Is It Rude To Let Your Dog Poop In A Neighbors Yard, Even If You Bag It?

A woman turns to Reddit's AITA to see if she's out of line after an uncomfortable interaction with her neighbor

Kylin

• Published in Animals
• September 26, 2022

The etiquette for dog owners seems pretty standard and straightforward. Don’t let your dog bark at all hours of the night, be sure to keep them leashed when out for a neighborhood walk, only let them greet a stranger or a stranger's dog if the stranger wants them to, and be sure to scoop their poop.

Basically, it all boils down to common decency. Don’t let your dog negatively impact someone's day.

But what happens if you do follow all the expected “rules” of dog ownership and still upset someone? A woman recently came across an unexpected encounter while walking her dog in their new neighborhood and was left feeling conflicted about her actions.

Redditor Juniper2020 turned to the famous r/AITA community to put her interaction up for judgment. She explains that she used to live near a park where they would regularly take their dog for walks, but they had moved to a new neighborhood that was not close to a park anymore.

While walking around their new neighborhood, her pup picked a spot in a side yard to take a poo on some pine straw. She dutifully bagged up her dog's waste and that’s all she thought of it until the neighbor who lived there came out.

The neighbor asked her to keep her dog from using his lawn in the future. OP says that even after she politely pointed out that she picked up after her dog, her neighbor “didn’t seem to think that mattered much.”

Confused by the interaction, she turned to Reddit to clarify anything she may have missed. Keep scrolling to read the responses and to see how she was judged. 

OP turned to r/AITA to see if she was in the wrong.

She had assumed that picking up after her pup was more than enough to be considerate, so naturally, she was confused by her neighbor asking her not to let her dog use his lawn for a potty.

At surface level, it seemed like this would be a pretty unanimous decision.

If she were to ignore his request going forward, she would be in the wrong, but the first instance could be chalked up to not knowing any better

If someone asks you to stay off their property, then stay off it

Easy peasy, right?

It turns out, there were some strong feelings about this topic on both sides.

It's impossible to get every bit of waste picked up.

A few users felt that picking up the waste is enough

And that she should avoid that neighbors lawn if she can

There are a LOT of neighborhoods that don't have sidewalks, making it difficult for dog walkers to keep their dogs out of yards

They helped elaborate more about the no sidewalks - and again suggested to avoid that neighbors lawn

The homeowner has the final say on what they want happening on their land

I do agree that some folks are weirdly obsessed with their lawns...

Dogs absolutely can be trained to go in specific areas

And then... OP stuck her foot in her mouth

"Fine fine, I'll do it begrudgingly"

Maybe a joke that didn't translate well over text.

Their "begrudgingly" comment definitely didn't help their case

OP isn't coming across as "conscientious" as she claims to be

Still, many folks agreed that you can't choose where you dog goes

A user shared their own personal funny story essentially backing up that a dog will go wherever they decide

Turned out that this situation was not as easy to judge as it initially seemed

This became objectively one of the most divide AITA threads

Ultimately, the majority agreed that neither OP or the neighbor were being jerks

This user personally wouldn't care if the dog was picked up after, but neighbor was fully within his rights

Some fights aren't worth the energy

Another user suggested the pine straw could have been freshly planted seeds

Which would definitely justify their neighbor's request even more.

Having a dog use the sidewalk where people use more often would be more annoying to this user

The homeowner is entitled to not want dogs on his property, it should be easy enough to avoid his yard

Literally no one is the a-hole for this specific situation, she didn't know it was an issue until he told her, and he's within his rights to decide what he wants on his lawn

While it may be the general etiquette to pick up after your pooch, her neighbor was polite about asking her to not do it again

If everyone was polite, and OP respects his request, then no one is the AH

OP is following the "right" rules by picking up after her dog, and now knows not to let her pup use this specific lawn

What do you think, do you agree with the community’s rating of No A-holes Here for Juniper2020’s situation? Was OP in the wrong, was her neighbor being overly sensitive, are they both jerks, or are neither in the wrong?

I personally would have thought that picking up my dog's waste was the extent of my responsibility while walking my dog. But if someone were to ask me to avoid letting them use their lawn, it wouldn’t be any issue to walk away from there.

Kylin