"Dan" wrote
Surely this is an age old problem. Others must have brilliant
suggestions.

someone or some people in my neighborhood are not taking care of their
dogs
properly and are allowing them to leave waste in my yard. It's annoying,
and potentially a health issue. I never have seen any particular dog
doing
it, so it's not like I can ask a particular neighbor to improve their
behavior. It's generally within leash length of the sidewalk in front
of my house, so I can't tell if it's loose running dogs, or people walking
their dogs without cleaning up after them.

What have you folks done to discourage this sort of thing without
resorting to anything illegal or rude to the innocent non-offending
neighbors?

Dan,

I can suggest what not to do, unless you want to start a poop flinging war.

I walk at night and during the day, the city block is not lit, but it does
have sidewalks. I know a few of the people on the block casually, by saying
hello, and a little small talk. One night, the inevitable happened, I
slipped in dog poop. No big deal, but I wasn't real happy about it, since I
had on my brand spanking new tennis shoes, and twisted my ankle.

About a week later, I was talking to the homeowner, where I nearly broke my
neck. He was saying how disgusted he was, with people letting their animals
roam free, to set off yard bombs in his yard. He mentioned he scoops the
poop, and throws it on the sidewalk at night, to get back at the
irresponsible parties. As he started talking about scooping the poop, he
started getting wide eyed, and his eyes glazed over. He started this sick
laughing, like a crazy person. He really freaked me out.

Ok, now I'm furious. Here's this guy, I thought was a nice person, and he's
got this sick fetish of throwing poop on the sidewalks. Dealing with the pet
owners is one thing, but taking it out on everyone who uses the sidewalk is
another.

I told a few people about what this guy does. Apparently, I know a few nuts.
One of them started walking the block, taking a garden spade with them, and
a big ole bag of poop. They flung the poop all over this guys windows,porch,
and siding.

A couple nights later, I walked the same block. OMG, this guy had put horse
poop on the sidewalk.

To wind this up, I stay clear of that block now days. I don't know if the
poop war has ceased, or what the heck is going on.