A dog poop question - bag it or leave it? Who's worse in this instance?

[HeartsJandJ]

A week or so ago I was walking my dog along a footpath through some fields. It's a path used mainly by dog walkers, horse riders and cyclists so not exactly in huge general use.

In the middle of the path was a large pile of shite, next to it a poop bag under a stone. At the time I thought it was a good idea as, to me, it showed someone intended to come back and clear it up, presumably at the end of their walk.

Going along the same route today and it's still there. The bag can't have been placed by the original owner of the pooping dog, someone else must have put it there.

So my thought is that the bag leaver is worse in this instance as they have merely added a bit of litter to the original poop pile. Litter which will take a lot longer to degrade as well as using raw materials and energy to make in the first place.

AIBU to think this? Would anyone else leave a bag in the hope the original person would be shamed into picking it up?

Now that takes 'passive-agressive' to a new level!

Bags of dog shit are a regular sight round our way. Loads of dog walkers don't seem to be bothered about clearing it up and taking it home. True there aren't enough litter bins on the regular dog walk route, but that's no excuse. TAKE IT HOME

This pisses me off no end. I see no reason for someone to leave a dog shit in the middle of a path.

If my dog gets caught short, I bag it, leave it by the side of the path and collect it on the way back. There are no poo bins on our new circuit but I wouldn't leave it on the path in case someone stood in it. If I see someone has been lazy, and left some lying on the path, I do exactly the same thing. I will call them a few choice names while doing so, ever hopeful that they are in earshot.

I would always pick it up, I could never just leave a bag. The smallest Earthlab couldn't care less what she walks through and picking up someone else's poop beats washing shitty paws.

Ah so someone put a bag next to the shit to make a point? How daft.

If one of mine craps on a footpath with a decent sized verge, I kick/scrape it all into the verge. Otherwise it goes into a poo bag and then the nearest bin. Leaving bags of dog shit lying around (which happens around here sometimes) is more gross than just leaving the shit imo.

It wasn't a bag of poop left lying around, it was a bag left NEXT to a pile of poop. Presumably to make a point.

Really Callisto - doesn't it count if it's not on the path then? You'd rather get dogshit on your shoes by kicking it than just spend 3 seconds picking it up? How bizarre.

Dog poo really really bugs me. No-one wouldnt leave a dirty nappy in a park if a baby was changed there, so why's it so unreasonable to expect people to take their dog's shite home too?

Earth why dont you bag it and take it with you? I'm not convinced that leaving a bag of crap on a path is particularly pleasant either, tbh.

Bags of crap left lying about - or hanging from the bushes - why do dog owners do that are worse than the crap alone because the bags don't biodegrade and they are there for much longer than the poo would be. It's all disgusting though. I have been known to take out my phone and pretend to photograph people who just sort of look around aimlessly pretending the huge dog, depositing a huge pile, on the other end of the lead in their hand isn't theirs and then walk off and just leave it. Just pick it up and take it to a dog waste bin or your own bin. It's hardly difficult

callisto TBH I'd rather you left it in the footpath, toddlers will quite happily use footpath or verge and I'm more likely to see and take evasive action if you leave it on the footpath.

I'd prefer it even more if you picked up after your dog!

TBH the worst people are the ones who take a bag of shit and merrily throw it into the nearby hedges and trees - like repulsive Xmas tree decorations.

hear hear

Ermm, 'No-one would leave a dirty nappy in a park if a baby was changed there'. Round here, they sometimes do just that, cheerfully ignoring the nearby bins.

Re: the OP - yes, presumably the bag was left by someone making a point that the dog-owner should have bagged and disposed of the stuff. Agree this is a bit odd.

Am also bewildered by the people who leave bags of dog poo on the pavement. Surely the difficult bit is scooping and bagging it. Why then just chuck the filled bag in the middle of the pavement? Again, there are plenty of bins along my road, so this puzzles me every time I see it.

same here ofter see it bagged up and just left on the floor :( dog walkers are the worst for it have seen them a few times do this.

Somone entered our garden recently (on a corner plot so 'front' garden goes round whole house and is in fact actual entire garden, IYSWIM) and walked along our very long path... To leave a used condom, tied in a knot, on our front mat

Obviously, this has nothing to do with any of the above, just made me think of it.

Perhaps I should have placed a nappy bag next to it and hoped it would shame the person responsible into picking it up?!

Callisto That is disgusting and completely ridiculous. At least you can see it in the middle of the footpath- If you're hiding it in a verge there's a far bigger chance of someone stepping in it

Agree about the dogshit bags. I hate it when people don't pick it up and throw it away.

I mean on the really rural footpaths around here and I make sure that it is not treadable in. I wouldn't do it on paved or busy footpaths.

There's a poo tree in our local park. Festooned with little parcels of dog shit, all lovingly wrapped in blue plastic.

Niiiiiice

Mind you, I guess it's marginally more pleasant to look at the lumps of plastic wrapped poo a-blowing in the wind than step in one.

(There are loads of bins btw, I sometimes wonder if it's a bizarro art installation).

Callisto kicking it onto the verge is disgusting. To a toddler, the grass verge next to the path is a much more inviting place to walk than the boring old path and I am sick to death of having to say "don't walk on the grass, it'll be full of Dog poo" to my children because it always fucking is.

Just because it's grass, doesn't mean it's a dog toilet - clean up after your bloody animal

My 6 month old puppy had diarrhoea on a pavement last month. It took 5 poo bags, copious amounts of fresh grass to 'brush up' the poo, then copious amounts of dried cut grass to soak up the remainder. It took about 10 minutes in all, but I managed.

If it can be done with diarrhoea, I suspect most other poos are containable. And, if there are no dog bins, you can carry the bag. Or, even, tie it to the lead.

Just clean it up Callisto. In a little bag. Just do it. It really isn't that hard. I'm a dog owner with a crawling child. Dog pooh is yuk and belongs in a bin.

I sometimes leave my bagged dog poo by side of path to collect on way back, if I know there's not a bin on the way, iykwim.

Callisto that's really foul, and you would still be fined even if you kicked it onto the verge. Do you not get shitty shoes doing that? Wouldn't it be easier just to pick up?

Callisto The path I use is used by two people- Me and one other dog walker. They don't clean up- I do. It's very very unpleasant for me, and means I can't take my children on this path. You can't make shit untreadable-in, can you??!