How to Sort out If Your Roommate's Dog Poops Everywhere

Training your roommate’s to poop is a simple method, which you can do without your roommate even being aware it’s what you are doing. It takes about 2 months, or more if you are doing it subtly.

As well as pooping, it’s probably peeing which causes deep carpet damage and goes down to underfloors.

People often get a dog with the same regard as buying a toy; they don’t put the work in that’s needed, or know how to do it.

This guide has that information, so you know what your roommate should be doing to stop their dog from pooping everywhere, can do to sort out the situation and how to handle your roommate.

The dog probably poops inside as it is neglected, untrained, or sick.

Examples are if your roommate is not taking it out enough to poop or giving the dog enough attention, so it’s pooping inside to get it.

1. Dealing with your roommate’s excuses

Your roommate is probably giving rubbish excuses for why their dog poops everywhere because there are not any genuine reasons for it. The dog would stop pooping if sorted out with the correct actions.

So your roommate says stupid things like:

‘What do you want me to do? I go out all the time.’

‘Small dogs will never be potty trained.’

As they cannot say good reasons, they might be nasty about it, using signs of aggressions such as stomping feet for days and slamming doors as they don’t have anything else.

Just because your roommate gets mad, doesn’t mean you should stop rationally talking, continue otherwise it’s rewarding their bad behavior. Keep it on a level of rational debate and don’t go down their path of winning through being aggressive, although you still have to stand up for yourself.

Reading this article means you will know how the efficiently train your roommate’s dog not to poop everywhere, although it can take two months until it has completely stopped happening.

If your roommate says, it’s common for dogs to do this. That’s not true; it’s not common. Their dog is pooping everywhere because they are an irresponsible owner.

If you have obsessive-compulsive disorder or panic disorders, it is even harder to deal with your aggressive roommate. A roommate can trigger PTSD if they act up, made worse by not feeling in control of the situation. Living so close with a person can make you feel very exposed and vulnerable.

2. Arguments to say back to your roommate

Would they pick up the poop if their friends were coming over if so that’s an excellent way to make a point.

They need to get a pet sitter to do these jobs like someone should get a nanny if they need to for their child.

If a roommate is not coming home to look after their dog, they are not taking responsibility. If you have something, you are responsible for it, no one else is. Would they expect you to look after their child, maintain their car and so on? Did you agree to look after your roommate’s dog, so it doesn’t poop in the houseshare?

If they trained it properly, it would not poop inside. Read the section below on how to train a dog not to poop everywhere so you can back this up with real knowledge.

You are not their maid or housesitter. Do they expect you to clean their dishes, make their bed and so on? Their fault, they should do it, or they should hire a maid.

You may clean up the poop every so often, and that’s part of being a good roommate. Make it clear though that you won’t do it as a replacement for your roommate training their dog not to poop everywhere, or taking it outside when they should be doing it. This is to stop your roommate from doing nothing because they think you will do it all for them.

3. How to train your roommate’s dog not to poop everywhere

You can show your roommate what to do if they couldn’t be bothered to find out for themselves.

If for some reason, they don’t want anyone else to train their dog. Using these techniques, you can do train your roommate’s dog subtly while they’re out. Then they can think you did these actions naturally, and you never intended to do any training on purpose, or the dog just happened sorted itself out.

By doing these methods calmly, naturally and subtly, depending on how perceptive your roommate is. You might be able to train your roommate’s dog not to poop everywhere while your roommate is around, and they won’t realize what you are purposely training it.

It’s easy to train a puppy, but if your roommate’s dog is an adult and still pooping everywhere, it’s going to take more work and dedication to make it only poop outside.

Remember the problem is the roommate and not the dog. Dogs follow the pack leader, and for your roommate’s dog, the pack leader is your roommate.

Step 1: Watch for when your roommate’s dog is going to poop inside the home

The first thing is to stop to watch out for when the dog is going to poop inside your home and prevent it from doing so by immediately taking it outside.

