'My neighbour is renting out their yard as a dog park - but it is a shared garden'

With dog ownership on the rise, it is becoming increasingly popular for entrepreneurs to rent out their land as pet-friendly spaces.

A clever idea - provided you follow all necessary regulations - it is not so smart if you have a shared garden.

So, you can imagine how baffled one unsuspecting dog walker felt after turning up to a yard they'd paid to rent, only to find it wasn't a private plot.

To make matters worse, the crafty resident making money from the ill-advised scheme had not warned their neighbours anyone was coming, and they thought the pet owner was a trespasser.

A dog walker turned up none the wiser (stock photo) (Getty Images)

Taking to Reddit to warn others, the dog walker explained what had happened.

"Today I drove an hour out to the countryside to a property I thought was private so that my dog could roam on a big orchard," they wrote. "I hadn't known that the property is shared and the NFH (Neighbour from hell) host renting it out had failed to inform the other residents on the property. You have to go up a private street to access it, then enter through gates clearly marked with the address we were given to get to the orchard. It was a stressful situation for all involved as the other residents thought we were trespassers."

The post concluded: "I apologized to the neighbors, but it wasn't us who owed them the apology. I definitely would be as upset as they were if strangers just showed up on my drive on a Sunday without warning, and then had their dog running around playing."

In the comments, people were quick to advise the owner to report the host's behaviour to the platform they were using, especially as they'd paid $30 (£24) for the experience.

Replying to a question about the price, the pet owner said: "Yes. The rate varies dramatically and is set by the host. I paid $30 for the 'private' orchard.

"I feel certain from how highly annoyed the neighbors were that their NFH renting the orchard didn't share the money. You pay in advance through the app so I had no idea of any of this until I arrived."

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