You can cop $567 in Darwin or more than $300 in Brisbane for leaving dog poo behind – yet front lawns and nature strips across Australia are still being used as canine toilets, and neighbours say they’ve had enough.
In Banksia Park, South Australia, one father says the mess has become “serious business”.
Bill, a dad of three, told the ABC he watched a neighbour’s dog squat on his front lawn during a morning coffee last week – and watched the owner keep walking.
He’s now left a sign beside the pile in the hope his neighbour will do the right thing.
“I know because I saw you at 10:20 hrs today. Please pick up,” the sign reads.
So far, the culprit has ignored it, prompting a second line in blue marker: “Mate, you read it but ignored it. Is it hard to admit and pick up?”
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Bill’s even left a bag to make it easy.
“It becomes very disappointing; I spotted the owner reading it yesterday and he just then moved on. If nothing is done, I might make something more permanent prompting people to do the right thing,” he said.
“I will let it go until Monday. Then, I might make something more permanent.”
Banksia Park resdent Bill has left a frustrated note next to a pile of poo for one of his neighbours. Source: ABC/Facebook
While the etiquette seems obvious, the penalties are real.
In New South Wales, typical on‑the‑spot fines sit around $275, with a maximum court penalty up to $880.
In Victoria, the City of Melbourne issues fines of up to $254 for failing to pick up dog waste. In Brisbane, failing to dispose of droppings equals two penalty units – about $333.80 – and not carrying a spare bag can add roughly $83.45.
South Australia can issue a $210 fine for failing to immediately remove and properly dispose of faeces in a public place, while many Tasmanian councils fine around $154.
In the City of Darwin, on‑the‑spot fine for not picking up can reach $567.
The stoush is spilling online, too.
The note has so far been ignored. Source: ABC/Facebook
One Reddit user described a shared strip of grass between homes where the neighbours routinely left their dog’s mess, forcing her to pick it up before mowing.
She worried she was sending the message she’d just keep doing it, and asked whether she should return the waste to their side, put up a small barrier to keep the dog out, or escalate.
“Should I just place it on their side of the yard? Should I put up a little passive aggressive fence so their dog doesn’t come over? Should I poop in their yard? What should I do?,” she wrote online.
Replies urged firm but measured steps, from neatly placing the collected droppings on the neighbour’s side so the volume is impossible to ignore, to installing a low fence if it continues, and having a direct, polite conversation about respecting the boundary.
Another commenter suggested residents are within their rights to return the “stool samples” to the owner’s front yard and to spell it out face‑to‑face: treat other people’s property the way you want yours treated.
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