Roadside stand and stray dogs

I like the idea of a roadside stand and honor system. But besides using a building with a door, what are your tips and tricks for dealing with animals? There are a few dogs and cats that wander my neighborhood, and I'm worried what they would do to the produce. What are your experiences?

Unless you are selling bones, would there be any issues

John C Daley wrote:Unless you are selling bones, would there be any issues

I don't know. They're curious dogs who occasionally seem underfed. They would definitely pee on the legs of the stand, but I'm just not sure if they would nose around what's on it. And I imagine the cats would jump on whatever they can.

Perhaps you can spray around the table as well as the table legs themselves with a scent that dogs and cats don't like. A scent that is not unpleasant to humans, or can barely be detected by us, but one that animals definitely don't want anything to do with. You'd have to look up what that may be and hopefully something you can put together yourself so that it's very inexpensive, but being that animals have such amazing abilities to smell, I think it may be a solution to make it uninviting for animals to check out your table and its wares.

Cat's don't seem to care to much unless it's raining and then if your stand is nice and dry they may take up residence, we have lots of cats round here and they don't bother the stand as most cats are not keen on strangers. Maybe a little fence would work for the dogs? it's less offputting for customers to have to open a gate than a door.

Annie Collins wrote:Perhaps you can spray around the table as well as the table legs themselves with a scent that dogs and cats don't like. A scent that is not unpleasant to humans, or can barely be detected by us, but one that animals definitely don't want anything to do with. You'd have to look up what that may be and hopefully something you can put together yourself so that it's very inexpensive, but being that animals have such amazing abilities to smell, I think it may be a solution to make it uninviting for animals to check out your table and its wares.

That could help. I'll have to look into it, thanks!

Skandi Rogers wrote:Cat's don't seem to care to much unless it's raining and then if your stand is nice and dry they may take up residence, we have lots of cats round here and they don't bother the stand as most cats are not keen on strangers. Maybe a little fence would work for the dogs? it's less offputting for customers to have to open a gate than a door.

I was so focused on not wanting a door, I didn't even think about a fence and gate. Sounds like a bigger project than I initially wanted for a roadside stand but definitely something to consider. And I think you've helped me get over my hump to think outside the box!

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