No!

 

A barrage of discouragement stands between dogs and their need to answer the call of nature in the great outdoors.

Poor dogs! Anyone who has ever watched the apology on a dog’s face as it does its business in full public view has got to feel some sympathy. Dogs are trained to go outside, but when they do, they’re treated like they’re performing an anti-social act. Owners avert their gaze, pretending not to know them, passersby scoot past, sniffing, and then there’s all those signs:

“No Poop & Pee. Be respectful.”

“Please keep dogs out of garden.”

“Woof! Please clean up after your pet.”

Physical barriers are popular, too – wire fences strategically placed to keep dogs away from plants, or even, in one yard near me, an odd assortment of closely placed sticks tight along the sidewalk.

My own hedge is apparently something of a local stopping-off point. Not being a dog-owner myself, it took me awhile to connect the seemingly lengthy lingerings of dog-walkers in front of my house and the dead brown spots– just at prime leg-lifting height – on the front hedge that lines the sidewalk.

I’d sooner have a pristine hedge, of course, but in the great balancing act that is urban life, a few brown spots aren’t the end of the world. Between the rules and the signs and the barriers, the dogs who brighten the lives of my neighbours don’t have many chances to go off-piste. I hope they enjoy peeing on my hedge.

The brown spots on my hedge were a puzzlement until I figured out that dogs were likely lifting their legs there. 

Here's a neighbour's answer to the dilemma: create a barrier out of old sticks.

Somebody else chose a more elegant solution, with a low wire fence just far enough away from the boxwood hedge.

Eye-catching and specific -- no euphemisms here!

And plentiful. There were at least six signs along the front of this property.

A little more polite, appealing to the best sides of both dog and owner.

Even institutions get into the act. Brock House in Point Grey would hate to see its neatly planted garden bed despoiled.  

Notice the official Vancouver Park Board insignia at the bottom right, and the hint at the lower left that a misbehaving dog might merit a 3-1-1 call.

,

This well-worn sign makes an attempt at humour....

Under the drawing of the dog with a cocktail glass are the words, "Please do not be...." What? A party pooper, perhaps?

I call this the ghost sign. In contrast to the well-articulated figure that began this post, it's a simple white cutout, minus any words. But I think the message is clear.