Why let Williamsburg dogs get all the attention? Here’s something we found on the Park Slope Message Board about a urinating dog-related confrontation:
So into a major argument this weekend because my dog pissed in front of someone’s house on the sidewalk. Here’s what happened: I was walking my (large) dog as I always do in my neighborhood in the north slope. I have one of those really big goofy friendly dogs that never causes any problems and most people stop and pet him on a daily basis. I try to be a good dog owner and ALWAYS pick up after my dog. Well, a few days back I was walking my dog and he stopped in front of a house that had a lot of vegetation growing out of the front fence…you know, the kind that hasn’t been maintained much and shrubs are taking over half the sidewalk. Anyway, my dog starts to pee on the shrubs (btw, I usually try to always get him to pee on the trees away from the house, but in this case, one he starts, it’s hard to pull him away) and the owner comes out and starts yelling at me. Keep in mind that I was on the sidewalk the whole time and outside this guys house. I usually try to avoid arguments at all costs, so apologized and started walking away. As I was walking away, he kept yelling obscenities and then said, “Next time I see you, I’m going to fucking kill your dog”. This is when I got upset and confronted the man and told him that it was completely unnecessary to make some stupid statements and that I had already apologized so he should have let it go. He went on yelling and came really close to hitting me, when a passerby broke up the argument.
Here’s my question: Are there any laws against my dog peeing on the streets (we were clearly on the sidewalk and not trespassing by any means)? Has any one else ever experienced anything like this before? Was I wrong in arguing back with this guy?
So many issues with urination, like this and this, in Park Slope.
25 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 4:02 am
Dogs in the city are a pain in the ass for everyone but the owner…get rid of them all
2 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 4:36 am
How about if I allow my kid or my husband to pee in front of your front yard? After all, pee is pee. Wouldn’t you say something?
Why would you think it is all right to have your LARGE dog pee on somebody’s bushes, sidewalk or not? Pee smells. You are asking someone else to deal with your dog’d urine. Yuck!
Also, dog urine is terrible for street trees. It kills them, so that is not any better.
Its your choice to have a big dog in the city. Deal. Don’t be amazed that people yell at you. I would have done the same.
3 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 5:30 am
ever hear of the line
CURB YOUR DOG?
And no it has nothing to do with Larry David.
The dog should pee in the gutter near the curb. Not on the sidewalk.
Kids play there. Not on street trees or vegetation. Not on someone’s private property. Between the cars, on the street.
4 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 5:35 am
From the PS message board:
Animals cannot defecate or urinate on
“a sidewalk of any public place, on a floor, wall, stairway or roof of any public or private premises used in common by the public, or on a fence, wall or stairway of a building abutting on a public place.” It is punishable by a $25 fine and/or up to 10 days jail. Section 161.03 of the New York City Health Code.
5 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 5:40 am
What about peeing in the street? Curb your dog means CURB your dog….pee in the street, not on the sidewalk where little kids are walking by, people sit on their stoops….
It does REALLY smell…dog owners need to be aware of that!
And it kills everything.
6 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 6:34 am
What ever were you thinking that your dog has the right to pee on the side walk in front of someones home. Have you ever heard of Curb Your Dog. I’m tired of people letting their dogs pee in front of my house and by the garden fence and also on the garbage bags left on the curb…someone has to pick that up. Get with the program Curb Your Dog and stay away from the tree pits and houses
7 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 6:50 am
The guy sounds excessively angry, but you really, really, really should curb your dog. It’s very irritating to have to avoid pools of pee on the sidewalk. Curb your dog.
8 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 8:31 am
New York City law requires owners to curb their dogs. This requires owners to walk their dogs by the curb. As a matter of common courtesy you should not allow your dog to urinate on some one else’s property. I am a dog owner. I can’t claim to be perfect, but its worth trying.
9 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 8:36 am
Home owners are supposed to maintain their buildings. If their brush is growing out onto the sidewalk and a dog likes that… well the owner should of taken better care of his property.
However, and more importently, if I or my dog pissed on your apartment, or for that matter if your husband or son pissed on it, you would have no right to threaten their life. period. He can call the cops if he wants. And so could I becasue what is the more serious crime, the threat or the piss.