It takes a bit of practice to know when the dog is going to poop, and you will probably miss it the first few times. You might find you miss some times the dog poops inside as you aren’t supervising properly.

Soon you will learn to notice your roommate’s dog circling, sniffing, squatting or having its tail pointing straight outwards. If it starts pooping inside, you interrupt it by saying something loud like “Ah ah” or clapping. Needs to be done when the dog is pooping, so the dog associates the punishment with the crime.

Don’t do anything harsher than this though, for example, some people mistakenly think you should rub the dog’s nose in any poop it does inside which is a terrible thing to do.

If at first, you find it especially hard to see when the dog is going to poop, keep your roommate’s dog tethered to you at all times, or keep it in the same area of the apartment as you. This is especially hard if your roommate does not want you to train their dog, but you can do it inadvertently or subtly by ‘leaving a door closed by mistake.’

You may need to put the dog in its crate when you are not around, or can’t keep an eye on it. However, a crate should never be used as a replacement for giving the dog proper training, exercise, and social time. It also isn’t a place to put the dog for it to poop there, because dog’s don’t like to poop where they rest and crates are meant to be a place for them to relax and sleep.

Step 2: Taking the dog outside

You need to take the dog outside as quickly as you can, even quickly carrying it needed and if possible put a leash on it.

Walk near the dog in little circles or back and forth. Only after it has pooped will you let it do any playing, and you need to be patient. If after 10 minutes or a bit longer the dog hasn’t pooped, keep the dog’s leash on and go back inside for 10 to 15 minutes, then come out again.

Be patient.

If nothing happens after 10 minutes or so, go back inside, but keep the dog on its leash.

Then go back outside 10 to 15 minutes later. Repeat as needed.

While it is pooping, quietly whisper a command you can later use to get your roommate’s dog to poop, examples are ‘get busy,’ ’go potty,’ ‘do your business,’ and so on.

If possible, let your roommate know what this command is, so they and any future owner of the dog know it. If your roommate won’t accept you telling them this, maybe you can say it to them at a later date when they may accept it.

Step 3: After the dog has pooped outside

Reward your roommate’s dog immediately after it poops outside, such as with his or her favorite treat and by playing with it.

Compliment the dog, use a nice tone of dog and treat it well.

Then allow the dog to do whatever it wants, whether it’s going for a walk or back inside your home.

It’s essential to do all these things; you can’t just open the door for the dog to go outside and poop. A dog does not naturally know it’s meant to poop outside and not indoors.

If your roommate’s dog only wants to play when taking it outside to poop

You think you are so smart taking your roommate’s dog out to poop and it will solve all your problems. Then all it wants to do is play…

So make sure your roommate’s dog has nothing to distract them, to help it realize they’re there to poop. For example:

Don’t give the dog attention, as they love it. Instead, walk back and forward and don’t make a bit deal about anything.
Make sure there’s nothing around that your roommate’s dog might want to play with, such as other pets, toys, children and so on.
You don’t do any playing, talking, yelling, and don’t point at any poop.

It also helps if your roommate’s dog is on a leash, which is about 6 feet long.

If you do all this and can stick to it, the dog will realize and understand it’s there only to poop.

Things you and your roommate should NOT be doing to stop their dog from pooping everywhere

You often hear of people rubbing their dog’s nose in their poop to prevent it from pooping everywhere again. The owners do this because they are angry, desperate, or a bully, and not from intelligence. All it does is make the dog scarred of them, and they may even try to cover up when they have pooped.

Putting the dog outside as punishment is also not proper training or a good idea. If your roommate puts the dog outside as a punishment, make sure it won’t get too cold, especially if it’s a smaller dog which may not be able to cope with the cold.

Your roommate should not expect your dog to understand that they should not poop indoors naturally; the only thing dogs realize without training is they should not poop where they sleep. It can even take a while for a dog to realize it has to have left the building and not just your apartment, so it doesn’t poop in the lobby.

