10 Practical Ways to Stop Neighbors’ Dogs from Peeing On Your Lawn

If you spend most of your cherished weekends maintaining a lush yard, it can be frustrating to see your neighbor’s dogs use it as their peeing area.

Dog urine can create ugly spots of yellow or brown dead grass.

While some people believe that it is just part of co-existing with neighbors who own pets, it shouldn’t be the case.

There are several things you can do to protect your valuable yard without resorting to extreme measures.

Here are a few proven techniques that will have your neighbor’s dog pass your lawn for another spot down the street.

1. Eliminate Any Form of Enticing Smell

Dogs are attracted to areas with the right pheromones or smells when looking for the right spots to ‘do their businesses’.

Once a neighbor’s dog starts eliminating on one particular area, other dogs may also be attracted to the same spot by the smell as well as the natural desire to mark territory.

Removing dog droppings and diluting any enticing smell will help to keep your neighbor’s dogs from returning.

Here are a few tips you can leverage:

I. Clean the area immediately

If you happen to spot the neighbor’s dog peeing in your yard, the first course of action should be to immediately spray down the spot with a hose.

This will help dilute the high concentrations of salts, acids, and nitrogen in the dog’s urine, thereby lessening the intensity of the brown spot.

It’s important to note that hosing the area may not completely remove the scent or deter your neighbor’s dog from urinating in the same spot again.

A surefire way to eliminate the scent would be to treat the area with an enzymatic cleaner. Check out this post for the best options: 15 Best Enzyme Cleaners for Dog Urine

II. Spray undiluted vinegar

Spray undiluted vinegar on the spot of the accident as well as around the perimeter of your yard.

Vinegar neutralizes the smell, discouraging the territorial behavior that draws other dogs to the spot where others have urinated.

It also acts as a repellant and creates some sort of invisible perimeter wall that drives dogs off your lawn.

To be effective, you may need to reapply the vinegar daily.

Avoid spraying the vinegar over your lawn though since it is a natural herbicide and can damage your lawn.

III. Spread baking soda

Spread baking soda where the dog has urinated and around the perimeter of your lawn.

Like vinegar, baking soda will neutralize the urine and ward dogs off your yard.

Baking soda will also protect your grass from damage caused by urine.

IV. Change fertilizer

The smell of certain fertilizers tend to attract some dogs to lawns.

If dogs seem to be attracted to yours, consider using another lawn fertilizer.

If they don’t like the smell of the new fertilizer, they will pass your yard for another.

2. Eliminate Attractions

Many dogs wander in other people’s lawns out of curiosity and boredom.

While you may not do much to alleviate a stray dog’s boredom, you can make your yard less appealing using a few simple steps:

• Dogs tend to be attracted to other dogs’ foods, BBQs, and garbage. So, if you have other pets, consider putting away their dinner bowls after meals. Alternatively, feed them inside. Consider putting lids on your garbage cans as well.

• Some dogs may be attracted to water points in certain areas of your yard. So, consider removing your dog’s water bowl, child’s pool, bird birth, etc from your yard.

• Clean your dog’s droppings immediately after ‘an accident’ as they can also attract other curious dogs to your yard.

• Keep your dog’s toys in a shed and garage as some dogs may also get attracted to toys that have been used by other dogs.

• You may consider spaying your female dog so that she doesn’t attract male dogs to your yard.

2. Get Creative with Landscaping

If you’re wondering how to stop neighbors’ dogs from peeing on your grass, there are numerous landscaping tactics available to deter dogs from entering your yard, including:

• Plant plants or shrubs that smells bad for dogs like Coleus Canina around your yard. These will deter many dogs from using your lawn as the go-to bathroom spot.

• Build a barrier on the ground by putting a line of something that dogs find uncomfortable to walk on. Installing a ring of sharp gravel, for instance, will put dogs off your lawn as it tends to hurt the pads of their feet.

• Plant thorny plants such as thorny vines around your yard’s perimeter. This will be very impractical for dogs to walk through and access your yard.

• An alternative to gravel and thorny plants is a mulch that makes it hard for dogs to walk through. Pinecone mulch, for instance, will help keep dogs away from your yard as it is too harsh on their paws.

• Vary the time of watering your yard. No dog will be attracted to a wet area where there are dry ones around.

• Put pop bottles filled with water around your yard. Most dogs don’t do their businesses near food or water, so installing some bottled water around your yard may discourage them from peeing in your yard.  

3. Use Homemade Dog Repellents

What can I put on my lawn to deter dogs from peeing?

Since dogs hate certain smells, you can take advantage of this by creating a natural deterrent using readily available household items. Here are a few ideas:

• Sprinkle some chili pepper around the yard: Chili pepper can irritate dogs, so they will stay away from your lawn the moment they get a whiff of it.

• Ammonia: Ammonia produces a smell that’s unfriendly to dogs and spraying it around your yard will keep them off.

• Vinegar and baking soda: Besides using these to eliminate dog urine, they can also help you repel stray dogs when you use them on sidewalks and fences.

• Citrus: Orange and lemon peels can also repel dogs off your yard because they don’t like the scent. But the peels may attract rats and mice, which are also unsightly. So, if you decide to use this strategy, arm yourself with more strategies of controlling mice or rats.

4. Invest in Commercial Perimeter Deterrents

While the homemade deterrents mentioned above are readily available and budget-friendly, they come with a few disadvantages.

These include their temporary effectiveness, the potential of some of them to cause harm to your lawn, and the possibility of attracting other pests to your yard.

