How to keep animals out of your garbage for next to free

I live out in the county and have had many problems with animals tearing the garbage apart for food. I was getting so frustrated having to clean up the front yard every morning.

well, I haven't cleaned the yard in over a month now thanks to a few squirts of windex. I just spray windex around the outside of the garbage bag before I put it out and the animals don't go near it. I tried this on the hopes that the strong ammonia smell from windex would make animals think there was a big animal around or maybe cover the smell of the garbage. I have no idea if this is why it works but the animals haven't touched it since I started spraying.

hope this helps other frustrated people.......and I hope it works for you as well as it worked for me.

Comments

[hiddenartist]

Do you think it would keep the dogs from pooping on the back deck?They have a large fenced in yard-but oh no...we must use the deck as the bathroom.

[bluemoon6]

thank you for your posts--just cleaned up the yard agin this AM and will definitly try the amonia or windex tonight!!!

[chuckr44]

Would 100% ammonia work as well?

[chaoscampbell]

I'd have to guess it would......... is it cheaper then a bottle of windex? I chose windex cause its cheap and easy to use and it works like a charm

[chuckr44]

You can get a gallon of ammonia from the Dollar Store, but I would guess Windex (lg bottle) is about $3.50 because it's a big brand name.

[Cinder2007]

(removed by author or community request)

[georion]

if you spray the ani\mal--harm wears off tho--much worse than pepper sray--on the other some pepper sprays have Killed dogs !!!

[Thelonelysandwitch]

I use starting fluid on the cover and that keeps them away. just a little spray thats all you need.

[kaseyraex3]

Nail polish remover works too..i use it to keep my dog outta the garbage...

[Nova_Logic]

could windex in any way shape or form at all harm any animals i have a dog (he is so fluckin cute) i dont wanna do anything to him that could possibly harm him even for a few seconds

[chaoscampbell]

I'm not 100% sure on the harm it would do, I can't imagine it would be good for him though. I've got a spray of it in my mouth before (long story) and other then the awful taste it didn't make me sick in any way, but my experience is that they smell it and want nothing to do with it. even if he does taste the outside of the bag with windex on it I can't imagine it doing much harm.... but I wouldn't recommend feeding him half a bottle of it. I'll look around on the internet about harm and post when I find something.... but like I said... my experience, they smell it and walk away from it

[ermockler]

I use WD40

[MD_Willington]

Sudsy ammonia from the dollar tree works too... out here in the stix, .22LR and .223 work as well ;P

[chuckr44]

In Michigan, many people use "garbage can prisons". They are built like a tank, and have a nice thick padlock on them, because some raccoons were figuring out how to undo the latch.

[chaoscampbell]

ya I'm just outside of Windsor in the county (right across from Michigan) the raccoons are pretty crafty but they haven't come near the sprayed bags