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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To really, really resent the "dog mess" in my neighbourhood

100 replies

whataboutbob · 05/02/2013 14:00

There are a fair few dog owners where I live and a good proportion are responsible. However there is also an element who just do not pick up after their dog. It's not a nice topic I know, but at any one time my street and the ones around it will be sporting several samples of dog poo.
I have contacted the council who made the following points: dog wardens only operate till 5 pm (I believe the irresponsible owners come out at night, go for a little walkies around the block and then home), dog bins cost £500 each so I shouldn't expect them to be putting new ones up around my 'hood (there are a few, but not many). They could put up some more notices: you know, those little stickers threatening an £80 fine. Which everyone ignores.
Has anyone successfully mounted an anti dog fouling campaign in their neighbourhood? Do you have any tips on what I can do to reduce the problem? At this point I'd be grateful for any suggestions.

OP posts:
LifeofPo · 05/02/2013 14:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

duffmiver · 05/02/2013 16:24

You aren't being unreasonable. I have to pay £100 a year for communal Greenland only for my lovely neighbours to use it as their pooches personal crapper. I'm considering taking the babies bottom packages to deposit on the green. I wonder if anyone would object....

Ragwort · 05/02/2013 16:27

No idea either, it is so horrible. Where we live there are volunteer 'community' dog wardens who have bright armbands and will give out doggy bags if they see any 'offenders' - however you've got to be pretty confident to do that & I am not sure it is having much effect.

Trouble is that the 'offenders' really, really don't care so any 'reasonable' request will be, at best, ignored or worse, met with a lot of abuse.

catus · 05/02/2013 16:30

YANBU. I've moved to Marseilles a few months ago and the amount of dog poo in the streets is insane. I've never seen anything like it in England. How people here just accept it as a fact of life is a mystery to me.

deleted203 · 05/02/2013 16:31

No, YANBU. It's horrible. I take DS to school up a little lane that is absolutely covered in dog poo at times (and considering it cuts up through the village and only leads to the village school dog owners must KNOW that the main people walking there are mums and children). We have rather fabulous signs with Tinkerbell on them which state, 'There is NO SUCH THING as the Dog Poo Fairy', which my children think are highly amusing. Doesn't stop the dog walkers though.

Original poster
whataboutbob · 06/02/2013 08:39

Thanks for your support everyone. Catus I'm part French and once considered moving to Marseille. Hadn't realised the dog poo was a big issue there! Still it's a great city in some other respects isn't it?
Like the dog poo fairy signs sowornout- I actually home made a few of my own with a blunt message on them- Hey dog walker I don't crap on your doorstep- pick up or stay out. I attached them to lamposts a week ago, at night. Within 2 hours half had been ripped down.
Yes I think most of the top offenders don't care. Sometimes I suspect they may even get a malign pleasure out of it. Maybe it's a "2 fingers to you, don't try gentrifying this area you newcomer you". Anyway I'm not going to drop it. A colleague tells me his council has giant stencils on the pavement with anti dog poo message on it. I'm going to investigate this and get back to my council.

OP posts:
DreamingOfTheMaldives · 06/02/2013 08:55

Responsible dog owners pick up after their dog. The type of people who don't clean up after their dog don't give a shit (sorry) what anyone else thinks.

I saw someone allowing their dog to foul and was met with a load of abuse when I told her she should clean up and offered her a bag to do so. Her dog was going nuts at my dog, growling, and straining at its lead so I made a quick get away before my dog got attacked and I got clobbered!

There is loads of dog mess in our area but she is the only person I have ever seen leave it. I assume the people who do leave it go out early or late when it is dark

Tailtwister · 06/02/2013 08:59

YANBU, it's vile!

Dog mess bins are extremely useful and encourage people to pick up after their animals, but I don't think they should be used by people as an excuse not to clean up after their dog. Imo, bagging shit and leaving it lying around is as bad as just leaving it. Pick up after your bloody animals and if there isn't a bin, carry it! Why should other people have to walk past your dog's excrement?

Sorry, bit of a rant there...

dreamingbohemian · 06/02/2013 09:00

catus I live in Nantes and it's the same here! It's absolutely the loveliest city but the sidewalks are covered in dogshit, why why why?

(sorry for tangent OP Smile bonne chance!)

werewolvesdidit · 06/02/2013 09:03

I had to walk on the road for a long part of my journey yesterday as there was a CONTINUOUS trail of dog shit on the pavement. It makes me so sick and so angry. Utterly revolting and a nightmare when you have small kids and a pram to negotiate around it. Something needs to be done about it. I often see the dog owners round here walking their dogs late at night and I do wonder if it is them choosing to let their dogs shit in the dark so no one will see them not picking it up. If I were queen for the day, I'd shoot all of them, it makes me SO angry. Grrrrrrrrr.