Your roommate must not expect the training to work quickly and so must not be impatient; it can take a couple of months. A dog will not understand your household routine, or even how to get outside. It takes time and work to train a dog, and this is the same for adult dogs and well as puppies.

If your roommate has done all the standard steps to train their dog not to poop everywhere in the home and it still does it

Time to take the dog to the vet in case there’s something wrong with it.

It’s even possible that the dog may be pooping everywhere to mark its territory. If so neutering will solve the problem.

4. Products for the dog to poop on until it’s trained to only poop outside

These are only as a temporary measure until your roommate has trained their dog to only poop outside.

Puppy pads are especially useful for small dogs that are not going outside to poop. If people think they are disgusting, it is still better than poop on the carpet.

You still have to train them how to use puppy pads. Make sure the dog knows the difference between paper pads and carpet.

Doggie litter boxes are good. Just in case you were thinking of it, dogs should not be given cat litter, it’s not fatal if they eat it, but can make them ill.

Doggie doors to the outside are great, but of course, will not work in an apartment.

Crates are an excellent device for when you can’t be around to watch out for if the dog is going to poop everywhere or giving you and the dog rest every so often. Crates are not for them to poop in, as they don’t like to poop where they sleep.

5. Roommate won’t let me train their dog not to poop everywhere

Reasons can be that your roommate is a control freak, or they think it’s their dog and so they should be the one to do everything.

Some dog owners are so precious with their dogs and don’t want any pressure put on it, a bit like parents can be with children and let them get away with doing whatever they want. With these dogs, the owners usually end up with the dog running the home and causing havoc, such as pulling the owner around when being taken for a walk, instead of the dog controlling the owner and so on. These are the people who often have to give up having a dog because they can’t cope with having one in the long run.

If your roommate doesn’t want you to train their dog, do it subtly while they are out. This cannot be worse than your roommate’s behavior when you complain about the situation or their dog pooping. Your roommate’s dog pooping everywhere all adds up and begins to grate.

You can say ‘What you expect me to do when a dog is pooping on the carpet right in front of me. I should show the dog where it should be pooping.’ You are pretending that all you are doing is that and not full-on training.

Your roommate is neglecting their dog

If your roommate isn’t doing the things needed make sure their dog doesn’t poop everywhere, they may not be doing other things as well. You may need to call Animal Control so you are not complicit with the neglect of a dog for which you can also get into trouble.

Your roommate’s dog could be pooping to get attention from its owner because it’s attention-starved. It’s a sign they are being neglected.

Even if you train the dog, so it doesn’t poop everywhere, it still doesn’t take away from the fact your roommate needs to look after it better.

Whatever happens, it needs to be taken outside so it can poop!

It is these people who make it harder for good dog owners to find an apartment where the landlord accepts dogs.

6. Your roommate needs to be giving their dogs potty breaks outside

If your roommate isn’t doing this, of course, they’re going to have to poop inside.

Either you have to take the dog outside, use potty pads or a dog litter box for the dog to poop inside your home.

Potty breaks have to be at regular and predictable intervals. An alarm or timer with a reminder will help you or your roommate do this. You need to make the potty breaks close together at first and then they can be further apart once the dog learns to poop with them. Then your roommate’s dog can have more freedom inside the house.

There might be a setback at some stage where you have to be more watchful of the dog temporarily, reduce it’s freedom inside, and make the potty breaks closer to each other.

If a dog has had some previous training, it will need fewer potty breaks. The dog’s age and breed is also a factor, and then they can be anywhere between 10 minutes and an hour.

Your roommate should be doing this, and if the dog is pooping inside, it’s a sign your roommate isn’t taking responsibility.

7. Design your roommate’s dogs feeding, so it poops at scheduled times

If the food is always out and the dog’s food is left out all day, it will eat all day and poop all day.

