to think that people who let their dogs shit on pavements should be placed in stocks

[niniane]

After having to hop, skip and jump the dog shit on my way to the local shops this morning (while pushing a pushchair) I don't think a fine is enough of a deterrent. Might placing the owners who don't clean up after their dogs in stocks and allowing the rest of us to throw rotten tomatoes (or dog shit) at them be more effective?

[PussinJimmyChoos]

DH is rather anti dog and his take on it is:

'if I pulled my pants down and shit in the street it would not be acceptable, so why is ddog shit allowed'..

Aside from trauma of old ladies seeing his bare arse etc, I can see his point

[bluebump]

YANBU - I have started walking to work but i'm seriously considering getting back in my car given the huge amount of dog crap in one 15 minute walk that consists of just 2 roads.

DS and I walked home the other day to see a massive freshly dumped turd on the pavement - DS only being 2 was fascinated - "mummy a HUGE POO" (I think he thought a person had done it not a dog!) I walked to work the following morning and it had been trodden in all down the road. Disgusting.

[BeenBeta]

Why is dog poo so much worse than other types of poo one might find in the street?

[LeChatRouge]

Can you imagine if someone let their kid crap on a pavement and just left it there? Probably get into the papers.

When my DS was about 3 we were in a local park, he was having great fun running through the leaves, then fell over and put his hand in a massive dog crap. I was so upset I cried and went to a nearby house to ask if I could wash him with hot water and soap.

Why is the potential punishment to inconsiderate owners not more severe?

[DitaVonCheese]

Beta what other types of poo do you find in the street?

Puss I did once see someone with mental health issues shit in the street, and I mean I really saw it (she did not adopt the customary squatting position) and it was very traumatic for everyone involved. Some very nice coppers came and cleaned it away though, bless 'em.

PS my little brother nearly died of erm blood poisoning (I'm not clear on the details but then I was only about five at the time) after getting shit on a cut in his arm

[mitochondria]

Nobody ever comes on these threads and says "yes, I'm a dog owner, I can't be arsed to pick it up so I just leave it on the pavement" do they?

Obviously the Venn diagrams of Mumsnetters and lazy non-picking-up dog owners don't intersect.

I'd gladly pay some money towards setting up the DNA database, we'd soon get it back with the massive fines.

The footpath by the side of our village school is covered. It's like an obstacle course getting to school and back.

[DreamsInBinary]

Isn't cat shit the main culprit for toxoplasmosis? And I have never seen a cat-owners take away their cat's mess.

Not that it matters - excrement in the park/pavement/garden is vile, and YANBU.

[DitaVonCheese]

Cats don't tend to shit on pavements though They are still pointless though

Actually, I am not a dog owner but I do sometimes walk my parents' bloody dog. She runs for miles on walks so it's entirely possible she is doing some distant craps that I just don't know about, and also sometimes if she goes into eg woodland then sometimes you just can't find the damn thing, despite your best intentions It isn't hard to find poop on a pavement though.

[notinbed]

I had thought about collecting it's pooh up and following the dog and leaving it all on their doorstep, with a note returning their left behind item.

You've got it all wrong. What you need to do is wrap the shit in newspaper, drop it on their doorstep and set light to it*. Then ring the doorbell. I'm reliably informed people will attempt to stamp out a burning newspaper left on their doorstep.

• on my lawyers advice I should point out that I'm not actually recommending this as a course of action.

[bumpsoon]

Would anyone like to borrow my mother ? she shouted at a man who allowed his dog to poo on the pavement in our local town ,in her best headteacher voice . He tried to wheedle out of it by saying it was 'natural' ,she called him a disgusting old man (disclaimer : he isnt actually that old but thinks of himself as a bit of a jack the lad character ,so the 'old' bit was meant to hurt ), she also 'kindly' gave him an old carrier bag she had on her person so he could pick it up

[goodasgold]

lowercase please tell me about your sheepskin boots for a little boy.

[mrshuxley]

I think the culprits are bad dog owners generally. There's a dog in our road which is let out (unattended) to stagger a few doors down to do its poo (outside our house, usually), then it staggers home again. They never walk him. He's a very young dog, but can only stagger. They NEVER pick up the poo.

