| I have a small adjoining piece of land with my neighbor 7' wide by 21' in length. It is bordered both sides by driveway and has a public pavement to the front. It is covered with tree bark chippings (per homeowners reg's) with a small tree two foot from the pavement with some kind of groundcover plant around the base. This area seems to be used as a dog toilet and is an ongoing problem! I have dug out the bark to about four inches and removed the plant along with all the dog mess. I then covered the area with liquid odour removal from Petco. My question is, |
| What you describe isn't all that unusual, but that still doesn't make it acceptable! Dogs generally won't frequent a place that's difficult to manuever so a ground cover with trailing stems (vinca minor, for instance) might keep them out. Failing that, Pyracantha coccinea 'Prostrata' (Prostrate Fire Thorn); and Berberis thunberia "Atropupurea Nana" both have thorns, which should keep the dogs out. Sometimes uneven surfaces deter animals; small shrubs planted in a group (heather, lavender, etc.) might help - although they may consider the plants a fire-hydrant alternative. There may very well be materials you can spray that would be offensive to dogs, so you might want to check with the pet store. A final thought is a sprinkler set up with a motion detector. If you can catch the dogs in the act, a stream of water at the precise moment may scare them away. Wish I had more suggestions! |
