Clean It Up!
Picking up Dog Poop and Keeping the Environment Clean
It’s a universal experience so unpleasant that it is often acknowledged via shouts of various four-letter words.
It happens when you least expect it. On your way to an important career-defining meeting, during a leisurely stroll in the park, or, in accordance with Murphy’s Law, after long hours of preparation involving curling irons and brand new designer shoes.
Dog Poop. Crap. Poo-Poo. “It” prefaced with “sh.” Feces. Waste. Excrement.
Call it what you like, but dog poop is a fact that you’re guaranteed to see proof of during your lifetime. City to country, whether you own a dog or not- the poop will find your shoes and maybe more (yikes!)
Sh*! and runs have become particular problems in the cities, and as a result state governments are increasing pet waste pollution fines.
Recently, our friends at dogchatter.com also blogged about this growing problem. Among their list of reasons why you should pick up after your dog was that dog poop contains fecal coliform bacteria that can make you sick.
I started to wonder if people were aware of the effects of letting your dog loose on city sidewalks. For such a health conscious society rarely do people discuss health effects of irresponsible dog owners.
Think about this:
-Dog poop is one of the leading causes of E. Coli pollution: each gram of dog poop has over 20,000,000 E. Coli colonies in it.
-3.6 billion pounds of dog waste/year is produced in the United States alone, equaling 800 football fields, one foot high.
-A dog or cat can obtain various different parasites, viruses and stages of bacteria from their own poop. How confident are you that your neighbor’s dog has been dewormed? Do you know what worms your dog is protected against?
-Storm water carries pet waste and other pollutants directly into waterways.
At Rascodog we believe in responsible owner behavior. Your dog isn’t going to pick up after himself after all!
Here are some simple things you can do to keep your pets healthy and save a chunk of change:
Put a friendly message on the bulletin board at the local dog park to remind pet owners to clean up after their dogs.
Make sure you have appropriate dog walking gear with you and your dog at all times! Rascodog’s ReadyLeash makes this easy with biodegradable bags built-in to the leash handle.
Have a neighborhood clean up and start fresh!
Peer Pressure (as suggested by SmartDogs): Politely remind someone to pick up after their dog if you see them walking away… you can even offer them an extra bag!
Become your communtites own “poop police”… although I wouldn’t reccommend picking it up with your bare hands like this guy from Florida: Poop Policeman
What are some other things you can do? Leave us a comment below and we’ll include your tips in the list above!
For more information about some canine parasitic conditions check out PetMD.
Trackbacks and Pingbacks
- Sick of people who don't pick up dog poop... - Dogs - Page 2 - City-Data Forum
This is becoming an increasing problem that is actually causing those of us who DO clean up after our dogs to suffer!
Example: San Diego is nationally ranked as one of the most dog-friendly cities in the nation. Hotels allow pets, lots of dog parks, open air malls where people shop with their leashed friends & pets even have parts of the beach designated just for them (dog beaches throughout the city). Heck, even the baseball park here where the SD Padres play is sponsored by PetCo! Due to a minority of lazy owners in the downtown area, a movement with some local press & discussion started to try to reduce the spaces available for dogs downtown. The people in support of these restrictions cited all these health concerns you do.
Bottomline, clean up after your dog! Otherwise someone else may reduce the areas available to you & your pet!
No, this is great. If you don’t mind I’ll add it to the list above. I think Peer Pressure plays a part in the concept of picking up after your dog, probably more so than the health issues at this point because people are more embarrassed and offended to step in the poop than anything else.
Everyone should pick up after their dog, poop is nasty! Good article, thanks for the link to us Rascodog!
~ Kimber, Dog Chatter K9 Representative, http://www.dogchatter.com
Living in a small town in the Upper Midwest I find that peer pressure is a great tool for dog poo scofflaws. I *always* carry extra bags with me and when I see someone start to walk away from their dog’s doo-doo I walk up to them with a big, friendly smile on my face and say (with mock concern) “Oh dear! I see you’ve forgotten your bags, here – use one of mine.” So far, no one has declined taking and using the bag I offered.
I doubt that this would work as well in a large city as it does here in “Mayberry North” – but I do think that most people who leave poo behind just do it out of laziness. If more of us *politely* reminded them, the embarassment might outweigh it and make a lot of them behave more responsibly.
Hello,
I Lived in a nice neighborhood here in San Diego. and my kids and i were walking our dog. This Guy was walking his dog without a leash and his dog poop without him cleaning up after his pet. i offered my bag ( i always carry #3 bags) He just blew up on me..wow he has a temper.when i offered my bag he said “No” Mind your own business” He was a big guy and i was a puny guy..so peer pressure wont always work.. i dont know who to call.. Police or animal center..i have been googling it and i happen to see your comment here..
