DEAR MISS MANNERS: I live in a modest home. One pleasant Sunday morning as I was looking out the window, two young women with small dogs were walking on the public sidewalk in front of my house. I have planted roses for the neighborhood to enjoy. Curb appeal has always been a gentle “hello” to the world.

The first dog-walker walked into my front yard, about 20 feet onto private property, and allowed her dog to poop, with no pretense of collecting the waste. After the first pair returned to the sidewalk, the group walked about 15 feet farther (still in front of my house) before, incredibly, the second woman and her dog came into my yard. Again, the dog pooped on my property, and again, there was no pretense of collecting the waste.

What should I have done? In retrospect, I wish I had opened my front door and reminded them that they were trespassing on private property and that my front yard was NOT a dog park.

What can I do in the future? Put up a fence? I would rather not. Were they “entitled”? Do we now live in a world that is this lacking in civility? I feel like ripping out the roses and planting poison ivy -- and that makes no sense at all. Is there a way to make this bad dog behavior stop?

GENTLE READER: Probably not, but their owners might be trainable. Miss Manners finds that simply poking your head out and asking if they need a plastic bag -- or directions to the nearest dog park -- can be enough of a deterrent for most decent humans. But if you are not there to witness the transgression, a smartly placed “Private Property” sign is also effective.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My therapist and I have opposite views on who introduces who to the neighborhood when one moves to a new place.

My therapist sides with my friend, who is more introverted, and states that if the neighbors want to get to know him, then they should be the ones introducing themselves to him. That’s exactly how he got to know his current neighbor; otherwise he would not have made the first move.

I say the newbie should introduce himself to the neighbors when he moves in, and that’s what I did when I moved into my neighborhood. After all, a new neighbor is the one invading or disrupting the established neighborhood.

GENTLE READER: In a rare moment of equanimity, Miss Manners is pleased to tell you that neither method is wrong.

If a reasonable amount of time has passed and no neighbor has made a move to meet the newcomer, either may do so -- if it is done freely and without resentment. Additionally, she is pleased to hear that you are engaging your therapist in problems of such benign and civil discourse. Unless, of course, it is the two of you who are the neighbors.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My wife and I have a successful marriage and two grown children. We love each other very much.

My problem is her obsession with social media and all of the goings-on with her friends. She constantly asks me to look at pictures, videos, events and the minutiae from her online friends.

In the beginning, I used to take time to look, but now I can’t stand looking at another baby video, or another post from a friend attending a polo match. This stuff is so uninteresting to me. These people are not really her friends. They may have been childhood friends 50 years ago, or worked together 30 years ago. I have no clue who they are.

I have tried to tell her nicely multiple times that these things do not interest me, but she gets peeved and generally testy when I decline.

Then there are times when I will relate a story about my day, and she will claim “not to be interested” because I cannot show interest in her “world.”

Social media is ruining our society. In general, we have become a world of “Look at me, I’m here,” and “Look at me, I’m doing such and such.” How do I handle this?

GENTLE READER: Having attended quite a few children’s birthday parties in her time, Miss Manners is used to ignoring the hand with which the magician is gesticulating wildly and instead concentrating on the other hand.

She does not mean to suggest that you intend a sleight of hand, but one is nevertheless in progress. Revealing the trick requires only that we remove all 21st-, and perhaps also 20th-, century technology from your question.

Your wife is excited by, and wishes to share, news of a friend or acquaintance of hers you do not know. Is this interesting? Possibly not. Are you required to show interest? Of course. Is it also reasonable to expect some limitations on how much time and energy you will have to devote to feigning an interest you do not feel? Yes.

All of these things were true before the internet and will be true when our children’s grandchildren dismiss social media as hopelessly old-fashioned. Discovering that you object to social media on principle does not remove your duty to show interest in your wife’s interests. But a discussion about how many baby videos constitute sufficient interest is in order.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: What is the proper way to tell a friend that his or her son needs a haircut?

GENTLE READER: Etiquette can accomplish many wonders, but not one that goes against its nature: Commenting on someone else’s grooming is inherently rude, and commanding others to do something about it, more so.

Although it would not, strictly speaking, be rude to tell your friend how nice her son’s hair looks when it is short, Miss Manners warns you not to expect an appreciative reception if you try.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a niece who shaved her head for a childhood cancer charity, and she has received a lot of comments such as, “That was so brave of you to shave your head considering you’re a girl.”

I am beyond disgusted to hear this, but I can’t think of what she could possibly say that would both alert the commentator to their veiled insult and still express a level of politeness.

GENTLE READER: It was in the hope of educating the general public -- and thereby sparing future cancer patients such unkindnesses -- that charities started encouraging non-patients to shave their heads. This being the intent, Miss Manners suspects that your niece will want to respond on point, rather than getting distracted by the implied gender issue.

That can be accomplished by saying politely, if solemnly: “Thank you, but what I did is really nothing. Just imagine what those children have to endure.” The commentators may conclude that your niece is being sanctimonious, but they will also be discouraged from repeating their rudeness to the next compassionate person.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: The cafeteria in my office building includes a large salad bar, which I often frequent. The setup is fairly standard: greens, then proteins, then a long stretch of other toppings before finally getting to the dressings.

Often enough, I find myself with my salad fully assembled to my liking, but I am stuck behind someone who is moving down the line adding more and more toppings.

If there is no one else in front of this person, is it acceptable for me to cut ahead to the dressings? On the one hand, I feel that cutting for any reason would be inherently rude. But on the other hand, I’ve had someone ahead of me act apologetic for “taking so long,” or rush through their selection because they feel they’re holding me up. Of course I wouldn’t dream of skipping ahead if there is an actual line of people. But it seems silly and feels awkward to just be standing there waiting.

GENTLE READER: It is always rude to cut in line, but the situation you describe is not always properly considered one line. (Miss Manners is fond of subtlety, not caring that it is sometimes derisively referred to as a technicality.) You may jump over a substantial gap. Ideally, find someone on the other side of the gap and line up behind them as a demonstration of your law-abiding nature.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have a friend who promised me several times to pay me back for an event ticket if I paid the money up-front. He finally came through a couple days before the event, but I didn’t have the ticket on hand, so he said he would pick it up in the next couple of days or meet us at the event.

He didn’t pick it up or show up at the event. My friends and I tried calling him several times, but we didn’t get a response, and he hasn’t called me since.

Should I make an effort to pay him back, or wait until I hear from him to see what he has to say? I don’t want to get rid of a friendship over the ticket, but at the same time, I am very upset by his behavior because I could have spent the money on other things.

GENTLE READER: As you already have the money in hand, it is not a question of how to spend it, but whether or not to return it. Your friend would no doubt say that he paid for the ticket, as agreed, after which it was up to him whether or not to attend.

Miss Manners sees the logic in this without entirely accepting it. His paying for the ticket did lessen the host-guest nature of the invitation, making his nonattendance less repugnant than, say, missing your wedding. Assuming a formal apology is therefore not necessary, your wisest course of action is to treat the matter as closed, and proceed with the friendship.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)