This issue came up on Snopes recently as “Undetermined”, (http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/lawn.htm), so over the weekend I decided to try it. Lo and behold, my OWN dog actually refused to drop 'em in my back yard once I put two half-full milk cartons out there on their sides. HE sniffed at them, then went over to another yard to do his thing, while I sat there, dumbfounded. Does anyone know why this works?
Strange I couldn’t find that when I searched, but anyhoo…I maintain that further research is needed. Maybe it’s dog-specific? It sure does work like a charm for my Husky.
Never heard of just ware jugs, but if you take plastic milk jugs and put a few inches of amonia in them then perforate them abover the amolia line so air can flow it will keep most if not all dog off your lawn (you need to space them about the periphary of the lawn like a fence).
This is a tip I got from a home and garden expo and it does work. Here is how according to the H&G lady: Most dogs will avoid soiling another dog’s territory if the other dog is dominant. The amonia is very powerfull and apparently mimics the ketones of a strong alpha/dominant animal thus marking your lawn as “occupied” to passing canines.
I used to manage a townhouse complex and had a neighboring homeowner who walked his dog onto the property regularly while walking his dogs to a nearby park. After placing the amonia cups on the lawn I witnessed him walk his dogs past the property, saw one dog come onto the lawn, begin to squat, sniff, and then w/o completing the squat, leave the lawn w/o completing it’s business.
After that I bought plastic hanging things used to disperse mosquito repellent and hung them in trees and stashed them in bushes around the lot and had my lawn people keep them filled with amonia and water. No more poop splatered on walls from lawnmowers going over them.
I have no idea why just plain water in any kind of container would or even should work.
yeah, this is an urban legend in Japan too. People put out clear plastic bottles of water, it’s supposed to keep cats from peeing in your yard. Of course, since stray cats are the big problem in Japan, not dogs, the urban legend is about cats.
The theory is that the clear plastic bottles act like lenses and fools the animals into thinking that there are other things moving in the yard. Of course the whole idea is bunk, it doesn’t work at all.
>>Of course the whole idea is bunk, it doesn’t work at all.<<
Well, what can I say - it works on my dog, that’s why I posted this to begin with. If I take the same milk jugs and put them in my neighbor’s yard, he won’t go over there. If I move them back into my yard, he won’t go in my yard. I spent the weekend watching him do this. Next weekend I’ll go to a dog park and conduct further research.
I saw this done in Scotland a few years ago, but it was said to keep cats of the lawn.
I asked someone there if it really works.
“There are no cat on the grass, are there?”
Humph…kinda sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy if you ask me.
It works with elephants too. I put a jug of water on my lawn, and haven’t seen an elephant yet!
Of course I live in North Dakota, so…
Sorry.
This all reminds me of a great Japanese comic book where one of the characters is musing over what life is all about. For example, he says, what if tomorrow they decided our only purpose in life was to collect PET bottles and stack them in pyramids? Then everyone in the world would start collecting them, and suddenly PET bottles would become the most valued thing in the world. People would fight over them. They would steal them from eachother. People with plenty of flat land to stack their pyramids would be considered the wealthiest of all.
But then none of the cats would be able to pee anywhere! They would be scared to go anywhere at all! They would all huddle into a big pile, and they would stay that way for so long that they slowly meld into one giant cat and attack the world! Then Michael Jackson would buy the giant cat…
Anyway…it’s pretty funny.
Somebody in my neighborhood had some milk jugs filled with water in the yard for this exact purpose I assume. In my opinion the jugs constituted a much greater problem than an occasional dog turd—> they were a total eye sore. I’d rather just pick the shit up or invest in a sling shot.
Hmmm! I wonder if this is why I kept seeing plastic water bottles EVERYWHERE in Italy. I thought it had some superstitious / religious significance. Perhaps it was an attempt to keep the multitudes of stray dogs and cats away from their doorsteps / graves / gondolas?