What can I do to discourage feral, and not so feral, dogs from coming into my property both in daylight and at night, crapping here and there as the spirit moves them (no pun intended), and making threatening noises at me?
Fence your property.
Not an option.
Motion sprinklers?
C'mon.
Well what's the deal? You're shooting down ideas without giving any reasons. Figure it out on your own then.
I can attest to the effectiveness of the motion sprinkler. Dogs certainly won't like it! Rabbits, squirrels, and racoons don't like it either. I can't say the meter reader guy was overly impressed at our old home. DH on more than one occasion got an additional shower along with his morning coffee. I initially bought mine to protect our pond but now am using it in the garden. Depending on your set-up, you may need two to protect all areas. I move mine around a fair amount so the critters don't get to accustomed to the direction the spray is coming from. Another option may be a Fido electric fence around your garden. That will be effective for whatever garden you put it around but won't help much for your lawn and other unprotected areas. The last option I can think of besides fencing is cayenne pepper either powdered or spray solution. The downside is you have to reapply after a rain.
You might want to contact animal control for a more permanent solution. If the dogs are not ferral yet running loose, animal control should be able to fine the owners. Ferral dogs may be a health issue so animal control should come out and catch them.
Thank you.
If someone has an idea involving a repellant substance, I would be happy to hear it.
Sprinklers are a solution that would occur only to people who live where there is plenty of water. Here, the radio is forever telling me "Don't waste a drop". I turn the spigot off while I am shaving, except when I need actually to rinse the razor.
The Nature Protection Agency is responsible for animals in the wild; the SPCA mostly accepts unwanted pets. Dogs bothering a householder would be a police matter. I did report the matter to the police; they have other, more pressing matters to deal with, and it is hard to fault them for not putting a high priority on this one. That is why I thought to post the problem here.
I'll try the cayenne suggestion. Since there is no rain at all here during the summer (from April through November and well into December), that may help for most of the year, at the cost of a large package of ground cayenne pepper. As for the winter -- by then, the magic of Operant Conditioning may have persuaded the dogs that this is not a good place to visit.
Thanks for your comments.
Just remember, it's his loss. He apparently has not heard of folks who use them and swear by them. Gee, a pest control with no poisons or anything else to harm animal or human, why would anyone want to try that?!
Try not to take it personally, some folks want a complicated solution when a simple one will suffice. Or maybe he has no outside water faucet. As I understand from a friend who has one of the sprinklers, one of the beauties of them is that they operate for only a few seconds so there is no waste of water. My own observation regarding my feeble attempts to keep the squirrel away from the apricots is that it only takes 2 or 3 seconds which certainly is not a waste of water; more than that is used flushing the toilet once.
I'd use one for the squirrel except the movement of the tree branches would likely keep it going all the time. Since that one doesn't come to the ground, entering and leaving the yard via tree tops, one on the ground would be useless. However, come winter when I prune the tree severely, I may install one on the ground near the Evergreen Magnolia tree where more nest; when they cannot jump from another tree into it and will get sprinkled, perhaps it will discourage some of the critters anyway! (Though it sure doesn't help now.)
Since there is a problem here with dogs coming onto the front side yard, I may install one out there which would also keep stray cats from coming over that fence at the back yard as well.
Take care.
Glenna
Electric fence. Works like a charm! Cheap, too.
Ray
What's wrong with motion sprinklers? They're harmless, and will discourage most dogs.
Ray
threatening noises
Mark your territory the same way dogs do. Or, use something like old cigar butts soaked in soapy water.
Ray
That's an interesting possibility. While I don't have a source of old cigar butts, I do pee regularly. It never occured to me that dogs would regard a human odor as a no-go territorial marker. Are you sure they would?
Thanks!!
Actually, I am after a simple solution and one involving as little expenditure as possible. I mean to try at least two of the suggestions made here.
I have never seen motion sprinklers in this country, and am sure they are not for sale anywhere here. It is a mistake to think that everything you can buy in your local garden shop or Wal-Mart is available everywhere in the world. No, I am not interested in the hassle of importing them; the custom duty and plus UPS/FedEx/DHL charges would be prohibitive.
I like to think that I have enough judgement to know when "it is my loss" and when it isn't, even with the disadvantage of being this close to the question.
Glenna, Stan explained that he lived in an area where a motion sprinkler would not be feasible in a reply to me. From his posts, he is not in the US and perhaps can't even get a hold of one. I remember seeing a DIY project for one online but don't have the link. At any rate, he is asking for a fiable solution to a problem. As gardeners, I'm sure we can help him with this problem.
IIRC, the literature says they use about a cup of water per spray. However, Stan can't use this solution. Given his location, water is likely at a very high premium and simply not a viable solution. I suggested cayenne powder or spray, a cheap and effective solution. A google search may reveal other solutions.
Highly unlikely.
Why don't you tell us the size of your garden and the other factors limiting your choices.
Karen
We've had a wolf hybrid running loose in our senior citizen mobile home park for two or three years. Luckily she's not vicious, just unspayed, unvaccinated,unleashed, and supposedly un-ownered.
Animal control hasn't been able to catch her even with repeated trys.
It'd be funny if we weren't paying taxes for that function.
snipped-for-privacy@surrealspam.com writes:
The subsequent posts arrived on my server later which explained he did not have easy accessibility to the sprinklers which made my comments sound extremely unkind. Unfortunately, my comments were likely a result of folks (locally) who don't want to bother with simple solutions (like ladybugs or a spray from the garden hose) when they can go down to the garden shop and get an impressive looking container of poison for a few aphids on one plant. Of course, being a bit on the lazy side, I'd rather use the sprinkler (or a similar option for whatever problem) than to spray/sprinkle anything which has to be repeated. Perhaps this partially comes from trying to break my tomcat from spraying in the house which he started at the age of three (neutered at six months). Among other solutions was one to spray a certain solution daily everywhere suspected of having been sprayed by him. BTW, none of the recommended things worked leaving the only logical thing to keep him mostly outside and allow him inside in the utility room or bathroom only (or actually being held). His sister and he are important to me, their affection and un-intrusive companionship being part of the my recovery from my son's death, so having him put down was not an option. Giving him to someone else might result in him being abandoned by his new owner as was a tomcat that I cared for at my previous house. Trust me, I have no such affection or attachment the apricot-destroying squirrel!
Unfortunately I do not seem to get all the posts on my server, evidenced by responses to which the original post never appeared. Therefore, I owe Stan an apology for my curt reply
Stan, I offer you my apology for my seemingly unkind remarks which I hope you feel generous enough to accept. I can be rather curt at times but certainly did not mean to be unkind or mean-spirited towards you. This was a time I should have waited and re-read my reply in the morning rather than send it.
Glenna
>
Glenna...
Please put it out of your mind. What our unfortunate exchange shows is only the difficulty of communicating at a distance, through a written medium that gives the illusion of informal chat, but filters out facial expressions, tones of voice, and knowledge of each other's history. You do not owe me an apology. I hope I don't owe you one, but only you can know.
Your news reading problem is easily solved. My ISP, like yours apparently, attaches little importance to Usenet, simply because most of his subscribers don't use newsgroups. I found that when I used his news server, articles were often much delayed, some articles never appeared, and some that I wrote were not propogated to the rest of the world. There are free news servers in the world that you can use that never miss a trick, and on which delays are minimal. I use, and heartily recommend, It is operated by the Free University of Berlin, and has a website at
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