The in-laws mind my son a couple of days a week (to which I’m genuinely grateful)

They have 2 dogs which crap in their garden literally everytime you blink, and with the weather hotting up my son is now regularly playing on their shit-littered lawn.

I’m uncomfortable with this given the very real health risk, and I’ve asked the misses to suggest a penned off area is now created where my son can safely play without getting covered in dog shit.

The in-laws seem a bit put out by this request, should they be, am I missing something?

I don’t have a dog myself but have accidently trodden in their faeces enough times to put me off wanting my own barking poo factory.

In-laws should clean up the poo on the lawn before little enfht goes out. I am presuming they do mow the lawn also.
I have three kids and two dogs and the above routine works for us.

I’d talk to them about it. Don’t let them be dismissive. Present some studies as evidence if you want.

If you are reasonable and nice they can’t kick up a fuss. If they do then they are idiots.

I still would not be comfortable with poo simply cleaned up, as there’s clearly potential for it to get everwhere even if it’s cleaned. But yes it should be cleaned up every time anyway.

Your in-laws sound like reptiles

There is a (small) risk of the kid ingesting worm eggs from the dog faeces which causes Toxicariasis and can lead to partial blindness.

That should be cause enough.

Have a quiet word with your son. Next time he gets some on his shoes he is to run into your in laws kitchen and start doing the Moonwalk telling them how easy it is with dog poo on your feet.

Or maybe give grandma a cuddle and wait for her to ask what the smell is.

As someone who had to go through similar with my own parents with smoking i realise how ignorant people/family can be to their own day to day living standards

still would not be comfortable with poo simply cleaned up, as there’s clearly potential for it to get everwhere even if it’s cleaned.

how’s that?

Present some studies as evidence if you want

Yes, a good, solid powerpoint presentation would be an ideal method of conveying the information. Make sure you dress smartly but not to formally, you dont want to make them feel to uneasy.

they let your son play outside, kerazzy

In-laws should clean up the poo on the lawn before little enfht goes out. I am presuming they do mow the lawn also.
I have three kids and two dogs and the above routine works for us.

They do clear up which is why I think they believe this is enough precaution…the problem is the dogs just run out and lay another egg when nobody’s looking. And there’s always a bit of poo left on the grass afterwards anyhow.

Tricky one this – you get free childcare two days a week so asking them to clean up the mess in the garden might just **** them off a bit.

(Saying that I had to ask my mum not to smoke when looking after our girls nor smoke just before coming into the house).

They do clear up which is why I think they believe this is enough precaution…the problem is the dogs just run out and lay another egg when nobody’s looking. And there’s always a bit of poo left on the grass afterwards anyhow

Sorry? So they DO clear up before your kid goes round? Are you suggesting they pen their dogs all the time so your kid has a clean garden? Why not just put the kid in the pen and let the dogs play in their garden?

MF this fact does not escape me, and did I mention the mother in-law also has a secret smoking habit.

And yes the pen would be for my son, not the dogs 😀

Oh, thats a little different there. If they are making the effort then maybe its not unreasonable of them. Maybe its just the chance you take.

I wouldnt go with the dirty protest in that situation then

I was round there the weekend before last, the lawn was supposedly clean, in quick succession 2 curly eggs were laid, one of which was trodden in before anyone noticed.

This is what I mean, the dogs basically poo ten times their weight every hour.

how’s that?

If a dog pooed on your kid’s bedroom floor, would you just scoop most of it up with your hand in a plastic bag and then leave the rest?

I sympathise enfht – at my in-laws (truly wonderful people mind) they have a dog and they’ll say ‘oh I think it’s all cleaned up’ when they’ve missed two and both me and Lil Grips have trodden in it. We end up playing with a football which rolls around a lot and is then picked up and handled a lot by Lil Grips who sticks her fingers in her mouth when she feels like it.

Now I’m not fussy or overly cleanly (you should see our house) and I really care not for such things in general but seems to me having what is essentially a dog’s toilet double up as a kid’s play area is a bit much.

