q: i have two dogs. they use our yard to do their business, and i do clean it up three times a week, but my next-door neighbor wants me to clean up after the dogs immediately. she came over to discuss this while i was outside with the dogs, but i don’t really see how it affects her at all. i work full-time and have two young children, and i just don’t have the time to do this every day. how often should i clean my yard? is there a law about this?
— mind your own “business”
a: neighbors are so great, aren’t they? but let’s give her the benefit of the doubt that she’s confronting you about this because it’s somehow affecting her directly. and honestly, she may have a good reason. if she’s trying to sell or rent her house, or she likes to sit outside in the evening, having a next-door yard full of smelly dog poops in summer isn’t exactly a benefit. maybe she has kids too, and she’s worried about them coming in contact with those landmines as they run around and play. or maybe she sees those dogs stuck in the yard all day alone, and then not getting much attention because you are taking care of two children when you get home from work, and she is concerned about animal neglect.
right now, you say you are cleaning up three times a week, which is basically every other day. so maybe you could make a compromise with your neighbor and bump it up to four times a week – still not every single day, but possibly enough to keep her satisfied. or maybe there’s a neighborhood kid who’d like to make a few extra bucks by swinging by on weekdays and scooping poop for a few minutes; if you’re a busy working mom, it could be well worth the extra free time AND it would solve the neighbor headache.
as far as city code regulations go, they are different from city to city, and sometimes don’t make logical sense at all (you heard about that woman in michigan who was arrested and now faces jail time for having a VEGGIE GARDEN in her front yard, right?). if you want to know whether the law is on your side, contact your city clerk and they can help you research the regulations. if it turns out that there’s no law on the books that homeowners have to scoop their poop daily, you can triumphantly rub it in your neighbor’s face (so to speak) next time she yells at you over the fence.
