Dog Poo - What Do You Do?

[angelad]

It is estimated that the dog population of the UK produces 900 tonnes of faeces every day.

Over a ten-year lifetime, a dog can produce up to half a ton of faeces.

Responsible Dog owners pick up - every time.

It is the responsibilty of the dog owner to ensure that the dog's mess is cleaned up. Although there are a great number of owners that do clear it up, there are still some people who feel it is unhygienic. However, it is even more of a health hazard to leave it where it lies - on pavements, in parks and playgrounds, or even on the beach. It is also against the law and you can be fined anything from £40 - £1,000.

All faeces contains bacteria that can cause stomach upsets if ingested. However, the greatest risk to public health from dog faeces is toxocariasis.

Toxocariasis is an infection of the round worm Toxocara canis5. It is spread via unwashed vegetables and dog faeces. Young children in particular are at risk due to their weaker immune systems and because they are more likely to expose themselves by ingesting the eggs. A puppy can pass as many as 15,000 eggs per gram of faeces, and they are a major source of environmental contamination.

There are always letters in the press complaining (and rightly so) about dog mess on pavements and pathways, in parks, football fields etc., (Ironically, the fashion for white trainers amongst young people has led to many of them complaining)

The end result is that dog owners as a whole are becoming more and more unpopular, and more and more restrictions are being put in place as to where dogs can be walked.



No, this doesn't happen - be a Responsible Dog Owner

[Kara Collie-Cross]

I find that in winter people seem to be much less likely to pick up after themselves than in the summer.

I see plenty of folk early morning in the park making no effort to pick up their pooch's poop when running around off-lead.

I know it's dark in the morning and from early afternoon, but it's nothing that a decent torch wouldn't fix.

We're out there lit up like Blackpool towers... She is wearing her smart red glowing LED collar (so I can see where she stops) and I'm wearing by boyfriends fellrunning head torch so I can find her turds!! ;D

[gillcardiff]

Agree with comments on poop trails...we have some naughty person leaving every other day pooh in the street.Right at entrance to gates also.

We only leave mess in woodland areas...or if it is unable to be collected in a bag....which touch wood Moo never leaves runny.LOL.

Have seen on me way home along penarth rd a walker not pick up mesh... .

[Kara Collie-Cross]

Just wondering...

Do any of you every gently & non-confrontationally challenge folk who don't pick up??

Our morning walkies take place mainly in Moorland Park, which in good weather attracts kids playing footy etc due to the playing fields there and it's just a question of time before there will be conflict with parents because the place is covered in crap!!!!!!!!

There's just really no excuse... the bags are free, you can pick them up from loads of community facilities, but with some people it seems to be a more general attitude problem and it gives us all a bad name.

I have gone up to people with a poo bag and a smile saying "I thought you might have run out - happens to us all!" or bagged one up for them and jogged after them "sorry you missed one!" at the same time advertising the free poo bags etc, but it's getting tiresome.

Excuses I've heard so far:

"I've not cleaned up s**t off my kids and I sure as f**k ain't going to clean up after my f*****g dog!!" [from a male dog owner...]

"I've got a sore back and can't bend..."

"I've got a baby and don't want to get it on my hands..."

"The bags are worse litter, the rain will wash it away..."

"The f*****g Council should do it!!!"

I wonder if, now that you get charged for plastic bags, some people don't pick up any more because they no longer have free bags in the house?? Some people genuine don't seem to know the bags are free of where to get them from.

Awareness raising about the bags is one thing but how do you change these attitudes??

[Kara Collie-Cross]

And why in Dog's name do some people who pick up then lob it next to the bin rather than into it, or hang the bag into a tree??

[gillcardiff]

It's the same with nappie's...

Day at porthcawl pull into carpark 3 nappie's in different spots.

Lazy unwilling and don't care attitude.baby pooh dog pooh do they care.

Talking of pooh bags cosmeston lakes has up a sign 334 bags littered around the park.

we love cosmeston it's a good day out for all family and pets.

Why so many bags with pooh littered about the park...LACK OF BINS....pooh has been picked up.

Whilst out at cosmeston with Moo we only counted 2 bins on the huge trail we did...first at where the dog walk starts by the pigs and other nearly where the swans are at the front.

Oh yes we do approach people with bags if they are walking away from the poop.

[hwyaden]

i'm a serial person botherer too if i see them walk away. i've only had one nasty response - most people are shocked and shamed into picking it up. one woman who used to let her greyhounds poo on the green in front of our house twice a day never came back again after i challenged her with a handful of bags.
i;ve always had large dogs so if i can pick up after them i'm damn sure owners of small dogs can do it - they don't even need a bin liner

[hwyaden]

oh and yes - nappies are soooo disgusting - you wouldn't expect an adult to poo in the street but it seems to be ok to leave dog or baby poo behind

[jenb]

I was out with my sons yesterday walking the Smudgeroo in the woods opposite our house and part of our conversation went like this:

Me - "watch where you walk guys, there is lots of dogs poo on the track"
Boy 3 - "why is there so much poo in the woods"
Me - "well I think some people think it is OK not to pick it up because it is in the woods and no-one will see them"
Boy 2 - "that's stupid because you are obviously going to be walking dogs in the woods and more likely to step in it"

Children are very sensible My 17 year old son Boy 1 doesn't like doing it, but always picks up the poo.

