To still be fuming about the 'conversation' I had with a dog owner while I was out this morning.

[moochima]

I live in the midst of a big public park and, seeing that the guy who had just parked his car and got out with his 2 dogs was walking away into the distance while his dog relieved himself, I had an internal debate about just leaving it (first time I'd ever been out jogging - trying to help the stress levels!) but decided to be proactive and called to him to point out what he'd 'missed'.

He started spouting loads of stuff about how, as it was a country area, it was ok for dog poo to be just left (this was right by a road that people walking through the park always walk on - themselves with buggies on the road, their kids romping along the grassy verge - just where the the dog had gone), how cow and sheep poo were 'part of the countryside too', how if I wanted to campaign against something then I should focus on the plastic bags full of dog poo that people abandon and which take 15 years to biodegrade and to "stop urbanising our country"!. While this was going on his other dog also had a large crap about 3 feet from where the other one went, while he carried on justifying why it's ok to just use an area where kids play, families barbecue, fun runs take place etc as his dog's personal toilet. When I asked him if it would be ok for me to bring my dog to crap outside his house he sneeringly told me of course not because he lives in a town and that's what the country exists for . . .

I am just still cross about the whole thing and though I didn't at the time get all officious - part of me wishes I'd taken his numberplate and threatened to 'report' him (though not sure to who??) - at least it might have meant he'd been a bit more aware in future. I'm so sick of dog poo being a permanent addition to any walk - the pram wheels are always smeared with it, my older son's shoes are encrusted with it and I have to helicopter around the toddler to ensure that hands that have made contact don't go in the mouth . . .

Needed to rant, it's been on my mind all day - AIBU?

Disgusting. I would have been tempted to fling it in his face. Can't believe he was justifying it, that is some brass neck...
But what can you do?

No, YANBU. Dog mess is disgusting, and IMO if you have a dog you have a responsibility to pick up it's mess wherever you are.
Next time, take the reg no and report to the council - environmental health deals with this, and our council slaps fines on the lowlifes people who let their dogs do this.

I think he may actually be technically correct, although I don't agree with him ethically.

Well, he's obviously thought up some detailed philosophical justification for being lazy. Yes, dog poo biodegrades eventually, but sheep and cow poo don't contain potentially nasty bacteria and they don't contain meat, which is what makes dog poo so smelly and offensive. He has has a point about non-biodegradable bags, but no-one of forced to leave those lying around, so basically two wrongs don't make a right.

YANBU. People who don't clean up after their dogs should be placed in stocks and pelted with the products of their little darling's backsides. Utterly disgusting behaviour. The "country" excuse is utter bollocks given that it was by a footpath.

YANBU - I hate it when people let their dogs shit all over and just leave it
Especially on pavements - ugh!
I'm a dog owner and one of the downsides to having a dog is picking up their crap - hate selfish and irresponsible owners that give us a a bad name.
Sometimes I purposely carry the filled poo-bag around on my walk with me (despite passing bins) so that people know that I pick up after my dog I clearly care too much what other people think!

Tomorrow, ensure you have a plastic bag handy. Then use it to smear his dog poo on his windscreen.

I know of someone who smeared dog poo on the back of someone who refused to pick his dog crap up. As an example of what might happen if a small child fell into it.

Not what I'd advise .......

By the way, you should have taken his reg number and phoned the local dog warden to report him - or perhaps told him you were going to.
I'd love to know how many people are fined or caught after being reported.

I would have bees so tempted to return, scoop it up and shove it down his exhaust pipe.

So many people let their dogs poo anywhere and dont seen remotely bothered where. I am next to a big park and am fed up dodging shit (that is supposed to be bagged - there are even bing ffs) and playing 'who's stepped in the poo?' when we get home and notice a whiff.