Your roommate needs to take away any uneaten food after 20 minutes and not give it any more food until the next scheduled meal. With these tips and if your roommate doesn’t waiver from them, the dog can get used to this routine after just 1 – 4 meals.

It may need advice from a vet to find out the amount of food to give the dog and how often to give it.

8. Using a dog crate

If your roommate’s dog poops in its crate

Some people mistakenly think a crate helps because the dog will be in there when it poops; it’s a desperate attempt to contain the problem.

That’s not the point of a crate!. A dog crate is for the owner, so there are short periods the dog is contained for, it’s also a safe space for the dog to get away from the rest of the household.

The crate also needs to be a place where your roommate’s dog is happy to have as its den. Having soft bedding and toys in there help do this.

A dog will not poop where it sleeps, so if it poops in the crate there’s something very wrong!

It might be something simple such as the crate is too large; as a result, your roommate’s dog can have one area in there to live and another to poop. The crate should be large enough for the dog to comfortably turn around, stand up and lie down in it, but that’s it.

Maybe your roommate left their dog in the crate so long; it had no option but to pee or poop in there. Dogs left in this situation are harder to housetrain, and you may need professional help to do it.

If the dog got the pee or poop all over itself, it might have a medical problem so needs to go to the vet.

If none of the above are relevant, it might be something more subtle, so best to get help from a dog trainer or behaviorist.

If your roommate keeps their dog in a crate overnight

Lots of problems can happen in the middle of the night, such as if the dog cries at this time. It can be because your roommate’s dog wants to poop, pee, or is merely wanting attention. Maybe your roommate didn’t give their dog enough exercise before bedtime.

The first thing to do is to make sure there’s a journal of when the dog should go outside to poop; then you can quickly see if this is one of those times.

If it’s not the for a break according to the journal, but the dog needs to poop, your roommate should be taking their dog outside. During which they don’t give the dog attention and so aren’t fully acknowledging it. The aim is not to train it that popping at night is a fun activity.

If you take the dog outside and it doesn’t poop, put it back in the crate and go straight to bed.

If you’re sure that the dog has had the exercise it needs, does not need to poop or pee, is healthy and not full of energy, then it needs to be left to cry until it finishes doing so.

The last thing to look out for in separation anxiety which needs the urgent help of a trainer or behaviorist as quickly as possible, signs of this are if it’s digging, destroying bedding, panicking and so on.

9. The dog could be pooping everywhere because it has health problems

There can be loads of causes:

Food-related from the kind of thing they ate, a temporary problem from changing their diet to something they need to get used to, eating a poisonous plant or other item, food intolerances or allergies.
Swallowing something which is not food such as a toy and they can’t digest it.
Parasites, viruses, or bacterial infection, antibiotics, and some medications can also be causing your roommates dog to poop everywhere.
Stress and emotional upset
It can be a sign of severe illness.

Digestive issues can also lead to explosive type pooping that goes all over the walls as it comes out like liquid and with a lot of pressure.

Maybe the dog ate something which doesn’t agree with it and could not hold it in.

Your roommate’s dog should have firm, healthy-looking poop. A healthy dog poops 1-5 times a day; if it’s doing more than that, then it has a problem.

If it’s only just happened, don’t get too worried yet as it might be an exception, but to be sure have a look at https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/doggie-diarrhea/ because the above is only a very brief introduction to the possible causes of diarrhea-causing health problems. I like this guide because it shows all the reasons your roommate’s dog could have diarrhea, how to diagnose it from it’s poo, cures you can do yourself and when your roommate should take it to the vet.

Even if the dog is unwell, your roommate is the owner of the dog they should be clearing it up, and it’s not your responsibility. Although I hope you would help now and again to be nice.

10. Cleaning up your roommate’s dog poop

Always have plastic baggie or/gloves easily on hand so everyone can quickly pick it up.

