Video Summary
How can I stop my neighbor from letting their dog use my yard as a bathroom? Well, I’m afraid I don’t have very good answers for that. I don’t think you really have a viable legal question, and there’s not always a legal answer to a problem. Technically, the dog or the neighbor allowing the dog to come onto your property could be considered trespass, but that’s going to be tough. You don’t want to go to court over a trespass case as far as a dog’s concerned, and then also them not being a good neighbor and policing up after the dog, which probably you wouldn’t mind so much as long as they policed up after the dog.
It falls into one of those categories where it’s just not very considerate, I guess bad manners or whatever, and so you just might suggest, if you see the neighbor, just ask them if you, “Please police up after your dog.” Of course, you may not see it. You just see the results of the latest walk rather than see them right in the actual act or not. There really isn’t a good legal answer to that, and just something that people should be more considerate of their neighbors and police up after their dogs as far as that’s concerned.
I always try whenever we have a problem such as this, is talk about practical solutions to it. I don’t know if you could put up a small picket fence or something, a decorative picket fence in the front. I don’t know if you have a sidewalk or whatever to keep just a decorative small fence, and hopefully the neighbor wouldn’t have the dog jump a small one-foot decorative fence or whatever, as far as that’s concerned. I really don’t have a legal solution to that.
Unfortunately, I don’t think we have a wise enough man since King Solomon to come up with the answer to that problem, a solution, but the only thing I could suggest is if you see them out there, suggest they don’t do it, which is very difficult, or maybe put up some kind of little decorative fence just as a practical matter, make it a little more inconvenient so that the dog would not be so inclined to use your property, but he moves next door and uses your neighbor’s property for whatever uses he needs to take or whatever urges come upon him during his neighbor’s walk.
Of course, if they’re not even walking him and they’re just running wild, well, I guess you can call animal control to say that they’ve got an unleashed dog, but again, that’s not real practical since animal control by the time they get out there the dog’s gone and there’s not a lot you can do about it. I’m willing to talk to you, but I don’t have any answer. You can call and talk to me about the neighbor’s dog at 727-847-2288.