How to Keep Stray Dogs Away from Backyard

Reviewed by Natalie Punt, DVM

Last Updated: October 28, 2024 References

Dealing with stray dogs that wander into your yard can be both annoying and dangerous, especially if you have pets of your own. By taking steps to make your yard less appealing to wandering dogs, you can decrease the likelihood that they’ll want to enter your yard. For peskier pooches, you can create a barrier between stray dogs and your yard. If a stray does get into your yard, be very careful and contact a professional to remove the strays.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Making Your Yard Less Appealing

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A sure way to attract stray dogs to your yard is to leave your own pets’ food outside where strays can smell and get to it. Most strays will be hungry and looking for food. If you feed your pets outside, make sure you bring leftover food into the house once your pets are finished.
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Keep trash tightly bagged and canned. Strays might also look for food by digging through your trash. Bag all of the trash that you take outside and make sure your garbage cans’ lids are replaced tightly after you put bags of trash in them.
- Garbage cans that have locking handles are probably your best bet, because they also prevent strays from trying to pop off garbage can lids that are less secure.
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Dogs dislike the smell of marigolds, so planting some in your yard or garden can encourage strays to stay away from your yard. Marigolds also repel certain types of bugs and pests, so planting them can pull the double duty of repelling stray dogs as well as other critters.^{[1]
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Spay any female dogs that you own. When a female dog goes into heat, her scent will attract male dogs from miles around. To prevent this, you can spay your dog.
- Spaying your dog will also reduce your dog's risk for cancer and mammary tumors.^{[2]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Creating Barriers to Your Yard

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Install a fence. The best way to create a barrier to your yard is to put up a fence. Most strays won’t jump a fence to get into your yard (although some might) and it also prevents your own animals from getting loose or coming into contact with unknown animals. The size of your fence will depend a lot on the size of the strays wandering into your yard, as well as the size of your own animals.
- If you’re not crazy about the idea of looking at a fence all day, or if it’s just simply not a financial possibility for you, you can also try liquid fence. Liquid fence is a spray that you can purchase for just over ten dollars at most home improvement stores. The scents in the spray repel dogs and can therefore create a barrier to your yard without the cost of installing an actual fence.^{[3]
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Install a sonic dog repellent device. A sonic repellent device works by emitting high-frequency sounds that dogs can hear but humans can’t. Some versions are motion activated so when a stray dog (or other animal) wanders into your yard, the device emits a sound that will drive the strays away.^{[4]
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- Keep in mind that this is not a good choice if you have dogs or other pets of your own. If you let them into the yard, they’ll set off the device and have to deal with those high-pitched sounds themselves.
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Set up a motion-activated sprayer. Like a motion-activated sonic device, a motion-activated sprayer will turn on when strays enter your yard. Spraying dogs with water is a eco-friendly option for keeping strays out of your yard.^{[5]
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- If you have pets (or kids) of your own, keep in mind that they’ll get sprayed, too, so you might want to try a different option if this is an issue for you.
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Spray the edge of your yard with vinegar. Dogs are repelled by the smell of vinegar, so spraying the edge of your yard with white or apple cider vinegar can help create a barrier that keeps strays out. Just pour some vinegar into a spray bottle and walk the perimeter of your yard, spraying the grass as you go.
- Keep in mind that depending on the size of your yard, you’ll be able to smell the vinegar after you spray it. You might not want to use this method right before you’re going to be using your yard.
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Sprinkle black pepper or cayenne pepper on your property. Sprinkling small amounts of black or cayenne pepper in your yard will make it less appealing to strays. Dogs use their keen sense of smell and taste to assess most situations. If they come across a patch of black or cayenne pepper, and either sniff or lick at it, they'll learn to stay away from your yard.
- Use very small amounts of pepper for this. However annoying strays are, you don’t want to cause permanent damage to them by leaving out huge mounds of pepper that can burn their noses or mouths.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Removing Stray Dogs from Your Yard

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If a stray dog does get into your yard, avoid confronting it. Don’t try to chase it out of your yard on your own, and do not try to touch it. Strays are likely to carry diseases and can be more aggressive than domesticated dogs.
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Call Animal Control or ASPCA. If a stray does get into your yard, call your local animal shelter or police department’s animal control unit. Animal control officers and animal shelter employees are specially trained to deal with stray and/or aggressive animals. They can remove the stray from your yard without any injury to themselves or the strays.
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Use a trap. If Animal Control can’t get to your home right away, you can purchase a trap that you bait with food. If a stray wanders back into your yard, and ends up in the trap, you can keep the stray contained until an Animal Control officer or someone from an animal shelter can come get the stray.^{[6]
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- These traps are generally pretty humane and won’t injure the strays in any way.
Sometimes strays aren’t homeless dogs at all – they’re just free-roaming dogs that might be owned by your neighbors. See if you can figure out who the owner is – you might be able to see the owner’s phone number on the dog’s collar or you might recognize the dog. Once you know who the dog belongs to, contact the owner and let them know that their dog is frequently in your yard and ask them if they can keep their pet better contained.