Hey Nick-
I’m sorry to hear that someone behaved like that towards you, especially if your kids were around! I certainly don’t advocate getting in a brawl over picking up dog poop, but it is certainly a problem if this guy continues to let his dog wander around off-leash leaving a trail. My advice to you would be to research the off-leash and dog-related laws in your area. I don’t live in San Diego myself, but I believe it has some substantial laws regarding off-leash dogs. If this guy is making a habit out of not picking up after his dog, then notifying the proper authorities is a possible solution. Most likely you will be able to remain anonymous when giving the tip and hopefully there won’t be further confrontation!
Good luck!
In our household we are fanatics about picking up for our dog. We carry bags that are visible, handy for us & a reminder for others to pick up for their dogs. We have even run after people with a bag when they are walking away “I think you missed your dog making a mess, do you need a bag” I still cringe remembering walking down a crowded sidewalk and watching a woman beautifully dressed stepping down on a big pile of dog poop. Her expensive Italian sandals must have been ruined not to mention having to clean it off her feet. In addition to the icky, thanks for stating the health aspects of the problem.
I live in a “nice” subdivision in Parrish, Florida… our nice neighborhood is going down, down, down due to 2 reasons… the main reason being that the market tanked on housing and even in our nicer neighborhood, there are numerous homes that have been abandoned and left to be overgrown and look nasty.
The second reason … countless dog walkers refuse to pick up their dogs’ excrement. I have a dog AND A FENCE TO KEEP HIM IN TO DO HIS BUSINESS. A nature path runs directly behind my home, as well, so we have to pick up excrement on a nearly daily basis… I’ve picked up at least 10 shits in my yard this week alone, and they’re from BIG dogs. SOME WERE AS MUCH AS 8 feet up in my yard from the street!!!
I’m going to be fined for putting up a sign…
but I saw the sign in a neighboring community and had to laugh…
“HERE LIES THE LAST DOG THAT POOPED IN MY YARD”.
I’m going to make and then anchor that damn sign in my yard. I’m so sick of these people and their dogs that I would move if I could… but with housing less than HALF the value of what we paid… it’ll be hard to sell.
I live in a big city in a building with 3 apartments and a shared yard. There are two dogs from two different owners who live in our building and the owners of the dogs are not consistently picking up the poop. We all rent and I have alerted the building owner of teh problem but she has not pursued it at all.
I have two very small children, one of which is still so little he is likely to eat the poop if he accidentally happens upon it. My oldest has stepped in poop in the yard on more than one occasion. I have tried a few solutions, to no avail–I have politely talked to my neighbors, sent an angry e-mail and my husband has politely talked to them as well. When I have talked to them, the main culprit claims, “it’s not a problem because I almost always get the poop by the end of the day or the next morning.” I have explained that it is during the day that my kids are outiside playing and I don’t want to spend the whole time combing the yard for poop before I allow them in the grass to play. I have finally resorted to buying my own biodegradable poop bags and have been picking it up myself. What else should I do?
I have two small/medium dogs. I take bags with me everywhere I go — I have a roll in my car at all times and even a roll in my purse! I often hand them out at the dog park.
When we got our youngest dog, we felt it was wise to begin picking up immediately after he goes because has irritable bowel disease. This chronic problem often leads our young male to eat things he shouldn’t. Most of the time, they come out in his poo. But when he’s not feeling well, we can certainly tell when we go to pick up his poo if he’s eaten something he shouldn’t. Poo also tells us a lot about his overall health. No diarrhea means he’s doing well. While he has improved, we will still continue to pick up as we go because no one should have to step in dog poo. To me, it is simple common courtesy.
Incidentally, at our 4th of July picnic we had distant relatives visit and they brought their two dogs. All the dogs got a long, and of course used the bathroom when outside. I was appalled that they left two piles of poop from each dog (one small one very large) even after I handed the owner (a cousin) pick up bags. One of the piles was on our brick patio. Disgusting. You can guess who won’t be invited ever again.
I am lucky that I have a poo trapper which is very handy and convinient to use.it considers a extentalbe shaft and foldable loops. It could be kept in a handbag and could automatically extend to almost two and half feet long when it is in use. Any glocery bags could be clipped onto the loop and it is easy to detach from it.So far I have no problem to my neighbours and most of them praise as the smart way I do.
And this device is good in all weather whether is raining or blowing strong wind.
Or even when the feces is wet….
These are excellent recommendations. Dog poop is really becoming an issue that should be looked into. There is the need to educate more dog owners about that. It may be embarrassing to some of us to pick up our own dog poop but the long term consequence of that behavior may be much more embarrasing
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I’ve been reading One Nation Under Dog by Michael Schaffer (http://michaelschaffer.net/one-nation-under-dog/) but he devotes an entire chapter to what he calls the San Francisco Dog Wars. It’s the same concept as you mention in San Diego- what should be a great place for dog lovers to go turns nasty and political when people don’t do simple things like picking up after their dogs! How is it worse than changing a baby’s diaper? You don’t see those being left on the sidewalk.