If your roommate doesn’t quickly clean up the poop, the dog will come back there to do more

This is not just good for you to know, but may help get your lazy roommate off their butt and do it immediately, without using the excuse that they will clean it up ‘later.’

If the dog’s poop is not cleaned up properly, it can smell where it pooped before and will go back there!

If the area is not completely cleaned, so there is absolutely no poop left, the dog will want to come back to complete their pooping of the spot again.

The carpet needs to be thoroughly cleaned, going deep into its fibers.

Which products to use

A standard household cleaning chemical won’t do the job. You need to use special products or a carpet cleaning machine with an enzymatic cleaner.

Get a scent remover to put where the poop was after cleaning it up; you can get them from pet stores. A cheaper solution is to spray white vinegar and water, which works just as well.

Before you use any of these things, test it in a small test area which is not visible to ensure it will not remove any color from the carpet. For example, in a tiny area behind a radiator.

Good enzymatic cleaners are Nature’s Miracle or Simple Solution; you can easily find them in most pet supply stores or online

They’re much better than normal cleaning products because they have the enzymatic cleaner in them. Both brands have a big range with lots of different products.

Resolve carpet cleaner is also excellent https://www.amazon.com/Resolve-Carpet-Remover-Bottle-Cleaner/dp/B00IB18S2C

Also, wear suitable gloves when cleaning dog poop

How to clean your roommate’s dog poop

Little piles of poop are easy to clean and will lift straight off once they have dried. Poop is harder to clean up if squishy and not yet dried because it presses into the carpet more. Some carpets hardly let the poop sink in, but others do.

Once poop has settled into the carpet, it gets even harder to clean, so best to clean it up beore this happens.

To clean the poop away, first, soak any places with dried poop using gently warm water. Then press paper towels on the area, so it’s not wet anymore and use the cleaning chemical three times as per it’s instructions. This intensive cleaning is because of the need to get rid of the smells as written above.

Make sure you check after your roommate has cleaned it up. If they’re lazy then you might say beforehand that they need to do it now and why it needs to be done correctly. After they have cleaned it, there needs to be no sign of poop stains or smell.

I recommend you do the cleaning every so often to be a good roommate and a good relationship is only possible in the long term if you both help each other, but there are limits. You cleaning it well also sets a good example of how it should be done. Of course, some roommates are so lazy they will never do it themselves.

The dog poop might be causing more damage than you think

Use a black light which will highlight any biological stuff on the carpet and other surfaces of your apartment. It works as a flashlight, you turn the lights off in your home, turn it on, and it shows all the horrible stuff.

Very useful for court evidence and demonstrating how unhygienic your roommate’s dog’s pooping is. They are very powerful visual aids.

Make sure the place is clean before you use it though, or it could show your home is so dirty that the dog poop is not the biggest problem.

If your roommate’s dog is pooping, its probably peeing as well! Dogs pee more than they poop.

It can get costly to sort out from having to scrub every surface, bleaching, using lots of chemicals and manual labor to scrub things. It may even need carpets being ripped out and going down to subfloor level to get rid of it all.

As dogs poop where they can smell their previous poop, move their poop to where you want your roommate’s dog to poop

This may sound disgusting to do, as you probably want to throw their poop away, but it’s how dogs work. You won’t have to do it for long!

If you can’t get the dog’s last poop, then use the materials you used to clean up it up such as the kitchen towel, and put that outside where you want the dog to poop. Soon this area will always have fresh poop from when the dog did it there last time.

Of course, you don’t want to turn the dog’s pooping location into a massive dumping area, so clean up any old poop, so only the new poop is there.

11. You’re not a dog lover

If you’re not a dog lover, you probably won’t have as much sympathy and understanding as people who are dog lovers.

Be lenient if the dog does it once every couple of months, accidents happen. If you aren’t a dog owner or dog lover, sadly you have a be a bit sympathetic to people who are. It’s a common divide between pet lovers and non pet lovers.

To be frank, if you hate animals this is going to make it even worse for you, maybe their pooping is another reason why you don’t like them.