Moominsarehippos · 06/02/2013 09:07

Didn't someone go about with sparkly spraypaint and decorate poo?

No, its not 'poo' its shitty shitty shit or crap.

We have 'regular offenders' here and its not just a 'one off, oops I don't have a bag/didnt see it'. Manky sods.

catus · 06/02/2013 09:11

Yes, Marseille is great. Wonderful weather, blue sea and beautiful scenery. But it's total chaos, and they drive like barbarians....

lazybastard · 06/02/2013 09:12

Yanbu I hate it. If you're not prepared to pick up after your dog you shouldn't have one. It's so bad in some patches I've had to walk on the road to avoid it. 15 'deposits' had to be avoided yesterday and it was a short walk.

shinyrobot · 06/02/2013 09:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsPresley · 06/02/2013 09:16

YANBU, it's disgusting!

Where I live, my street isn't too bad but round the corner when I'm going to the shops is terrible.

I walk in the road because it's so bad and hate going when it's dark in case I miss some.

My neighbour recently trailed it in her house after the pram went through some and she didnt notice.

Poo bags/nappy sacks/old carrier bags are easy enough to carry 2 or 3 in your bag/pocket but some people are just dirty sods and have no pride in themselves or the area they live in Angry

Scootee · 06/02/2013 09:18

Dog poo ruins entire communities. I drive short distances because it is easier than cleaning shit off my shoes and my 2 DC shoes. I don't even walk in my own community - how sad is that? I am a bit phobic of dog poo and worry about kids going blind from it. So I drive.

Lesbeadiva · 06/02/2013 09:20

Same here. People leave shit on the path to the shops. They have the decency to bag it on the school path, but still drop it!!! Angry. There is a bin in both directions so no excuse other than laziness. I hate it.

bumbez · 06/02/2013 09:20

Could the council increase the fine ? It's a £1000 where I live, there was also a recent campaign in our area that poo can disposed of in any bin not just poo bins.

thesnowmanrocks · 06/02/2013 10:03

Its vile. Where we park the car has a grasss verge, so everytime we get in or out have to check to make sure we are not stepping in it!
Takes two seconds to clear up, its not hard. Unfortunatly there are people who never look at the bigger picture and have consideration for others! Angry

specialsubject · 06/02/2013 10:08

Me too - I have a grass verge which is part of my property but due to the arrangement of the house, cannot be seen from inside. Apparently a lot of the locals have pet elephants, it is disgusting. Considering making it into a 'wild garden' with lots of prickly plants.

I spent a few days in the lovely city of Rouen last year. They have to wash the pavements almost daily due to the apparent rule that most French people must have a rat on a string, and that there is no need to clean up after it. Yuk.

Mamf74 · 06/02/2013 10:10

We have loads around us, we have a huge woodland at the top of our road and it seems dog owners assume that the dogs can shit freely in the woods, and apparently on the way too.

That said, I think a lot of the "dog" poo round here is actually fox or cat poo (there seems to be an ongoing territory war between the 2 around us, which leads to them trying to out mark each other), and I have no idea where the responsibility lies for cleaning it up.

ninedragons · 06/02/2013 10:10

This issue absolutely enrages me. We live beside a park and I've been tempted to leave notices up saying if my toddler steps in one more piece of dog shit, I'll lay rat bat under the bushes.

Four-figure fines and confiscation of dogs is the only solution.

ninedragons · 06/02/2013 10:11

rat bait. So mad I can't even spell.

CrapBag · 06/02/2013 10:14

I'll be watching to see of anyone has suggestions. I have this problem where I live and its fucking disgusting! Walking to school with DS and a pram trying to dodge all the shit that lazy arses can't be bothered to pick up. We also have the grass verge problem. In the road where DS's school is, there is a verge all along and I have to tell DS not to go on the grass at all as it is often full of shit.

People should have their dogs taken off them if they can't pick up. Angry

Bosgrove · 06/02/2013 10:15

We have a 15 minute walk to school, before we had gone half way this morning my 5 year old had counted 30 piles of poo on the pavement. It's really horrid. My three children have got so used to me saying mind the poo , that if my 3YO sees it first she says "I'm minding the poo, Mummy!"

If dog walkers are going to left their dog poo and no pick it up at least they could make their dog go in the gutter so I can have a week without having to clean it off shoes.

Oh and we have the stencils in our town, they don't work.