[MrsNonSmoker]

i'm a dog owner, I always pick up, no question. Me, my dog and my children can literally hardly walk down the road for dog shit everywhere, and its been getting worse recently. But I agree with a previous poster, I'd like to see someone come on, say I'm a dog owner and I don't give a shit. Or rather my dog does, all over your pavement, and I don't care.

Why? I cannot begin to understand why people leave dog mess on the street. The last time we decided to walk home from school DD trod in some, I've had to actually throw shoes away before now. What can we do? How can you put people in stocks if you can't find them?

[Earthymama]

I spend part of every day incandescent with rage about this! Pushing a tandem pram and talking to a toddler and trying to seek out the plies of poo in order to avoid them is so stressful.

Another joy is the people who DO pick up, place poo in bag and lob it into my allotment or even better lob it so it hangs in the brambles surrounding my allotment. It looks so good swaying in the breeze

Any serious suggestions for a solution?

[rockinhippy]

YADNBU.......great idea & if you fancy running for PM next time round...I'll vote for you

[nymphadora]

Why is there always so much more the closer you get to a school?

[onimolap]

Someone asked a few posts above about what else poos on the streets.

Well here it's foxes.

I see/hear them several times a week, can smell the distinction musky wee, and have to dodge the poo.

It doesn't yet acceptable seem to call for fox control.

[onimolap]

There probably isn't a solution - other than the long term one of educating children to do it (to influence family behaviour now, as as wellmas what they do as future adults.

But let's also recognise that we Are making improvements. There are far fewer turds around than when I was growing up (OK, a long time ago), and I haven't seen a white one for simply ages.

[slightlymad72]

I have dogs and always clean up after them, I have other dog owners believing that my front lawn is a doggy toilet and my front door a marking post, A sign at the front of the house stating I could see them and WOULD take action, soon put a stop to it I got a round of applause from all the neighbours for that one.

The best though has to be my husband, he saw an owner leaving his dogs mess on the pavement, and asked him if he was going to pick it up, the owner said he didn't have anything to pick it up with, OH said he didn't care if you have a dog, then you make sure you carry some bags, now pick it up.
The owner again said he didn't have anything.
OH:- If you don't pick it up then I will, I will then follow you home and post it through your letterbox.
The bloke then proceeded to bend over and made to pick it up with his bare hands, my OH knowing he had made his point handed a doggy bag over just before the fingers went in.
Since then the amount of crap on the pavements has reduced.

[DitaVonCheese]

I've seen plenty of fox poo out on walks but never on a pavement (and where we live now is rural - though I saw far more foxes in London than I ever have in 20 years of living in the country).

onimo white dog poos were down to chalk in dog food apparently, not the amount of time they were hanging about

[BeenBeta]

Dita - its pretty much a Noah's Ark of poo round our way. Horses, foxes, birds (especially seagulls), rodents by the score, cats and dare not think what people camping rough in summer on the common ground over our wall do. There are no toilet facilities anywhere near!

Earthymama- the 'bag chuckers' are the worst. Those that festoon the briars with blue bags are dreadful people but the prize surely goes to the nicely dressed lady with the sporty Mercedes and little pooch who carefully collects the poo in a bag but only for the sake of appearances. When she gets in her car, starts the engine and opens the door a few inches to drop the bag and contents in the gutter before roaring off I am left aghast. It gets squished by car wheels and its contents preserved from being washed away by rain for months until the bag eventually expodes. Our street and the adjoining square are littered with her bags.

[Riddo]

Mindee (2) stepped in dog poo last week - I had to scrub her shoes which didn't do them any good.

Now when we walk anywhere she sings "dog poo, dog poo" over and over again very loudly. I don't know what OFSTED would think.

The poo was right beside a "No fouling" notice which made me even more annoyed

[shewasashowgirl]

YADNBU
Recently a woman blatantly let her dog crap in some flowers beds outside my house, when I asked her to clear it she picked half of it up in a dog bag and threw the bag under my car!!! I was too stunned to say anything but she hasn't been down my street since, I know because I spend hours staring out the window ready to pounce on her

[princessofpersians]

yanbu. I clean up after my pooch so why should I then have to tread in others faeces?