On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 04:51:05 GMT, dkhedmo wrote:
:Are you actually in Berkeley? Berkeley municipal code states there :should be no more than 4 dogs over age 6 months. If there are more adult :dogs than that, they are required to have a kennel set-up which is :approved by the humane society and there are set-back requirements for :said kennels. : :As per recent CA laws regarding dogs being kept/tethered outside, etc. :the following may be helpful: : :> Section 10.04.140 Care requirements for dogs housed or left outdoors on private premises. : :> C. Shelter. If a dog is housed or left outdoors, its owner/guardian shall provide a ?shelter? structure or other space for the dog ... > (f) be kept clean and maintained in a manner designed to insure the :best possible sanitary conditions, e.g. excreta shall be removed from :the shelter as often as necessary, : : :Good luck dealing with Berkeley bureaucracy, you'll need it... : :Karen, who used to live in the East Bay and worked in Berkeley for many :years
Yes, I'm actually in Berkeley and thanks for citing the city code. I'm pretty sure he has less than 4 dogs, probably two. I figured that Berkeley doesn't allow this guy to just let his dogs continually crap in his backyard and never clean it up. I just went to my back fence with my digicam and took 1/2 a dozen pictures. I hadn't taken the trouble to look carefully before, but from my single vantage point on the fence I could see that the dogs aren't just crapping next to the fence, but all over the portion of his back yard that I can see -- the area in back of his new garage, an area over 150 square feet, for sure. He just ignores it, evidently. Many turds, most rather dried up by now, just sitting out there. Now, I'm certain that it's an egregious code violation.
I've read all the posts up to this one and I'm inclined to agree with the people who say I should talk to this guy before contemplating going to the authorities. I can probably find the regulations online, FWIW, but it isn't my inclination to go to the authorities if there's a chance I can resolve a problem without doing so, and this situation can very probably be so resolved. I'm not going over there today, because I want to think about just what I'm going to say to this guy. He's tried to come off as a nice guy, easy to get along with and I think if I approach him in the right manner he will start keeping his back yard reasonably clean. I don't want to create bad feelings, so I'm going to work on my attitude, think about how to approach him. I've done many similar things in the past (I think we all have), so I figure I can probably work this problem out too. I don't think either of us needs to get belligerent. It's been years, so there's no rush. I think the first step has been made, actually, which is simply deciding that I'm going to talk to this guy. It could happen today, it could happen in two weeks, who knows? But it WILL happen! I rarely see him. He doesn't hang out in his back yard, AFAIK. I may wait until I encounter him, or I may knock on his front door. If I wait until I encounter him he will immediately realize I have had something on my mind that I've wanted to talk to him about - not a bad way to start the communication about this.
His house is generally upwind of his back yard, is a big part of the problem, I figure. I don't think he has a wife. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect he lives there alone with his dogs. His house is due west of the back yard, and the prevailing winds in Berkeley are from the west or northwest. Only on rare days do we get offshore winds, and only then would he sense the problem, assuming some of his windows were open.
Dan