My kids play in the woods all the time, it is like our local park and I think that a lot of people think the woods are fair game for poo dumping. Because of the problem here the council have put in lots of bins, but it is still pretty bad.

Raising responsible humans and dawgs!

[Baglady]

Well said Jen

Friends have taken a 'special interest' in dog fouling for lots of reasons.

The area around CDH is sometimes littered with poop, and/or with poop bags, and although there is admittedly a shortage of receptacles in the area, this is no excuse for breaking the law. There are bins - at CDH, at the bus stop on Penarth Road, and there is one on the Ely Trail (Baywards side). It is illegal to let your dog (or a dog you are walking) to foul, and enforcement officers will spot fine if anyone is seen failing to poop scoop.

There is a case currenty being persued through the courts whereby the 'witness' is not an enforcement officer, but a member of the public, and if the prosecution results in a guilty verdict (which it should) this will herald a warning to anyone who lets a dog foul! Mr (I've got vid) Mobile is the friend of responsible dog owners/walkers everywhere - be warned poop leavers, you will be found out, fined and shamed

S'none of us though issit ;D

[stephandalfie]

i didn't know it was possible to get free bags,,, do share this info,,

I cough up and buy the lovely extra thick fragranced bags from PAH. Mainly cause my darling Alfie seems to like to do his business on nettles, thorns,, or other spiky plants!! ouch! and EWWW!!!

While we are on this topic - Alfies Grandad picked up his first dog poop today - he was dog sitting (he normally makes me walk Alfs till I get a poop - so he avoids this issue!) well done that man! Alfie was kind to - on sand - huh - easy!

[caz]

I didn't know you can get free bags either? Although I pay £1 for about 200 bags so I don't think its a heavy price to pay! I don't particularly want my dogs nose in someone elses dogs poo, and even when I run with my dog I always pick up - I have been spotted running carrying a bag of poo cos there were no bins around too! Like in everything else, some people are just too damn lazy and selfish. I'd like to follow them home and post it through their letterbox!! I'm afraid I don't confront them as I'm no good at being nice about it ! We can only educate and hope ! caz

[CazDD]

Mar 13, 2012 15:53:05 GMT Kara Collie-Cross said:

There's just really no excuse... the bags are free, you can pick them up from loads of community facilities, but with some people it seems to be a more general attitude problem and it gives us all a bad name.

It does. When Bails does his business in the local park (unfortunately he won't go anywhere else except the park in the same spot every time) sometimes I get people looking at me suspiciously as if to say 'she'd better pick up that poo' so I tend to get my poo bag out and wave it high in the air before walking over to the spot to pick up then stride to the bin and hurl the bag into the bin from a distance...shout 'good shot' then grin at said person. If dog owners who don't bag also see this performance, so much the better.

Which community facilities give out the bags for free?

[patyandcolin]

I always clean after my dog , once i was in the park and run out of bags , i made my way to a ice-cream/food shop located in the park and ask them for a bag -i hare walking into a dog poo so i pick up after my dog .Dew times i did ask dog owner to pick up after their dog (who pooped near the place where we had our picnic -the guy just looked at me and said "why should i?" -so we had a bit of an argument .he did clean up ...

[Kara Collie-Cross]

May 13, 2012 21:09:56 GMT Baglady said:

Well said Jen

Friends have taken a 'special interest' in dog fouling for lots of reasons.

The area around CDH is sometimes littered with poop, and/or with poop bags, and although there is admittedly a shortage of receptacles in the area, this is no excuse for breaking the law. There are bins - at CDH, at the bus stop on Penarth Road, and there is one on the Ely Trail (Baywards side). It is illegal to let your dog (or a dog you are walking) to foul, and enforcement officers will spot fine if anyone is seen failing to poop scoop.

There is a case currenty being persued through the courts whereby the 'witness' is not an enforcement officer, but a member of the public, and if the prosecution results in a guilty verdict (which it should) this will herald a warning to anyone who lets a dog foul! Mr (I've got vid) Mobile is the friend of responsible dog owners/walkers everywhere - be warned poop leavers, you will be found out, fined and shamed

S'none of us though issit ;D

Wouldn't it be lovely if this were the case for all littering???

I am sick to the back teeth with finding stuff like nappies and sanitary towels in my local park.

Every morning I'm out collecting rubbish in the park behind Moorland School. The dog walkers (with a couple of exceptions) all get with the programme (as seen by the sheer amount of poo bags in the bins...

However all the school kids drop their milk cartons where they please, the football teams leave all their energy drinks bottles etc.