Animal Residue

SamuelB:
I don't know that there is a simple solution, but I will offer a few ideas. This too, is my pet peeve with homeowners. We have homes here, not condos, and my dog is an outdoor dog and our property is gated. It makes me furious when people allow their animals to relieve themselves on my front yard (which now has yellow circles from urine), when I am careful not to even let my dog loose AND have the piles in my backyard instead of someone else's property. When I see someone on the other's properties, I have politely asked them to carry a doggie poop bag. This makes people so mad--one woman told me that until cats are controlled she'd walk her dogs wherever she please; another guy told me, as his dog . The mail carrier has complained because she couldn't dodge the piles to put mail in cluster boxes but when it was asked kindly in the newsletter--it got worse. We have a lot of "my way or the highway" types in society now, especially in HOAs. Rental property is even worse because most of the time, even newsletters (to owner/not residing) and mail is forwarded to the actual owner, so:
1) Start by asking the property manager or management company (MC) to send letters addressed to the "Resident" at ? address (send this to all residents--not just those who have animals), this way it will get to the renter if the manager doesn't have their NAME--asking everyone to pick up after their animals so that ALL may enjoy the common areas. You might also have the letter mention that not only are there disposable plastic grocery bags for this, but also if you search dog poop bags on the web, there is a dispenser that attaches to the leash. This will cost postage but may be worth it--as you know, renters most of the time, claim not to know the deed restrictions (see what your CCRs say also). In our assn. an animal has to be leashed and you can call animal control to pick it up if it is running around loose (this has taken care of one pooper that was release constantly to run into other's yards--they got it back, but keep it in the backyard now (they also have a gate)).
2)There are services that come in once a week or more often, and pick up doggy do. The condo owners who allow pets could allow for that in the pet deposit (and treat a portion as non-refundable to pay for this service). It is unfortunate because some people do pick up after their pets and tell you they will, but they sometimes do not.
3) Our area (not extremely convenient) has built a dog park just for dogs to be walked and relieved. It is a county or city maintained park and I'm not sure how they manage the clean up--if they do, but you might ask the park service how they handle that.
4) The condo assn. where my inlaws live in Florida finally TOTALLY disallowed pets for this very reason (common areas covered with poop) because they basically have no front or back lawns anyway.

Good luck with this--it's almost hopeless--people care more about their pets than other humans sometimes and you know what it's like telling someone their child is misbehaving--doesn't go over well--it's a reflection of them! The good news is that people have stopped allowing their animals (at least in daylight) to go on my yard because they aren't sure what option #5 might be (I used to be on the board and it was always a topic of conversation about what to do).
EdR

Thanks much for your thoughts, Ed. I usually don't care for negative reinforcement, however, in this case I think we will go forward with a letter stating that if the doggie-do doesn't stop in our common areas, we will enact a dog license requirement and violators will be subject to fines. There's more to my thoughts on this but I don't have time right now to jot them down. Any other ideas are most welcome.

SamuelB

We have a similar problem in our community, made worse by the fact that we have a public park in the center of our community. The parks department has installed "poop" bag stations near the trash recepticles in the park but we still have a number of dog owners in our community who do not avail themselves of this free amenity. I am a member of our board of directors and recently wrote an article for our community newsletter (not yet published) regarding the animal control laws that apply to our city and county. I hope we have better success than was indicated by the original post on this subject but am prepared to take the next step if voluntary compliance is not forthcoming (i.e., turning the offending dog owners who reside in our community into our local animal control department). My suggestion for anyone having this problem is to check your local animal control laws/ordinances and let your neighborhood dog owners/walkers know that they may be breaking the law, not just the community's rules and regulations. The threat of a fine by the local government animal authority may make a difference. Obviously, you will need to know where the offenders reside. If you spot someone and their dog commiting a "poop and run" when out walking your dog, casually stroll after them until they return home and then note down the address. Turn their name into your community's board or property manager and to your local animal control department.

I saw an interesting clip on a TV show about how they are dealing with this in Europe. They actually have a pilot program (I think in Germany) where the city requires pet registrations to include a DNA sample. They then have city employees pick up poop and run DNA tests. If your pet's poop is found, you get hit with a big fine from the city. It's a bit Orwellian but I bet that would work, since people could no longer anonymously leave that mess for others.

I'm not sure you could legally require your residents to register their animals unless it was already a requirement of your documents. And actually what would be achieved by that? Also, in our HOA many of the dog walkers do not live in our jurisdiction. Good luck policing your own residents, much less outsiders. Harold