However, if you see more than one poop on the carpet, so it looks like the dog has done it more than once. Its no accident and your roommate has neglected to pick the poops up!

12. How to break the lease because your roommate’s dog poops everywhere

This is information for the 3 different legal relationships you could have with your roommate:

a, If your roommate is your landlord

You can complain that the property is not in a fit and habitable condition because the common areas are not clean, and it doesn’t follow health and safety codes. So you don’t have a debate on this issue where it’s one person saying things against the other, call the local Code Enforcement who will come around and have a look. This will also give you all the court worthy evidence you need.

Code Enforcement will give your landlord roommate a small number of days to sort it out and a substantial fine! If after the date they wanted it sorted out by sorted it out by, they haven’t done so; the fine gets even bigger.

Some landlords don’t care though, and going through the small claims court is a pain. Most people who have been through it and know what it’s like, don’t want to do it again and will move out instead. Usually chatting with your roommate first to try and sort the problem out is best and see if they will let you break the lease.

You need to be careful your roommate doesn’t keep your security deposit, damage your credit score, or fine you the amount they are allowed to by law. This is usually the period they lose out on rent for, which is until they can get another tenant.

Many leases have an opt-out clause, or an early termination clause for if your landlord does not do what they are meant to, so look at your lease for those.

The rules vary from state to state, so you need to check the local laws. You don’t want to be sued and have expensive legal costs.

b, You rent the place from a landlord who is not your roommate. You and your roommate are jointly on the lease

Look at your lease to see if your roommate has permission to have a dog, but be careful how you could both be liable if you are both on the lease. If you and your roommate have separate leases, you’ll be fine.

You should first speak to your landlord, but be aware that if your landlord is not very reasonable, they may cause trouble for both of you. Your landlord may also have to act against both of you, as you are co-tenants on the lease and so both as liable as each other.

Speaking to your landlord helps make things smoother, builds trust, and shows you are trying to help and are not the cause of the problem. For example, the landlord may renew the lease for you, but not your roommate, whose dog poops everywhere. Then you can get another roommate.

The landlord may not take kindly to if you were meant to get permission for the dog and didn’t do so. As a result of you being the one to tell the landlord about the dog, they go on your side and not your roommate’s.

Your roommate may have even told you they got permission from the landlord for the dog, but didn’t.

You could ask your landlord if you can pay the security deposit separately to your roommate, have a separate rental agreement, of course, they may not agree.

If you are both on the lease, in the lease the security deposit applies equally to both of you. The landlord probably cannot throw you both out because of the dog, unless there’s a ‘no dog’ clause in the lease or the poop is severely damaging the property. However, the landlord can take the damages cost off your security deposit at the end of the lease and not renew it.

If the poop everywhere from your roommate’s dog caused you to get less of the security deposit back, and it’s your roommate’s fault. They should pay you back for what you lost; if they don’t pay it, you could have to take your roommate to court.

You can’t evict your roommate, only your landlord can do that, apart from the few exceptions such as in San Francisco where a landlord can make one of the tenants a “master tenant” who can do many of the things the landlord can do.

Security deposit

The lease may insist on a pet deposit. If you are not sure on these things, its definitely time to investigate. The worst thing is if the landlord was nice and took the dog clause out of the lease especially for your roommate but did not put stuff in its place about the rules for dogs and consequences if they don’t behave properly.

Pets can do a considerable amount of damage, so have a high level of damage liability in the wording.

Make sure you get evidence to show how your roommate is liable. If joint lease, you could sue them if their dog means you get less of it back.

For example, your roommate needs to pay to if your landlord has to professionally clean or replace the carpets in the hallway after the end of the lease. If they won’t you may need to go to court for it.

You may feel uncomfortable doing this, but it’s only about finances and not anything personal. Write your roommate an email about what they will owe upon moving out. What you write to them will depend on what’s in the lease.