YANBU. I live near a huge tract of common land which I think is an aonb or ssi or something similar. It's really popular with dog walkers and as a result the whole area is just covered in shit. Even though it's 129 acres there's a pile of crap literally every meter or so. We've stopped taking the dc as it's impossible for them to run about without treading all through it. It's revolting. I'm not sure where people think the poo magically disappears to.

I would capture images on my phone of him (without him seeing you do it). Also his dogs, their poo, and his car with numberplate details. I would then send printouts of the pics to the Council.

YANBU, it just makes me so angry. He so should not have a dog. You can definitely report it to your local council next time. Fwiw, dog owners tend to take their dogs to the same place each day at the same time, so you could probably catch him at it again (not good for your stress levels though!). It's so frustrating though isn't it. Dirty sod.

Could you clarify - was this a 'big public park' or was it 'countryside' complete with cows and sheep?

Not that the countryside is designated dog loo anyway, but I'm a bit more relaxed about seeing a dog poo by the side of an actual country footpath (not on it) than I would be about one in a park.

Parks, and even 'country parks' exist largely as amenity areas for people. Countryside proper doesn't, and you need to watch where you tread for all sorts of reasons.

Anyway, YANBU.

I had this last week, I offered a bag to someone (after all anyone can get caught without) & got a tirade.

I live in the country but we have several very popular dog walks & most of us make sure we pick up the visible poo or flick it into the long grass/ditch with a stick at very least, so it's not easily trodden in. Don't have to but it's courtesy on a busy walk.

Part & parcel of having a dog, some folk are just fecking idle.

YANBU moochima

YANBU. I walk dogs for a living; I usually take them to countryside/woodland. If one of my dogs does a poo, I assess the likelihood of a small child stepping in it etc; if it's on the path or verge, it either gets bagged or if solid, batted into the nice brambly nettly hedge with a stick which then gets thrown into the brambles too.

Luckily most of the dogs are rather shy about where they do it, and disappear into the nettles anyway.

I hate it when doggy people are irresponsible like blokey.

But I do agree with him about the sheer weirdness of people who throw bagged up poos into thorn bushes where they then dangle for years on end!

I live in the city, and people leave the bags lying on the roadside. Twats.

Of course he has to justify his actions, if he wasn't pond life he would have admitted he had made an error and picked up the dog poo, there are a few walking talking pond life around - shame but remember 95% of people are lovely

Oh its vile.

And I hate it when people leave it on verges on single track lanes so you bloody step in it when getting out of the way of a car.

Take his registration and call the dog warden.

There are some places where you don't have to pick up dog poo. Where you had this 'conversation' does not sound at all like one of them.

true ivy.

I once confronted (gently) some bloke and he said some twatty thing about "well, children shouldn't fall over, then"

Obviously, if he wasn't a total idiot he would have picked up the poo in the first place ....

If this happens again, take a picture - car numberplate, dog, man, whatever you can get without putting yourself in danger - and report to your local council. You can do this anonymously via an online form to our council which is handy, there's a specific drop-down box for the dog warden/fouling issues.

I sort of agree with him in principle but it really depends on the area. The word 'park' leads me to believe that it was somewhere he ought to have been picking up. If it was in a ditch at the side of a rural footpath where nobody at all is going to tread in it, that's fine (as would be using your boot or a stick to transfer it to said ditch). Better than a non-degradable bag.

YANBU and well done to you for calling him on it. There is so much of the horrid stuff everywhere that I have decided to say something to any dog owner I see leaving it. Perhaps if everyone did this perhaps more people would think twice.

It just goes against the grain not to pick it up. Like I could never bring myself to drop litter. We were taught as children not to mess up where we'd been and to leave a place the way we found it (in a good way) and I see that the same now we have a dog. I mean, I often see people just chucking wrappers on the ground where we live and lets be honest, in London you're never that far from a bin.

I take the point some have made about it depending where the poo was done but personally, I always pick up.

So you're not being unreasonable. Whenever I encounter people like that I feel cross for a long time too. Some things are just hard to shake. I do hope you feel better for a little vent now.