A question about dog owners

I can't imagine not picking up after my dog everytime. 

Our dog usually takes care of her business while out walking, but she spents a good part of her day outside and we regularly do a poop patrol to make sure nothing is sitting in the garden. We don't have grass and everything dries out pretty quickly, but it is just never left sitting.

We pick it up. We might wait until the end of the day to pick it up, but we pick it up.

Poop Patrol is a thing!!!

Just mowing all of it over is gross.

We pick up daily and before I mow I will double check the garden since the boy likes to spread the love.

OMG. That is horrible! Yes, it should get picked up before mowing. Our lab is trained to go in a specific spot in the yard, but it gets picked up every day. Even when we’ve had giant yards. That is just pure lazy.

Sometimes if the poop isn't cooperative and it sticks to the grass, I can see maybe a lingering smell... but if that poop sits out and you pick it up and "break" the poop then the smell really gets out and seems to be ten times worse.. (Ummm I have really thought this poop business out!)

My DH mows every 5 days or so.  He always picks up the poop before mowing.  Also, if my stepdaughters are coming, he will do a check of the yard before they get there.  They are still playing outside and he doesn't want them stepping in poop. 

The only smell here is cut grass. DH does the poop patrol regularly. If it can’t be picked up because the dog has stomach issues it’s cleared up as much as possible then has buckets of water thrown over it till it’s gone. I can’t imagine him mowing over poop.

Hell no, it's free fertilizer.

We pick up the poop every time he poops.

I don't pick up before I mow, it just isn't something that we've ever done -even when I was younger and lived at home my family just never picked up dog poop in the back yard. I guess animal poop was just part of nature and nature took care of it just like any other kind of animal waste. We always had at least 3 dogs and never had an issue with dog poop smell when we mowed. The only time I've ever smelled dog poop at home is when I've stepped in it. Unfortunately, all of our grass is still very much alive and growing at a ridiculous rate, if dog poop stopped that, I'd be tempted to collect it from all my neighbors and cover my yard, if it meant I didn't have to push mow when it's 104 degrees outside . The only time I've ever had a problem with gunk on the mower is when I've run over an ant hill - now that was an unholy mess.

I can't imagine why your neighbors yard smelled so strongly that you could smell it just walking by. Does he have a bunch of Great Danes or something? You have my sympathies though, when we were looking at houses to buy, we looked at one next door to a person who had 3 pit bulls on chains in the back yard, there was no grass left and the stench was literally unbearable - it was a shame, because it was a really nice house that we might've put in an offer on had it not been for the funk next door.

ETA: I am vigilant about picking up poop when we're in public - even off trail in the woods, I will carry my little blue bag of shit through the forest. 

It's okay to mow over it. We have sprinklers that break it down.

The kids have to do poop patrol before DH mows. Interestingly, I never did it as a kid and we almost always had a dog when I was growing up. I assume dad just mowed over it. I've been hanging out on the porch a great deal and can't smell anything, George just had a bout of diarrhea so obviously that wasn't picked up (the outside mess at least I certainly cleaned up a great deal inside) but I haven't noticed a smell from that being mowed over. I'm militant about picking up after him on walks and trips to the dog park.

My dog won’t poop in the backyard any longer. She’s gotten weird in her old age (15). But in previous years, yes we would pick up before mowing. After winter was the worst when all the snow melted and there were landmines everywhere. There are landscape companies here that advertise cleaning up your backyard after the snow melts. Gives them business in the off season.

Unfortunately, this isn't true.

Unless your dog eats a diet of only vegan foods then their poop is not fertilizer.  Most dog foods are protein or meat based and that can be toxic to grass or plants.  Just as you wouldn't leave human waste on the lawn (unless you're vegan) you shouldn't leave dog or cat waste either. Sorry.