Taking your roommate to court

This is for getting your security deposit back if your roommate’s dog has caused damage and you are both on the lease. You go to a small claims court which will charge you a small fee for your application, and you need to have your evidence ready as well.

Evidence includes photos, notes you wrote for your records, and if you speak to your roommate, follow it up with a message or email confirming what was said. Everything needs to be in writing.

Make sure you have photos of when the dog poops with the days and times by each picture and what your roommate did about it.

If your roommate’s dog damaged the carpet, they are the one who should be paying for a replacement.

If you couldn’t use the property because of the dog poop and still had to pay rent, maybe you could even take your roommate to court for the rent. However, I can’t find any case law on this one to show it would work.

If you have a roommates agreement, then your roommate will be held under the rules in there. Properly written ones are great as they solve the problem. It shows you are each responsible for your parts of the rent.

c, You rent the place from a landlord, and each roommate has separate leases and security deposits

Your landlord is the one with the most power. If you are scared of telling the landlord because of a possible comeback from your roommate, get someone to call them anonymously saying they are from a neighboring apartment and can often smell the poop.

d, What to do if the roommate is your tenant

You have to go through the standard legal process to evict a tenant; please don’t hate me for giving you this news…

Sadly this situation is one of the many reasons a lot of landlords have a no pets policy because although most tenants are good with their animals, landlords don’t want the risk of one who is not.

Fine your roommate tenant if their dog poops and they don’t clean it up

For future note, you are allowed to get tenants to sign a contract agreeing they will clean up any poop their dog does in your property. You can also put a fine in there for if your roommate doesn’t clean it up, even the first time this happens!

You can increase the fine each time it happens

If your roommate whose dog poops everywhere says it wasn’t theirs, there are dog DNA poop test services which will give a definite answer. Yes, seriously, it’s that big a problem!

If it goes to court, some judges don’t like to enforce them because they see them as penalties, so it’s best to try and sort it out before it gets that far. So it’s best to try and make the process as perfect as possible, so it works before it gets to court.

When your roommate signs the contract, clearly explain verbally to them what the contract means, and that it’s a real thing you will enforce if they have a dog which poops and they don’t clean it up. Do it as nicely as possible, so you don’t scare off your roommate tenant or create a bad feeling. Then give them a copy of what they signed.

If you have to fine them, do it firmly, fairly, but being friendly when you can. Make sure you are not too provocative about it though, as you don’t want to start a fight where your roommate doesn’t want to pay it purely out of spite.

Emotional support dogs ESA or Service dogs

If your roommate says, their dog is an emotional support dog ESA, or a Service Dog which they need because they have a disability. You need to be careful of the Fair Housing Act. I wrote this thorough guide about roommates with emotional support dogs.

Ending your roommate’s lease

I have been trying to find a way to solve this, but from all I can see so far, if you allow tenant roommates to have a dog, you can take the cost of the damage out of their security deposit at the end of their lease and not renew it. However, it’s hard to get them out before the end of their lease.

If you can show the poop is severely damaging the property, you may be in with a chance though, if your roommate’s dog pooping everywhere has gotten that extreme.

13. Dog poop can cause you health problems

Your roommate may be saying that poop doesn’t matter.

I even had a roommate who said dirt builds up a person’s immune systems, and without it, people are too weak to fight infection. For the record, his health is terrible and is often ill or having to go to the doctor.

As well as dog poop being generally damaging to people’s health, it can cause severe disease, and we’re not talking about eating it, we’re talking about coming into contact with it. You can get infected if you walk barefoot on your roommate’s dog poop.

Also the same if you step on where they have not cleaned it up properly; the parasites and bacteria in dog poop can stay there for years.

You can use these facts to show your roommate and others that their laziness and disregard for their dog pooping everywhere is dangerous.

Examples of acute diseases which you can get from dog poop that infect humans:

Salmonellosis is the most common and can cause you to have aching muscles, headaches, diarrhea, to vomit, and have a fever.

