Am I being 'disgusting' for letting my dog pee and poo out of my garden?

[LST]

As, according to a woman I've just past on my wall with my dog I am

He wee'd up a lamp post and pooed on the grass, but I did pick it up!! She tutted me and told me he should be better trained?

Just thought I'd give it to mn! AIBD??

[Staywithme]

signyourname

My old yorkie likes to do the doodoo dance too and since his ass is so close to the ground, I'd do my back in before the second nugget.

[ShineSmile]

Tbh, it is dirty. Imagine if humans did the same, it is disgusting. But it's got nothing to do with lack of training, and it isn't your fault.

[stardusty5]

Funny thread! I'm always amazed at how uptight some people are about normal bodily functions. That delicious food that you shovelled primly into your mouth simply comes out the other end in a different form. Of course its a bit unpleasant but do we really have to be phobic about it??

YADNBU OP

[SignYourName]

Staywithme Occasionally he catches me out by walking round in a circle. If he's in long grass and therefore hidden from general view, to any casual observer I must look as though I'm investigating the smallest crop circle in the world.

[queenofthemountain]

Do you imagine when you pick up the dog poo from the grass in the park, there is absolutely no trace for the little girl cartwheeling to get pathogens on her hands?

[HoneyDragon]

Some people's holidays must be ruined totally by all the whale, shark and fish shit in the sea they want to swim in.

And turtles do it on the beach too, because they are dirty uncivilised fuckers.

And as for them bastards Greenpeace, enabling whales to shit where they like.

Bastards.

[SignYourName]

I don't walk my dog in a park where children play, so she can cartwheel where she likes. If she tried to play in the field where I walk my dog, the nettles, thistles and Weils-disease-infected rats piss would get her before the microscopic traces of dog shit left in the seconds before I pick it up did, tbh.

[evalyn]

SignYourName: 'There's having a different POV - ...' Yes, that's fine and dandy for the debating society or coffee morning. Out here in the real world, we often are faced with other POVs (PsOV?) that we find less than 'interesting, stimulating, thought-provoking', but which nevertheless are the obverse of our own POV. What to do then?

I find the POV of many dog owners perverse. They mine, similarly. What to do? I think it'd be civilised and sensible if we each did our best to accommodate the other's POV even if we find it uninteresting, non-stimulating and thoughtless.

Here, let's try. Why not split our parks and public spaces so that some spaces are dog-free? Roads? Difficult when we all share: perhaps, though, you dog-owners, in your awareness of other POVs, could mitigate your dogs' excretions as much as you can rather than glorying in them? Hein?

Label some parts of parks, beaches, etc., 'dog-friendly'? Then we allergic dog-dislikers can watch safely from a distance. (Perhaps wistfully and a bit envious of the fun you obviously have with your pets? I dunno. I don't get it, really.)

Parts of some parks, some beaches, are already 'dog-free' zones. Dog owners, try to keep aware of which they are, and keep your pets away. Then I might not in future have to do what I did last week, clean dog turd off my dgc (toddler) playing in the sand on a 'no dogs allowed' beach. (Yes, I know, I know, everyone round here picks up their dog's shit. 'It wasn't me, Miss, it wasn't me!' Funny there's so much dog shit around, really, given all you picker-uppers.)

As for wee up the lamppost in my (suburban) street. It's not the worst thing in the world, sure. (None of the dog-related stuff is as bad as ... well, read the news, there's lots of choice.) It's disgusting, though, to some of us, just as human wee in the same place would be. I dislike it (dog wee on my street) for the same reason I dislike picking my way across rivers of human wee when I venture into the town centre sometimes late on weekend evenings.

That's the main reason, I guess; but the risk of leptospirosis, though small, is not zero, for another. (And, again, yes, yes, rat urine, fox urine, same risk ... but no-one's bringing a pet rat or fox round here that I can see, there's little that can be done with wild animals, and why add risk however small? I like wild animals, btw, and enjoy their presence in my garden and surrounding area. It's pets I dislike. Strange? I know some find it so. But I find pet owners weird, weird. Go figure.)

And thinking of diseases from dogs, I wonder if you think that 'picking up' your dog's shit obviates the risk of toxocariasis in any toddler passing by with toddlerish proclivities. (Hint: It doesn't.)

Sorry, so long. that's probably more than enough, anyway. Picnic beckons.

[SignYourName]

Here's the thing evalyn: some, indeed many, of us dog owners already do everything you suggest but we still get lumped in with the irresponsible ones. So we do get a bit pissed off and flippant when the same old argument creaks round again.

[WatchingSeaMonkeys]

Picnic beckons

Don't sit on the grass FFS - we'd never hear the end of it!!

If you do please use a blanket, otherwise some poor child may cartwheel through the sweat patch caused by wearing those double thick judgey pants!!

[Staywithme]

I really should stop having a wee noisy at this thread. Evelyn's making me laugh so much I've got the hiccups.

