Could an anti dog fouling campaign work if it used humour?

[EightPairsOfHands]

Just need to ask some knowledgeable doggie owners about this one...

We all know it's yukkie stuff when on your boots, pushchairs, back-pack, coat, gloves etc etc (encountered many times with my 6 DC). I have seen anti-muck campaigns over the years some of which point out the very real health issues yet the message doesn't seem to get through to the persistent offenders.

But, do you think if you used humour and slapstick in a campaign that this might appeal to the lowest common denominator of cerebral ability in the dog-owning world and encourage them to pick it up?

P.S. Newbie here - be nice to me!

[Lizcat]

Bayer have the " there is no dog poo fairy" that they have put up around here seemed to work for about 1 week and now is not making any difference. IMO those who don't pick up are lazy and nothing a part from maybe a big fine will make a difference.

[Labradorlover]

I find yelling " pick your dog's shite up, you dirty fucking minger" has worked on occasion. But there will always be some who won't bother if they think no one's looking.
I wouldn't fine them, but make them pick up poo in the area for for x number of hours.

[RedwingWinter]

Early last summer, some of the kids around here chalked messages on the pavement asking dog owners to pick up. It made a big difference, maybe because the message was coming directly from children (afaik they thought of it themselves). Of course once the rain had washed the message away things started to go back to normal, but the pavements were practically spotless for a while.

[SingingSands]

RedwingWinter - I wonder if you live near me? I saw messages about dog poo chalked out on a street last year, but it only seemed to affect that street. There was still dog poo on my street!

[noinspiration]

No, I don't. The only things that will improve the situation are a hefty fine for those that really don't care, and more poo bins for those that kind of do, but not enough to carry a bag for 3 miles.

I recently went to a big park, which had only one bin by a side entrance. I spent hours looking for it, and I'm fairly sure most people wouldn't have bothered.

[fussbucket]

A few years ago Camden Council made a cinema ad which shows a man walking out of his house one sunny morning, down the steps onto the street, settling down on a seat and opening up a newspaper. But gradually the camera pans down and you see that he is wearing a dressing gown and holding a roll of bogpaper, and then the voiceover comes in, something like 'you wouldn't like this on your street, why let your dog do it?' I saw it on one of those Channel 4 100 greatest things, it had me in stitches, and I always think of it when I have to pick up poo. I'd love to know if Camden felt it made any difference to the filth levels in their streets.

[RedwingWinter]

Singing, you're right it probably only affected the street they wrote on. It goes round in a loop, and the kids chalked messages all around the loop, but I think the streets off to the side probably stayed the same.

[EightPairsOfHands]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I love dogs but don't own one and most owners I see are diligently cleaning up after their dogs. Shame about the others.

I think the kids who chalked on the pavements were ace and how bril that it had an impact. I will try to track down that Camden film too.

I hate normal litter too, I have a real THING about it, DH too. He is bold enough to hand people back things they have dropped and suggest putting them in a bin nearby. He has had some abuse over the years but one time a fellow dad saw him clearing up a play park and joined in. If he carried some poo bags, I know he would do the same ...

[GrittersWifeAndProud]

I was walking my dog a few weeks ago and this woman walking her dog was coming towards us, her dog shat right next to the path and she just left it, so as she drew level with us I said to her 'I think you left something back there', her- 'Oh did I drop something?' , me- 'No but your dog did and you forgot to pick it up.'

She just gaped at me fish-like and walked off. In hindsight I should've offered her a bag.

[CalamityKate]

Definitely agree there should be more bins around.

Our lovely big local country park has them at the entrances and that's it. Absolutely nothing in between. So you see bags of shit thrown in ditches/hung from trees etc. Disgusting habit - they'd have been better off leaving it to rot into the ground than bagging it to hang around for decades! - that could possibly have been avoided if there were more bins around.

I don't understand it; vehicular access to the park IS possible so why not have a few more bins dotted around??

[axure]

No the dirt birds that don't pick up after their dogs won't pay any attention. I walk a route with several bins which are regularly emptied by the council, I still have to sidestep piles of dog crap, my dogs often walk through it. Totally disgusting, but lazy people unlikely to change their ways I'm afraid.

[CalamityKate]

I know that people who don't pick up at all are unlikely to start picking up just because there are more bins around.

But I do think that sometimes people pick it up/bag it, then get fed up with carrying a bag full of poo around and end up slinging it.

No excuses for them, but I reckon if they've gone to the trouble of bagging it, they'd probably hold on to it if they knew there was a bin near/ish by.