more careful when they can come by!:girlneener:

I get your humor and spunky attitude, which I share, but if you do happen to see someone on your yard, by the time you get the sprinkler on, they will likely be gone.

Back to the original question. The deed restrictions are complaint driven, meaning they would not tell you to take a sign down unless someone lodged a complaint. So I'm guessing you could get a small sign or two and by the time someone complained (if they even did), you would have gotten your point across to the offender. If the sign didn't work, then you could speak to that person.

I have seen such signs in a couple of yards around the area south of 466, where deed restrictions say no signs.

The limit is two dogs. I would speak to them and if the problem continues file a complaint about the number of dogs.

Not really, whatever number you move in with is fine. I've found that if you have more than two they should be dressed alike. HELLooo, it's called Trompe L'oeil. Works for me.

Hopefully, this will be my one and only post to "the dog poop chronicles." From my extensive research (about 3 minutes), it would seem that dogs do not like the smell of vinegar. Why not get an empty spray bottle and a gallon of cheap white vinegar and spray it all over the curb in the street? Don't get a lot on the grass though. It might kill it.

Let me know if it works. I'll invest in vinegar futures.

As quoted in our deed restrictions

"2.23. Birds, fish, dogs,and cats shall be permitted, with a maximum of (2) pets per homesite. Each owner shall be personally responsible for any damage caused to a dedicated or reserved area by any such pet and shall be responsible to immediately remove and dispose of any excrement of such pet and shall be responsible to keep such pet on a leach. No other animals, livestock , or poultry of any kind shall be raised, bred, or kept on any Homesite or on a dedicated or reserved area "

There is nothing listed as an exception as far as moving in with more pets.

I think the OP came to this forum with a very legitimate concern. In fact it is shared by many.

I also think Cfrance's suggestion is a good way to handle the problem.

BTW, I have found a lot of dog walkers know the locations the snowbird owned homes.

In the real world that is not how it is, you can move in with whatever you have and then dress them alike.

SORRY, you're wrong.

We were told that if you have more than 2 pets when you move in you can keep them. But you can not replace any that die if that will keep you above 2. They don't expect you to have to make a decision to give away or sell a pet or pets in order to move in, but expect you to reach the stated limit through attrition.