[SignYourName]

I really should stop having a wee

You and your dog both, Stay... ;)

[GreeboOgg]

Ah, wild animals = nice, not disgusting. Pet animals = not nice, disgusting. People have pets = weird.

Got it. Society shall begin your desired segregation at once.

[Staywithme]

You and your dog both, Stay... ;)

[LST]

I would love a dog park. But you'd always get a berk with kids who are terrified of dogs sitting in the middle having a picninc

[queenofthemountain]

what do you do when your dog diahhorreas (sp)?

[sconequeen]

Well said, evalyn.

The problem is that there are just too any dogs. Anything or anyone crapping and piddling (or exuding other bodily fluids for that matter) where lots of other people (including small children) have to walk, push buggies etc is pretty disgusting. Yes, wildlife do it too but the problem is that the dog population is artificially high because so many people keep them as pets, and, because they walk them where people walk and spend leisure time, you are far more likely to encounter their excrement. Just in the past few days, I have had my kids' toys land on dog dirt at a beach and had to pick my way through dog dirt on beach paths where dog-owners are particularly asked not to let their dogs foul the sand or paths. Oh, and had yet another nippy little terrier coming up and jumping on me while the owners smile sweetly and say he's just being friendly.

I know a lot of people get company and a lot of enjoyment from dogs, which is why I do my best to be very tolerant in RL. For what's it's worth, I come from a family where we had lots of pet dogs and I was very fond of them.

I'm not saying it's a training issue or that the OP is disgusting, just that dog-owners should be aware that not everyone has the same POV as they do.

[insancerre]

What about horses?
Should the owners pick up after them?
And cows and sheep won't somebody think of the ramblers?

[zeezeek]

evalyn - what do you do about bird shit then? Or would you like to put seagulls in nappies?


I do hope you don't live in the countryside.....

[insancerre]

We should train all the birds to shit on Evalyn' s windows
that'll learn 'er

[HoneyDragon]

Queen

I knock on someone's door and ask if they can spare some water. I also carry wipes for any occasional -ahem- pavement residue.

[Icimoi]

And thinking of diseases from dogs, I wonder if you think that 'picking up' your dog's shit obviates the risk of toxocariasis in any toddler passing by with toddlerish proclivities. (Hint: It doesn't.)

But that risk still exists even if no dog shits in the vicinity at all. Same with the little girl cartwheeling. There will be bird, rat and fox poo and wee traces come what may.

[Tadla]

evalyn fair enuff - there are too many nasty dog owners who just dont give a sht where there dog has sht.

Picking it up is 100x better than letting it lie there to be stood in or wheeled through.

i also find wild animals poo much more tolerable than dogs/cats because its you know, wild (!) and there is nothing you can do about it whereas dog owners choose to care for an animal to should be responsible for cleaning up the crap.

oh and insancerre, dont be nasty.

[UncleT]

She's an idiot to criticise you if you cleared it up. Ridiculous.

[evalyn]

zeezeek: ''what do you do about bird shit then?'

zeek, and all the rest of you who take this line, you misunderstand the issue. It seems so obvious I initially thought it was deliberate, but I'm thinking maybe not. The comparison is not between dogs-and-their-owners and other wild creatures. Birds who shit on my garden (yes, and windows) don't have owners. You need to get the right comparison class.

Look. If you brought a bird along on a lead and tethered it to my hedge then watched it shit on my drive it would be disgusting. Likewise if you brought your pet rat and watched as it pissed on my doorstep. Disgusting. Not that the bird or the rat did what comes naturally to all mammals and birds, but that these animals are owned and their owners get them to defecate where they do.

If I bring one of my dgc and allow him/her to toddle over to your drive and do a dump on it, it would be disgusting. No? That being true doesn't entail that birds need nappies, does it? Huh? Your argument is the scrawniest straw man I've come across in ages.

I live close enough to the country to have lots of wild life around. I enjoy seeing baby foxes in my garden; I put food out for birds (and try to chase cats away when they come predating - cats have owners, see, they're not part of the natural world in that sense -- it's unfair, dammit, that people keep pets that kill bullfinches and blue tits for fun after they're given food to eat!).

I wage war on squirrels, whilst enjoying the battle and that they're there, clever little creatures they are. (See the difference with cats? Hein?) I like seeing and hearing the frogs around my little wild pond, and waiting of an evening to see the vole make its way along the side of the river nearby. There's a pair of sparrow-hawks nest in the copse over the way; we only get to see them in autumn, really. All of these animals and birds evacuate waste, just like we human animals do.

None of these animals is brought round by a self-styled 'owner' who takes offence when I shoo them away. It would be disgusting if someone brought one of them along tied to a bit of string or whatever, and watched insouciantly as it shit on the verge or pissed up the lamppost. Disgusting. Same with dogs-and-their-owners. Disgusting.