Pets

Bruce...is this common area that they are complaining about or their private property. They are correct, dog urine is absolutely horrible for grass and depending on the dog will kill the grass and leave a little brown spot right where they pee. Reason for that is the high amount of nitrogen which acts as a fertilizer but as we all know when you put too much on your grass it kills it.

Bruce,

I'm confused. If you have no common area, who controls (owns) the park?

Or are you referring to your development as "the park" (as in mobile home park)?

If the complaint is about dogs going onto other peoples property and using their lawn, then the owners should be keeping a tighter control of the leash (yes I have a dog and yes I understand the issue)and not allow the dog onto the lawn but keep them on the sidewalk/street.

According to our vet, the turf damage problem is more prevalent with older female dogs with a rich diet (due to the fact that the urine is so acidic). Nevertheless, it's just a common courtesy to not trespass with your dog on someone elses property. Here's what our docs say about this.
"Trespassing. The owner or custodian of any dog who allows their pet(s) to enter another person’s property without permission is considered to be trespassing.
Please respect the property rights of your neighbors." This seems to work.

How to retrain humans - This method works great - On the more humorous side, one of the neighbors starting marking his pee spots with landscaping/survey flags (also used to mark utilities). (These are very small flags on a 30 inch piece of steel wire that you just stick into ground). This worked great. The owner of the dog saw all the burned spots that were marked with the red flags and he stopped walking the dog on this property. Then the property owner took down the flags once the dog owner modified their routine. Worked like a charm.

As long as there are pets, there will be irresponsible pet owners. I can remember as a child my father confronting a woman who regularly allowed her dog to do its "business" in our front yard. He demanded to know where she lived and when she asked why, he told her he wanted to bring our dog down to sh** in her yard. That was the last time she walked it past our house.

Seriously though there are tons of dog repellents on the market and even some relatively inexpensive homemade repellents.

Here are some common homemade dog repellents.

Cayenne Spray: The most common homemade dog repellent recipe is using cayenne pepper mix. You need to add 1 part of cayenne and 10 parts of water and spray this liquid mixture over the problem areas. Do not make the mixture too concentrated as cayenne can harm the sensitive nose of Rover.

Ammonia: Ammonia smell repels dogs more than anything else. Soak cotton balls in ammonia and place them in the problem areas. This will keep your dog away from the area.

Alcohol: Alcohol, like ammonia repels dogs. Place cotton balls soaked in alcohol in a similar fashion as ammonia to keep the dog away from the problem areas.

Citrus: You can try using any citrus fruit for making a homemade dog repellent. Cut the citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and sweet lime and spread them in the garden area. You can even spray citrus oils over the furniture to keep your dog away from it.

Vinegar: This is another strong-smelling substance that acts as a homemade dog repellent. Soak cotton balls in vinegar and spread them over the problem areas. You can concoct a mixture of vinegar and lime juice and spray it over the shoes. It will prevent your puppy or dog from chewing it.

Essential Oils: Eucalyptus, cinnamon or sour apple essential oils are a great way to keep your Rover from visiting garbage cans and other problem areas. Mix the oil with water and spray it all over the area you do not want your dog to visit.

Mustard Oil: You can spray mustard oil around the places you do not want Rover hovering. This is an effective and safe way to keep away dogs.

Chili Powder: If you find Rover chewing up your plants, then sprinkle chili powder around your plants. This is a sure shot deterrent for troublesome plant chewing dogs.