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?

I live on a boat and was miffed to why there was always a pile of poo on the grass just near to where I am moored up (especially as I always clear up after my dog so know it's not him.) I then caught the mystery pooer in the act and asked the owner politely to clear it up. Her response, (accompanied by a smug look on her face), was "it's a free country, my dog can shit where it likes" Needless to say she wasn't so smug when I asked if it'd be ok then if I came round to her house and allowed my dog to "shit" on her front doorstep.

OP: I wouldn't litter and leave a poo bag as the original person would never get the hint!

I always pick up my dog poo unless it's physically impossible to do so (colitis + long grass) I often take him on a beach late on the night and often he does w huge poo on the path that leads down to the beach. No bins at all. I bag it up and take it with me if it's a particularly pungent big poo I will leave the bag on the ledge along with his lead whilst I run him up and down but am in constant sight and ear shot although I'd imagine I'd get fined still. You wouldn't even see the bag unless you walked right past it and bent down. I do normally see people letting their dogs shit on the beach though as it " washes away" but i would still pick it up.

In defense of Callisto, isn't she referring to a rural footpath/bridle way? I'm not sure it is illegal to do what she did then. There's all sorts of poo on our local footpath. Dog poo, horse poo, fox poo, rabbit poo....

yep seen a few used nappies left (in car parks) strange

no way was that the dog owner leaving the bag for later

what i dont get is why dont councils just employ a pooper snopper to hang around green spaces and fine on the spot,say the employee cost £20,000 a year to employ the fines would more than pay the wage and we could enjoy our open spaces without playing "dodge the doo" or is that to simple

Unless you all allow your toddlers and babies to crawl amongst thistles and briars, or under barbed wire fences, then no, they are in no danger of treading in the shit that I kick off the footpaths that I use.

And no, I won't be fined for it Quincy. I don't live in an urban area.

Urgh. Dog poo. Some one I haven't found yet always let's their dog shit right next to our front flowerbed. I always feel its some deliberate nastiness. Nappies in car parks a regular sight round here. Worst thing ever was a used tampon- boak

This makes me so angry. And is a reason people use to claim that dogs are horrible (there was a thread about it yesterday).

I am another one who ALWAYS picks up and takes it home. There are very few bins on our walking routes (we live quite rurally), so it usually means carrying the bag for the rest of the walk but that's just the way it is, and if you use good quality poo bags (I always make sure I have plenty) it's not gross or smelly. I don't mean to sound like I'm perfect, but I just think it's vile and couldn't leave it there. Especially when it gets warmer and really starts to stink. I would draw the line at picking up someone else's dog's poo though. A bit like changing someone else's toddler's poo-nappy: ok if I was babysitting or dog sitting, but otherwise just urgh.

Callisto, I don't know what the footpaths are like where you live so I'm really not judging you as such, but we live close to two forests and our kids go running/scrambling/climbing in all kinds of places that some people might expect to be off the path.

Also DD1 goes out into the forest with her pre-school group every week and the path that they use, right by the school often has shit dotted on or next to the path. They most certainly run all over the place as they go off looking for pinecones/insects/flowers/stones whatever and with 15 kids, I think it's tough on the teachers to have to get them to play dodge the poo. The kids even made a little sign asking (very kindly) dog owners to pick up after them and it hasn't made a blind bit of difference.

If you're not prepared to pick it up, don't have a dog! Whenever I see a dog doing the deed I like to make it known to the owner that I am watching them, staring until they pick it up seems to do the trick! I don't like cleaning up dog poo so I don't have a dog. Also don't like to see dogs running wild, as in their owners just let them run free and let them come back later but aren't with them iyswim!?

Actually Callisto he's not a toddler - he's a disabled 4 year old whose walking frame doesn't take him everywhere he wants to go. But that's not really the point.

Some things work best when kept simple. Your dog shits, you pick it up. Not dependent on whether it is somewhere you think it's not in the way. Just pick it up.

I go to my local park and there is duck shit, cow shit, fox shit, rabbit shit and every kind of shit possible. Some one is telling me that I should put a hot steaming shit into a bag and then take it home in my car. On my round I spot four bags of shit hanging in trees. I am annoyed.

Tell me now, AIBU to let my pooch have a shit in a place where no one walks and it will degrade in time?

What about people who pick up their dog poo, bag it then leave the bag on top of the lock gate for canal users to get rid of?

Disgusting. Your dog = get rid of the poo YOURSELF responsibly.

Melika yes you are, you own your dog it is not a wild animal that means you have responsability for it responsability means take care of it's needs and it's impact that means clean up it's shit where ever it is.
If you got cought short would you shit in a public place and just leave it there to be trodden it and use the presance of ducks as an excuse?
I live in a very rural area whilst I personally wouldn't own a dog I still think I shouldn't have to step in dog shit that a irresponsable dog owner has left

Callisto just clean it up. That's vile antisocial behaviour.

Ew. I now feel sick.

Why doesn't poo go white these days hmmmmmmmm?

Melika - yes you are being unreasonable, would you let your dog shit on your own path because no one else walks on it, and hey it will degrade in time. Its a public park, clean it up. I'm so fed up of asking DS to avoid dogshit on the path, trying to avoid it on the buggy and cleaning said DSs shoes if he doesn't avoid it all. Its disgusting.

Just because other people behave ignorantly doesn't give you the excuse to.

Leaving dog shit hanging in tree branches is disgusting, people just leave it for someone else to clean up. I hate them.

I always carry my bag of scooped poop with me rather than leave it to pick it up on the way back. I'm paranoid that someone will think I'm just leaving it.

I don't know why someone would leave a bag beside a poo though. Surely if you cared enough to make the point you would just bag it yourself to get it off the path? I did this recently when I spotted someone had left an enormous dog shit near the entrance to our local park. The park is right next to the primary school so the chance of some poor kid standing in it was extremely high so I just picked it up as I always carry spare bags.

Why doesn't poo go white these days
Because people don't go to proper butchers. So they don't get dogbones. I get big raw bones from our local farm shop which does its own butchery, after a good session with one of these my dog will do a white poo. But you won't see it because of course naice people who go to naice butchers bag and bin

I was out running with my dog the other day, going down a track and just about to go through the fields. So naturally that was where he had a shit.

It would have been impossible to run carrying a full poop bag. So I left it where it was and came to pick it back up after I had done the run.

But I did feel quite guilty the rest of the way round and made quite a point when I picked it back up, lingering around, talking loudly to the dog and swinging the bag ostentatiously as I went back down the track.

Hearts - I think its OK to temporarily leave a bag off the path.

I do wish there were more bins though. One of our favourite walks starts in a car park with picnic tables and anti-fouling signs - but no bins. So the start of the path has quite a lot of poo, bagged or otherwise. Its the sort of place if there was a bin most people would use it.

I would not let my dog poo on a path.

He has a habit of hitching his arse into a bush, how do I get it out?

A prissy friend of mine carries one of these to stow away her ghastly poop bags, theres a pocket on the side to store the bags and then when full she hides them discreetly in the bag so no-one can see her swinging the poo sack. We all know they're in there though, but it makes her feel better.

Like a good canine-owning neighbor, you whip out your trusty poop bag to take care of the evidence, scoop it, tie it, and head on your merry doggy way. Suppose that you then run into a neighbor and stop to chat, or someone you?ve been flirting with, or your mom, or your boss. What do you do with the little bag swinging from your fist? (Note: Throwing it into the bushes is the wrong answer. Take it from someone who has done a lot of grounds cleanup for the local dog shows.)

If my dog poos at the start of a long walk (and he always bloody does) I bag it and leave it well off the path to collect on the way back.