10 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 9:12 am
You write that you try to get your dog to pee on the trees — please don’t do that. Urine is very bad for trees, and street trees are under enough stress as it is.
Please train your dog to take his piss in the gutter. It’s not that hard.
11 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 10:00 am
I have a street tree outside my house. I also have a 9 month old daughter whose stroller has to be wheeled through dog pee and crap all the time because people like you think that the street outside my house is a toilet. Please be a responsible pet owner and neighbour.
12 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 10:08 am
Hmmm…”curb your dog” – that must mean something right? something to do with taking your dog to the curb? you know, where the drains are where all the waste water runs to? from what i remember from 5th grade biology, all urine is mostly wasted water soooo….
dog owners – letting your dog piss on the sidewalk, on trees, on garbage cans is illegal. it stinks, it’s disgusting and the curb is usually about 6 inches away from all of these things. make the extra effort, we will all thank you for it.
13 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 11:27 am
Wow, lots of dog lovers here I see! Saying things like “curb your dog” is all well and good, but you can’t control what your dog does 100% of the time. The best thing to do is what I do if this happens near my home. I go into my house and come out with a pot of water with some lysol or pine sol or whatever, and throw it over where my dog has peed. This way the pee is washed away, the smell is taken care of, and everyone is happy.
14 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 11:55 am
“Curb your dog” does NOT mean to walk your dog by the curb. It is the same “curb” as in “curb your enthusiasm.” It means that you should control your dog.
15 Anonymous // Oct 16, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I don’t own a dog and I never have. But I have to put all of this pee obsession in context. I have never in my 20 years of living in this city seen an owner get his dog to pee in the street. The ONLY place I’ve ever seen dogs pee is on the sidewalk. To scream or threaten someone over this transgression is like standing on the side of the NY Thruway and yelling at people to drive 55 mph. Please, get a life.
16 Anonymous // Oct 17, 2007 at 7:57 am
I have a life probably as good as yours but pee on the stoop and the fence is disgusting. Ive seen people stand and watch and they do that a lot and watch their dogs pee on the recycle garbage as well. How about being a good neighbor ,it doesn’t seem too difficult
17 Anonymous // Oct 17, 2007 at 9:21 am
2:27 – I’m not happy. “lysol or pine sol or whatever”!?! Maybe there’s no more smell but that is much worse than urine for our watershed. Please just use water, maybe scrub with a broom, or use Dr. Bronners or something biodegradable. But LYSOL?!?
18 Anonymous // Oct 17, 2007 at 9:27 am
again, anotehr example park slope pansies…
wusses
idiots,
yell at me on the street and get smacked very quickly
open your mouth again after i respond ‘go f***k yourself’ and find that you should have done just that rather than yell at me or threaten my dogs life
19 Anonymous // Oct 18, 2007 at 6:13 am
we are talking about dogs here, not people, and dogs tend to pee where it smells nice for them to pee. when i walk my dog, as soon as he steps out of my front door to my building he pees 5 feet from the door, doesn’t make it all the way to the curb. i can always try and drag him to the curb, but once he starts peeing its pointless. someone said something to me once about curbing my dog, and i called her a bitch and told her thanks for pointing that out, but my dog just pees as soon as he gets outside, if i could control where he peed he would pee on one tree and poop under the same tree and the rest would be all gravy, but its not, its a frickin dog, and they have their tendencies to pee in poop in the randomnest of places. its new york city we are living in, not the middle of kentucky, there is not enough room here to have your dog not pee where it won’t be convenient. just keep picking up his poop and let your dog pee wherever. pee dries. and my dog pees in front of my apartment everyday three times a day, and it still does not smell like pee. it smells like brooklyn.
