Man asks if he's a jerk to post 'no pooping' sign specifically targeted at 'Beatrice'.

Dogs are like children: you have to clean up their poop. It's the law.

But what do you do when an elderly neighbor seems to think they're above the law? When a fed-up husband found out that his backyard had become a dumping ground for a woman's pug all winter, he took drastic measures. His wife would say they were too drastic, so he came to Reddit's Am I the As*hole forum to ask:

'AITA for putting 'no pooping' signs in my yard?'

I (43M) have lived at this house with my wife for almost 20 years. We live in a very dog friendly neighborhood, and we used to have dogs ourselves until they passed. Almost every few minutes or so you will see someone walking their dog outside. I don't mind this, but I DO mind that fact that literally nobody picks up their g*dd*mn dog poop in my yard!

Love the energy he's bringing already.

It's been a problem since we moved in that has only gotten gradually worse as the years went by. I live on a corner, so it started as usually just some poop on the grass either in my yard to the grass between the sidewalk and the road. After a while it evolved into poop getting weirdly close to the front of my house or in my backyard, I can't fathom why people are going there for their dogs to crap.

For safety reasons I eventually got a wyze camera on the front and back yard and began noticing the people who did it, which is almost every neighbor who owns them. When I would run into them I would politely ask if they could please pick it up from now on and they would say sure but the cameras prove they weren't.

Kudos for this direct action!

The worst example has got to be the elderly woman 'Beatrice' who lives in the duplex behind my backyard. We found out she was shoveling her dog's sh*t underneath our f*cking pine trees all Winter! It wasn't noticeable until the snow melted, and it looked atrocious (and was very hard to clean up).

Now you've done it, Beatrice...

I tried to talk to her and ask her to stop but she would never answer the door for me, after three days of catching her in the act and ringing on her doorbell I called the police. She answered the door pretty quickly that time. She cried and said she was only trying to fertilize the trees (as if they were hers to do that to begin with...) but agreed to stop.

He broke Bea!

Now she just has her pug's poop in my backyard. I'm so tired of this. Last week I made two identical signs that say 'No pooping! Pick it up or get reported!' (either to local authorities or ACS) and put one in my front and back yard. Beatrice actually stomped over to my house the day I did this and I did not answer the door.

Big fan of the pettiness, here.

I've gotten some nasty looks but so far I actually have not found any poop in my yard for what must be the longest time in years. My wife thinks I should take them out to prevent animosity but I think we are past that point after all these years. So AITA (am I th as*hole)?

What a saga. If only I could ask Beatrice herself what she thinks of those signs... But alas, we will settle for opinionated Redditors.

Here are the top comments with a pretty much unanimous ruling of NTA (Not the as*hole):

NTA. Dogs are gonna go where they’re gonna go but it’s 100% unacceptable to ever leave dog poo on another person’s property. - RoopeyScoobie

So here we go. NTA with out a doubt. You want to stop. I have a poop bag dispenser on our stop sign in front of the house. That is all it took. People use it. I live on a very busy dog loving corner house. Never have had a problem since. The bags are biodegradable and yes I pay for them and they cost a bit extra but they are good for the environment and again solved the problem. I guess you get more with honey than vinegar approach. No sign needed. Good luck. - BodyDense

NTA. If they didn't take the hint for years, I would have been ok with a second, smaller “this means you, Beatrice” sign underneath the first one. - JudgeJudAITA

NTA. If the signs are working, who cares if it pisses off the neighbours who quite literally couldn't give a crap about your property? I hate dog owners who let their animals sh*t anywhere and everywhere and then just leave it for others to deal with. If putting up signs deters your neighbours' nasty and irresponsible behaviour then so be it.

They shouldn't have dogs if they're not going to bother cleaning up after them. - Fearless-Golf-8496

So, there you have it! If the sign works, why take it down? Actual poop will always be ruder than a 'poop' sign.

Brb, gonna write BEATRICE at the bottom of all of my signs...