Q: Can you tell me how to keep dogs from urinating on my mailbox post? All the dogs in the neighborhood use it for their bathroom and it smells horrible!

A: Once a spot becomes a message board for the dogs in a neighborhood, it stays that way for years. Your two options are to either remove the smell or to remove their access. To remove the smell, you’ll have to remove the soil down to twelve inches deep for two or three feet in all directions from the post. Replace it with new topsoil. If the post is metal, scrub it thoroughly with soap and bleach. If the post is wooden, it will have to be replaced too.

You can try removing the dogs’ access to the spot by surrounding it with low fencing. This might not be much use if the dogs are tall. Fencing and soil removal is probably the best bet. If the dogs are leashed (as all dogs are required to be) perhaps you could subtly educate their owners.

I knew a person who put a campaign poster for a Republican presidential candidate in a spot the neighborhood dogs frequented. Since all of her neighbors were Republicans, they were careful to walk their dogs on the other side of the street. The vision of those dogs enthusiastically tugging their masters toward the presidential pooch potty has never failed to bring a smile to my face.