To hate 'stick and flick'

[lozster]

A Conservative MP is advocating that owners don't pick up dog poo but instead 'stick and flick' in to undergrowth. This is apparently to avoid plastic poo bag littering. My local forestry commission already have signs advising to do this. Consequently I avoid this area as my toddler loves to run around and pick up sticks. AIBU to want to be able to walk through the countryside with an inquisitive toddler without having to stay exclusively on a path?

[MaidOfStars]

So you'd not be worried about all the other shit your toddler will encounter off the path, just dog shit?

[ThymeLord]

Agree with Maid. If you're in the countryside then there's far more shite than just dog to worry about.

[randomsabreuse]

Definitely - even responsibly bagged and binned poo ends up in landfill.

There's plenty of reasons to avoid picking things up off paths - rodents, badgers and foxes all shit in woods and they won't be wormed...

[NotStoppedAllDay]

You can walk through the countryside with your inquisitive toddler..... how funny you think you can't!!!

[PageNowFoundFileUnderSpartacus]

I'd have thought a better solution would be to provide more poo bins, ensure they're emptied regularly, and make the fines for poo bag littering the same as the fine for not picking up in the first place.

But the first two would involve actual investment in council services, so that's not going to happen.

I'm a dog owner and poo bags left lying around annoy the shit out of me (pardon the pun). You've done the worst bit FFS and you're going home anyway, just take the fucking thing with you. Apart from anything else, if you're walking along with a tied up poo bag round your wrist, it demonstrates you're one of the responsible ones who pick up your dog's poo.

[Wolfiefan]

The issue for me would be what constitutes undergrowth! Some people would just flick it to the side of the path a bit and if you stepped off the path you'd be right in it. Yuck.

[bertsdinner]

If its in a wooded/countryside area, I think its not a bad idea. I don't have a dog, but am a walker. There's nothing worse than bags of dogshite hanging off trees, at least flicked dog muck will degrade.
The fields/tracks are full of sheep/cow and rabbit droppings.

[PlayOnWurtz]

It's a good idea. Invariably a dog like mine will run past and Wolf it all down like they've never been fed anyway so your children's precious wellies won't get ruined.

[PennyPickle]

Too many dog owners bag the dog crap and leave it - hanging from tree branches - wtf? There is nothing wrong with stick and flick. Poo is easily degradable in its natural state. Much better than embroiled in a plastic bag. If all dog owners flicked their dog poo into the undergrowth there wouldn't be a problem in wooded areas. Much better than walking through dog turds that haven't been picked up! or even worse bagged and hung on branches

[honeyroar]

Stick and flick vote for me if in the countryside. I live in a rural, beautiful area with lots of footpaths around our land. I'm sick of having to collect bags of dog poo that have been hung on fences, stuck into gaps of a dry stone wall or flung into a bit of grass. It's disgusting.

[lozster]

definitely need more public spirited dogs like yours play to digest the dog crap. Job done.

maidofstars It's really only dog poo I see piles of in woodlands where I like to walk. The foxes aren't as prolific. Dog poo is a worry because of what it can carry in terms of germs.

As for the 'precious wellies' comment - who the heck wants dog poop embedded in their treads? plus it's not just the wellies it's the hands and clothes too. Yuck.

[Thebookswereherfriends]

Stick and flick responsibly. I always make sure the stick I used is shoved well into a bush or hedge. Also, just a reminder that you should always pick up in fields as dog poo can be ingested by sheep and cows through the silage or just from the grass and this can cause miscarriages in the pregnant sheep or cows.

[lozster]

Plus the alternative shouldn't be to hang a plastic bag on a tree - it should be to take it home!

[unfortunateevents]

Good heavens, it isn't just dogs who poo and wee in the woods you know! If your toddler is picking up sticks, leaves and anything else he will be encountering a whole range of faeces, urine (some of it quite possibly human), bacteria, insects etc.

[PlymouthMaid1]

Sounds a good idea in the countrside but blackberrying and sloe picking could become more hazardous.

[ArriettyClock1]

I am all for stick and flick - we always do this on countryside walks. We bag it on footpaths or parkland.

[IvyLeagueUnderTheSea]

I'd have thought a better solution would be to provide more poo bins, ensure they're emptied regularly, and make the fines for poo bag littering the same as the fine for not picking up in the first place.

Are you suggesting that there should be dog poo bins dotted about the Brecon Beacons, the Peak District, the New Forest and the like?
And who should pay for that? The locals through their council tax? You've got the cost of putting them in, the cost of someone to trek miles to empty them, the cost of maintaining them and the cost of putting them in a farmers field.

You can have poo bins in parks, but not in the actual countryside.

As said above if you are worried about poo in the country then dog poo is only one of the variety available. Cow shit is nasty, as is fox, badger, sheep, rabbit, deer........................ All shit carries germs.

[SusieOwl4]

I went to a beach in cornwall last year which was dog friendly , great very clean ,lovely beach. But when we walked back to the car park there were bags of poo hanging in the trees. Absolutely disgusting . I would double bag it and wait till I got to the nearest bin rather than do that. And in the countryside I take the poo ( in a special carrier so it does not smell) home to a bin.

[IvyLeagueUnderTheSea]

Plus the alternative shouldn't be to hang a plastic bag on a tree - it should be to take it home!

No one says that the alternative is to hang it on trees, but it seems to be what people chose to do.

[GreenPeppers]

The issue is that you end up with areas that very well used by dog walkers so there is A LOT of poo on those tracks.
Atm there actually plenty of people picking up but if licking it under brushes becomes the norm, this will become really yuck I'm afraid

[HenniePennie]

I live beside a nature reserve which is very busy with dog walkers. The poo, apparently, is upsetting the nutrients in the earth.

I wish all owners would just be a bit more responsible.

[lozster]

I think dog poop is particularly bad. A bit of rabbit poo doesn't stick like shit to a blanket. Fox and badger poo is few and far between. Cow poo is contained in fields... I don't expect the countryside to be sterile but the key difference is that dog poo is avoidable as the dog has an owner who can take it home!

I also worry that stickand flick normalises the behaviour of just leaving dog crap so the trend towards picking up that has happened in the past ten or twenty years may be reversed.

[IvyLeagueUnderTheSea]

Cow poo is contained in fields

I think we have a different understanding of what 'countryside' means. But then I grew up out in the countryside where there were actual fields and animals and stuff and it wasn't just a place for people to walk their dogs.

[gameofchance]

It's vile. Why can't dog owners bag the poo and dispose of it responsibly? I like in a naice area but poor DC can't play anywhere in the communal areas or walk through the trees without watching for dog shit.

[LauderSyme]

YANBU. Dog shit is basically disgusting and the owners who fail to dispose of it responsibly are disgusting too.