Step brother has been blind in one eye since we were kids because of dog poo.
Then in later life, somebody thought he was looking at them funny (he does sken a bit) and knocked his front teeth out.

So blind in one eye and a funny looking chap now………all because of dog poo.

Kill the dogs. This is the only way.

I can only guess that dog owners become accustomed to animal faeces over time, just like Pol Pot must have with the killing fields.

And there’s always a bit of poo left on the grass afterwards anyhow.

Frankly I’m amazed the human race has survived for so long. I hope you don’t let them drink tap water as well.
Molgrips: what about those disgusting brids that poo on your lawn, or foxes or dead insects…. ewwww.
If your worried don’t let the kids on the grass.

Dead insects are fine.

Maybe foxes and birds poo on my lawn, I dunno. But if they do, why add to it with a lot more poo that carries a known risk?

I could not let the kids on the grass, but devoting a large area for dogpoo and a small one to a kid’s fun time seems like having ones priorities backwards, does it not?

I would have thought that all poo carries a known risk, not just dogs.

Poo carries a risk of making you sick I suppose. Certain kinds of animal poo harbour specific risks like the toxocariasis one demonstrated above with consequences worse than barfing.

Teach the kid to throw shit at windows. I imagine they’ll be quite keen not to have a shit-littered lawn.

On the other hand… your mrs survived childhood.

You might remember this story that was in the news. If not, worth using as “evidence”.

EDIT: IMO your in-laws need to sort their shit out (pun intended)

Dog Nappy?

Are the kids old enough to understand the danger, a toddler is clearly at more risk, assume we’re not talking about penning up a nineteen year old?

There are 4 important zoonosis or diseases transmittable from dogs to humans.

1. Toxocara Canis

The common round worm of the dog attracts the most publicity as a potential threat to human health from dog faeces.

Each adult female worm can lay 84, 700 eggs per day. Each gram of faeces can contain 15,000 eggs. The eggs develop after being passed by a dog into an infective stage and can survive on pasture (including rugby pitches!) for months if not years. Dogs don’t need to actually defecate on the pitch to pass the eggs on as they can be attached to the skin, feet and perianal area.

If ingested by a human the worm larvae can migrate through the body. This is called visceral larva migrans.

· Migration to the liver can cause hepatomegaly (enlargement of the liver) or eosinophilia (change in white blood cells).

· Migration through the lungs has been associated with wheezing asthma like symptoms.

· Migration through the brain has been associated with epilepsy (though this remains unproven).

· Migration to the eye can cause partial loss of vision or blindness. More commonly a retino blastoma grows at the back of the eye – this can be removed but this requires laser treatment. Rarely the optic nerve is affected causing blindness.

There are 50 – 60 cases a year of visceral larva migrans reported in the UK and it is thought many more go undetacted and/or unreported.

2. Leptospirosis.

Leptospira are a bacterium that can be passed in dogs urine and remain viable in damp conditions. They enter humans through abraded skin (grazed knees, etc…) or through the mouth. They cause Weils Disease which involves hepatitis and jaundice. A severe condition in human beings.

3. Cryptosporidia

An important enteric pathogen commonly carried by dogs and transmissible to humans. This can cause severe diarrohea which can occasinally last for several months.

4. Salmonella

Rare in dogs but can cause enteritis (inflammation of the bowel) if transmitted to humans.

Would just like to point out that this thread title is incredible 😆

i would take some sort of rollable fencing , like chicken wire or something 😐 and peg it out on the days your child is at their house, to make a small play area for him , you can then roll it up when he isn’t there so their dogs can have the whole of the garden back.
i would do it myself, rather than ask them to do it, and explain why i am doing it. if they don’t like it then i would find somebody else to babysit.

i wouldnt let my kids play on a dog poop garden.

Since you are up £80 a week or so in day nursery fees, maybe you could organise a gardener/maintenance company to go in and give the place a spruce up before your little prince arrives. The in laws are probably fuming already at being told their place isn’t good enough, and if it isn’t good enough why did you start the arrangement in the first place?

if it isn’t good enough why did you start the arrangement in the first place?

Heard of the phrase ‘between a rock and a hard place?’