20 mike // Oct 19, 2007 at 2:36 pm
i like all these save the world comments…
if trees can get damaged by pee, then wheree do bears & deers pee?
ive never seen a racoon rest stop while hiking?!?!?!
my block doesnt smell like dog pee, it smells like people’s garbage….
when people complain about my dog peeing in front of their house, i explain that he just like to pee where it smells like poo…
21 Anonymous // Oct 20, 2007 at 12:27 pm
The laws apply to poop, not pee, at least not directly. When I have had a problem with someone complaining about my dog’s habits it seems that more often than not there is a psychiatric situation going. That being said, here is the NYS pooper scooper public health law, judge for yourselves:
” S 1310. Removal of canine wastes in cities with a population of four
hundred thousand or more persons and in the cities of Yonkers and
Albany. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, rule or
regulation, in cities with a population of four hundred thousand or more
persons and in the cities of Yonkers and Albany, it shall be the duty of
each dog owner or person having possession, custody or control of a dog
to remove any feces left by his dog on any sidewalk, gutter, street or
other public area. Any violation of this section shall constitute a
violation punishable by a fine or a civil penalty of not more than one
hundred dollars. For the purposes of enforcing the provisions of this
section, appearance tickets may be issued by sanitation officers, dog
enumerators, or wardens and by any persons authorized to issue tickets
for parking violations. Notwithstanding any other provision of law to
the contrary, in the city of New York, such appearance tickets may be
returnable to the environmental control board which shall have the power
to impose the civil penalties herein provided. The provisions of this
section shall not apply to a guide dog, hearing dog or service dog
accompanying any person with a disability, as defined in subdivision
twenty-one of section two hundred ninety-two of the executive law. “
And here is the text of the NYC health code 161.03 that applies to animals
RESOLVED, that Section 161.03 of the New York City Health Code, as adopted in nineteen
hundred fifty-nine, be and the same hereby is amended, to be printed together with explanatory
notes, to read as follows:
§161.03 Control of dogs and other animals to prevent nuisance.
(a) A person who owns, possesses or controls a dog, cat or other animal shall not permit the animal
to commit a nuisance on a sidewalk of any public place, on a floor, wall, stairway or roof of any
public or private premises used in common by the public, or on a fence, wall or stairway of a
building abutting on a public place. “
22 Anonymous // Oct 23, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Brooklyn is full of dipshits.
23 Anonymous // Feb 5, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I have the same type of dog & had a similar experience – an old grumpy woman started screaming at me like a lunatic.
It’s amusing reading some of the comments posted by non-dog owners. I’m not risking my life to walk into the street so the dog can pee. Remember, we’re in NYC cars & cabs speed & drive recklessly all day, everyday here. Curbside should sufficient. Afterall, when your kids are screaming & disturbing the peace, we don’t ask you to take the kid to the road so to drowned out the noise. What about when kids drop all kinds of food on the sidewalk – there are many times I’ve stepped in that yet I understand they’re kids & this will happen. Or what about smokers that just drop their cigarette butts all over the place…are you starting to get the picture? At least pee washes away!
24 Anonymous // Feb 28, 2008 at 4:53 pm
WOW! A lot of you are really angry. If you are so upset about dog pee, because it is clearly the biggest and worst issue we have happening in this country today, than maybe you should use your anger and start a community action group.
Listen people, treating other human beings like crap because they can’t control, or “curb” as you all seem to love so much, their animals is ridiculous. Dogs, cats, and animals are living, breathing organisms and just like human beings…when they have to go and can’t wait any longer they have to go.
Oh I am so worried about my little baby stepping in dog pee…boo fucking hoo hoo. Your kid will be fine…unless you forgot what you learned in Biology 101…urine is sterile. Yup…even dog urine. What you should be worried about are the number of abandoned animals out their spreading diseases, to each other, humans, and our water supply, because human beings weren’t responsible enough to take care of them. That’s right…you got enough energy to bitch…then you got enough energy to help with a solution.
So next time you all want to use someone’s post as a bitch session for your gripes, instead of responding like decent human beings, think about the message you are sending to those poor innocent child that you want to avoid the pee.
Lets try to act like adults or at least civilized human beings.
25 Anonymous // Mar 15, 2008 at 4:12 pm
When people stop driving cars and screwing up the air that I breathe on a 24-7 basis then I will start to give a sh*t about my dog peeing on the tree outside my house which may have to be replaced 5 years earlier because of my dog’s pee.