A more effective alternative is to opt for high-tech commercial perimeter deterrents. These can help you keep dogs and other pests away from your yard.

Here are some useful commercial perimeter deterrents you may consider investing in:

I. Motion-activated Sprinkler

Motion-activated watering systems are not only designed for watering your yard but can also be used to scare off visiting critters, including neighbors’ pets.

Install these sprinklers along the perimeter of your yard or in areas where your neighbor’s dogs love to do their businesses.

A perfect example of such a sprinkler is the Hoont Cobra Outdoor Pet Repellent for Yards and Gardens.

I highly recommend it because of its simple setup. All you need to do is attach it to a standard water hose, place it in your desired location, and let its mechanism do the work to scare critters away from your yard.

It can detect movements of your neighbor’s dog up to 50 feet away and respond with a 5-second burst of water.

II. Ultrasonic Dog Repellents

These are fitted with sensors, which will detect an approaching dog and emit sonic or ultrasonic sound waves that are somehow bothersome dogs, discouraging them from approaching your lawn.

Ultrasonic sounds are designed in such a way that most people cannot hear them, but animals, including dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, squirrels, deer, and others, are able to perceive them.

If you choose to use an ultrasonic repellent, I highly recommend the Careland Solar-Powered Animal Repellent.

It uses ultrasonic waves and powerful flashing LED strobe lights to repel unwanted critters without causing them harm.

Additionally, it is solar-powered, making it a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution.

III. Commercial sprays

These are also designed to discourage dogs from marking or peeing on wrong places.

Check this post for the best options: 6 Best No Marking Sprays for Dogs

5. Fence Your Yard

Although it is one of the most costly methods of keeping neighbor’s dogs off your yard, it is also one of the most effective.

Investing in a sturdy fence such as chain-link can help you enjoy your manicured yard while keeping off stray dogs.

If you don’t have the budget for a permanent fence, consider other affordable yet effective alternatives like low-voltage electric wires.

These are easy to install and will deliver low shocks to dogs, keeping them away from your yard.  

• Good fences should be high enough to prevent dogs from jumping over them.

• Fences should also be partially buried to discourage your neighbors’ dogs from digging holes and crawling under them.

• Remember to check local zoning laws or HOA rules to ensure that you meet all the regulations regarding erecting fences.

6. Talk To Your Neighbor

Another viable option to keep your neighbor’s dog off your yard is to speak to your neighbor to see if you can both do something to solve the problem.

If anything, diplomatic solutions are far better than allowing your relationship with a neighbor to deteriorate.

Speaking to your neighbor before resorting to some of the above-highlighted strategies can also save you a lot of time and money which you can use elsewhere.

Here are a few tips to do this without appearing confrontational.  

• Make friends with your neighbor and express your concerns without accusing his or her dog of being at fault. This will prompt them to supervise their dog better if they know it might be a problem.

• If you don’t mind being a bit dishonest, you can notify your neighbor that you’ve chemically treated your yard to repel skunks or raccoons and that it could harm their dogs.

7. Provide Doggy Bags for Doggy Walkers

If distant neighbors walking past your yard are also part of the problem, it can be tricky to talk to all of them.

An easy trick is to post a sign with doggy bags nearby.

Accompany it with a poster asking any dog walker to clean up after his or her dog.

This will encourage them to clean up and will embarrass some of them to keep their pups off your yard.

8. Put Up Signs

If you’re hesitant to confront your neighbors or suspect that distant neighbors’ dogs might be the issue, consider placing signs near your yard or sidewalk politely asking them to take care of their dogs or clean up after them.

Phrases like “No Trespassing,” “Clean Up After Your Dog,” and “No Unattended Dogs Allowed” should do the trick.

Simple signs like these have proven to be effective in deterring people from venturing onto their neighbors’ lawns.

Just like the previous strategy, the effectiveness of these signs will depend on your neighbors’ personalities.

Hint: You don’t have write or design such signs yourself. You can order them from amazon.

9. Install Security Cameras

When you confront your neighbors about their dogs peeing in your yard, some will obviously deny it.

If you find yourself in such situations, you need to present them with some evidence.

This is where security cameras come in. Install a few cameras around your yard to keep an eye on your grass when you are away.

Conspicuous security cameras will not only help you catch your neighbor’s dog peeing on your lawn, but will also discourage neighbors and dog walkers from allowing their dogs to poop or pee on your yard.

Recommended security camera: Solar-powered, wireless, pan tilt 360⁰ SOLIOM S600 Outdoor security camera.

10. Last Resort to Keep Dogs from Peeing on Your Lawn: Report Your Neighbors to Local Authorities

If your neighbor fails to corporate, you can report them to local authorities and other Animal Control bodies.

Remember to take pictures of the dogs eliminating in your yard (installing a security camera is a better alternative) so that your neighbor won’t have grounds to deny your allegations.

Reporting your neighbor to the authorities will automatically cause some friction.

So, only do so if you’ve exhausted other strategies and if the problem is much more than an annoyance.

How To Stop Neighbor’s Dog From Peeing in My Yard: Final Thoughts

While we love our pets or at least don’t have issues with our neighbors keeping them, we are not always comfortable with them peeing on our yards, leaving us with unsightly lawns and bad odors to deal with.

Acting quickly before a neighbor’s dog damages your lawn with urine is always a good move.

The above-highlighted tips should be perfect measures for deterring stray dogs from peeing on your yard, so be sure to consider one that will work for you.

Just ensure that the strategy you decide to use doesn’t get you sued for being cruel against animals.