Use Smells
Everybody knows that dogs have an incredibly acute sense of smell, and this can be used to deter them from using your lawn to answer the call of nature.
Dogs are sensitive to new smells. If an area smells familiar, they will feel comfortable returning there over and over again to do their thing.
On the other hand, if an area smells new and strange to them, they will be warier of entering.
To use this against them, you can try a simple trick like changing the lawn fertilizer you use. If they don’t like the unfamiliar odor, they will give your yard a miss.
An important point to note is that some scents will attract them rather than repel them. You may be using a commercial scent to repel rabbits, deer, skunks, or raccoons, but these often contain coyote urine – something that will draw in all the dogs in your neighborhood.
Also, if you do find any poop on your lawn, don’t be tempted to throw it in your composter or compost tumbler. It will continue to smell bad and may spread harmful bacteria.
When your puppy poops, they can feel vulnerable. If they have any anxiety at all when they’re outside, they’re more likely to hold it and poop inside. Is there a dog next door that’s a little scary? Or loud noises? Or is there a particularly large object that they don’t go near? All these things can be deterrents to your puppy.
It’s important that you don’t take them straight back inside at this point. If you do, they may associate their pooping as the reason for being taken back inside, and so they’ll hold it in next time.
Your puppy may also have realized that when they poop outside, you bring them inside. They then can associate their pooping as the cue for playtime to be over, and so may hold their poop to stay outside for longer.
The more time you spend outside with your puppy, the more they will love it no matter what. Get yourself some warm clothes and be sure to go walking… rain, hail, or shine. Well, maybe not hail!
At any age, and especially during house-training, take them outside as much as you can. Once every hour is a good guide, and although that might seem like a lot, your early work will pay dividends later on.
Sprinklers
If you prefer not to fence or barricade yourself into your own home, another option that might keep dogs from pooping on your lawn is a sprinkler system.
Lawn sprinklers exist that are activated by movement in a similar way to a motion-detecting light. After a few soakings, dogs will soon learn that your lawn is somewhere to be avoided and will seek out another place to do their doggy business.
Ask Amy: Why Won’t My Puppy Potty On Grass? How Can I Train Puppies from Peeing & Pooping on Cement?
When you let your dog outdoors to take care of business and notice grass, sand, dirt being kicked behind them, it’s easy to think that the behavior is just a way to keep their area clean. In truth, it’s actually a safety mechanism and an important part of how they communicate as a species.
If you notice your dog scraping frantically at the ground or kicking debris behind them, it’s usually an act of marking their territory, formerly known as “scrape behavior.” While you may not always catch your dog in the act, their bodies are busy producing an important chemical reaction that allows them to communicate with other canines.