To ask a blind woman to pick up her dog's poo near the school gate?

[AdventuresWithVoles]

Actually, I didn't have the nerve to ask, and I can't be 100% sure it was her dog thought the circumstantial evidence was quite compelling.
If it happens again, wwyd?

[takingiteasy]

I've never thought of this. I'm assuming it was a guide dog?

[CaramelTree]

Guide dogs are exempt from dog fouling laws.

[Treblesallround]

I wonder if they cover this issue when teaching people to work with their guide dog?

[LadySucre]

Well how is the poor woman going to see if her dog has poo'ed ffs. And how can she pick it up?

Leave her alone.

[CaramelTree]

The dogs are trained to poo at home, supposedly.

[GrahamTribe]

How about you have a heart and do it for her?

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

I'd probably just ask if she had a poop bag even guide dogs have to go and if she can't see it then guess she won't know it's been done. Then I'd either help her pick it up or offer to do it myself. :)

[redrubyshoes]

I think being blind would absolve her of that duty or maybe she should not be allowed near schools?

[AdventuresWithVoles]

Guide dog, owner was about 40' past the crowded pavement where poo was, when I realised it must be her dog that left the (extremely fresh still glistening in the sun hadn't been there 5 minutes earlier nobody else walking a dog nearby) lumps of poo.

I don't know this lady at all, just seen her around a few times. She was escorting a small child, I think to preschool around the corner.

I know guide dogs are supposed to give signals they need to go, or only go on command, I guess her dog was having a bad day? I did wonder if I should have picked it up myself, but don't think that's a good long term solution esp. as I think she passes by school frequently.

[pumpkinsweetie]

Just leave it, as you cant be sure it was even her dog and she would not have seen it anyway

[GrahamTribe]

And FYI guide dogs are (I understand) trained not to shit in public places/on lead situations so it probably wasn't even her dog anyway.

[CaramelTree]

She doesn't have to pick it up. She is exempt under the law.

If you want to pick it up, that is your choice.

Why you would talk to her about it, I don't know.

[Ormiriathomimus]

How would she see it to pick it up? Or perhaps she should just feel around on the pavement until she encountered it.....

[AdventuresWithVoles]

Maybe she needs to know the dog has had an accident, can't be relied on to poo when & how it's supposed to?

[ZuzuandZara]

How exactly do you think she might do this? Scrabble around on the ground until she finds it? Or you could guide her hand? Or you could pick it up.....

[Birdsgottafly]

"I wonder if they cover this issue when teaching people to work with their guide dog"

Yes they do. Guide dogs can be rejected just for being unable to toilet on command and before and after a walk.

They are exempt, in that owners who are 100% blind will not get fined.

Most people still have some sight and could tell if their dog has toileted, they are taught to pick it up and the diet caters for it to be solid.

I wonder if she had to attend an appointment which ment the dog was out of routine, or the dog is unwell.

I would have told her that her dog toileted, incase she didn't realise and the dog isn't well, but have dealt with it myself.

[QueenOfMuppets]

Guide dogs are trained to only poo on command; if you didn't see the dog doing it then it's not that likely to have been them....

i found myself getting dirty looks once when waiting outside a shop with a dog; took me a few mins to realise that I was in the vicinity of a dog turd that someone else had left behind and they were all assuming it was me that had left the poo near the supermarket door- I moved away quite fast when I twigged!!

and if it was a case of a totally desperate guide dog having an 'accident' then she may not have had bags etc with her as she wouldn't be expecting it to go...

[ZuzuandZara]

Or maybe the preschooler could pick it up?

Or you could give her a break.

[Birdsgottafly]

"Guide dog, owner was about 40' past the crowded pavement where poo was"

You don't know that it was her and the dog wil be well trained around that routine.

Unless you see it, do not mention it, otherwise it is just picking on a disabled woman.

[redrubyshoes]

So she is blind. You now want to have a word with her about her highly trained dog that she probably very attached to and relies on totally being 'unreliable'.

Would you feel the same if it pooed on any other pavement and not by a school? Think of the children!



Get a bag and pick it up.

[NotaDisneyMum]

Guide dogs are exempt from fouling laws, they are trained to go 'on command' but they are living, breathing creatures and sometimes it happens.

The idea that you would make a point and ask a guide dog owner to clear up after their dog horrifies me though - they would likely be really embarrassed and it would dent their confidence enormously

Surely there was a dog owner at the school gate with a poo bag they could have used?

[GrahamTribe]

that's nteresting information and good to know, thank you Birds.

[AdventuresWithVoles]

It was a freaky coincidence, then, Graham, extremely fresh mess and absolutely no-one else with a dog around nor would they normally be. And who else but a blind woman concentrating on a small child would completely not notice big lumps of poo left by her dog in middle of pavement?

I think if I were blind & had guide-dog, I'd want to be as responsible as I could be about its mess. Also, she herself was at high risk of stepping in it later in day if that was her usual route! (Do the dogs have the sense to see their own lumps of poo as obstacles?) What about when her child (grand child, I suspect, actually) is older & comes thru school gates daily?

Neah, I think she needs to know her dog wasn't on form, before it becomes a chronic habit.

[CaramelTree]

But you don't know for certain that it was her dog.

And there is no point speculating on what you would morally do if you were blind because a. you are not and b. it is not your place to decide how responsible she should feel.

You are not blind. Why didn't you pick it up?

If the dog has issues with toileting, she will find out. She doesn't need you to tell her something that may not be true.


And dog poo looks fresh for ages. You can't know it had only just been done.