Throwing away dog poop

Yesterday I took Storm out for our daily afternoon walk. There was nothing unusual about it save for the fact that it was earlier than normal time because the weatherman was predicting late afternoon showers.

We walked out of the front door and were about halfway down the driveway when she pulled a hard right to a small patch of grass near the mailbox. Before I even knew what was happening, Storm was flailing around on her back. I told her a stern no and pulled her up… that’s when I smelled it.

At first, I thought I had stepped in the dog poop, but then I realized it was Storm who smelled. Actually it was Storm, her collar and part of her leash!

There on the grass was the culprit – someone’s dog had left a calling card.

To me, this is way worse than stepping in poop left on the sidewalk, because I make sure to always pick up after my dog. I could easily walk away and leave my dog’s poop in any one of my neighbor’s yards, but I don’t because cleaning up is the responsible thing to do.

This puts me in a precarious situation in how to approach my neighbor. On the one hand, I didn’t see it happen so I can’t be 100% sure as to which neighbor let one slide. On the other hand, there is one dog I always see running around sans leash in the neighborhood.

How would you handle this situation? And what does it mean that my dog has suddenly decided she likes to roll around in feces? Thoughts? Advice?

Nina