Campylobacter bacteria can cause you to have cramping, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, and even die.

Coli can cause stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and if you have a weak immune system, it can kill you.

Yersiniosis can infect your intestine.

Cyclospora takes about a week for the symptoms to appear, which will come and go for nearly a month.

Cryptosporidium and Giardia can give you intestinal disease

Roundworm, hookworm, and ringworm can make you go blind. It travels through the body to your brain, lungs, kidneys, eyes, and heart.

If the dog has hookworms in its poop and someone walks around barefoot. The larvae can burrow under their skin, which leads to extreme itching feelings which are horrible.

Tapeworm goes in through your skin and into your intestines, where it takes nutrients from your body.

To put the health dangers from dog poop in perspective, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1991 put it in the same pollutant category as insecticides, herbicides, toxic chemicals, oil, grease, and acid which has drained from abandoned mines. They estimate that about two to three days of poop from 100 dogs would create enough bacteria to close all watershed areas within 20 miles or a bay, to shellfishing and swimming!

14. Using peer pressure

If your roommate doesn’t accept your opinion, they may recognize it from others, or it might be the public shame and embarrassment that does it.

Get a friend to come over to see your roommate’s dog poops everywhere, and your roommate doesn’t clean it up. They can say how horrible it is and how it’s not normal. Tell your friend that they don’t have to keep what they saw to themselves and can tell others, it’s such a horrible thing that word will get around quickly

Don’t go out of your way to publicly tease your roommate as it’s not nice and can backfire on you if your roommate wants revenge. Having a friend around to your place who sees the truth of the situation should be enough, and your roommate can’t stop your friends from speaking the truth as they see it.

If your roommate’s dog is pooping in your room

If your roommate thinks it’s okay, say ‘Would you care if dog pooped in your bedroom, probably you would.’

Keep your door shut.

You will probably want to keep your door shut as a way to keep out the smell, maybe put a draft stopper under the door to improve the seal. You could put the puppy pads in your room for your roommate’s dog to use in case they get in, they can’t complain about what you put in your room.

Maybe also put a draft stopper under your door to help stop the smell from coming in.

Agree with your roommate that they won’t allow their dog in the common areas of the houseshare, only their room. Sadly usually this doesn’t last long as your roommate won’t be able to stick to it with their dog unless they take it out loads and loads. Also if their room doesn’t have separate access to the common areas you use or to get outside, they will have to use the common areas to get out there.

15. Things your roommate should be doing

Just so your roommate does not prey on your lack of knowledge of dogs or is so pushy that you start to believe that you are the crazy one. This is what your roommate should be doing.

From being sure of these things, you can be more confident, it’s your roommate and not you causing the problem. This confidence will help you be more persuasive and less of a walkover.

If your roommate goes away overnight, they have to take their dog with them or organize a kennel; otherwise, they’re one step away from neglect. If they are neglecting their dog, you might have to call Animal Control, so you are not complicit.

Your roommate should behave like an adult by apologizing, cleaning the poop up and saying it will not happen again, and doing the steps needed to assure that it won’t happen again. If it could happen again, they should tell you their plan of action to try and stop it as quickly as possible.

Your roommate should pay for carpet cleaning or puppy pads!

After you say to your roommate that their dog poops everywhere, they become violent or harass you

Some roommates have been known to cross the line of acceptable behavior when the other roommate says anything about their dog pooping everywhere inside the houseshare. They don’t want to face, reasonably handle, or take responsibility for the situation!

Local police or a battered woman’s shelter can give advice; you might need to file an anti-harassment or domestic violence order. If possible have friends around as much as possible to witness things, as otherwise there’s not an independent witness.

In some states, you can get early termination rights on the lease as the law wants to protect victims of domestic violence. Some states also view violence between roommates as domestic violence. Check the laws on domestic violence in your state.

Writer: Ian Taylor