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?

Hi. I had this problem last year. Fortunately, the family that owned
the dog moved away. If they hadn't moved, I don't think the problem
would have ever been resolved. I confronted the wife several times. She
must have been born in a barn. When I asked her to curb her dog, she
didn't know what that meant. I explained it to her, and she still
didn't understand. She said to me, "Well, then, where is my dog
supposed to go???" I answered, "How about letting your dog defecate
in YOUR yard?" After that incident, she became defiant and spiteful,
and the problem escalated.

As several other posters have suggested, you might want to try pepper
spray and/or putting up a fence.

My town has an ordinance prohibiting dogs from urinating or defecating
on any property other than the dog owner's property, but I never called
the police on these pigs. I figured that if I had called the police,
that would make matters even worse. I'm grateful that the disgusting
family moved away. Oh, by the way, I've encountered problems like this
in all walks of life, including several affluent neighborhoods. I've
learned that money doesn't buy class.