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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Where is reasonable to be expected to pick up dog poo

45 replies

DollyMixture99 · 09/09/2014 07:42

I'm a bit of a dog poo fiend and I get very irate when people don't pick up after their dogs, particularly on paths.

I pick up on paths and all grass verges/fields (anywhere people are likely to walk). However my dog is a wanderer and is often in a bush/under a hedge/in the middle of a load of nettles, so in these circumstances I don't go crawling under the hedge to pick up the poo (which is under the hedge) AIBU?

OP posts:

britnay · 09/09/2014 14:55

If I can clean up after six horses every day, then I can't imagine its that difficult to clean up after one dog.

Abra1d · 09/09/2014 15:00

When you're out riding you dismount and pickup into non-biodegradable bags and take it home to put in landfill, britnay?

MehsMum · 09/09/2014 15:07

I always pick it up if it's where it might be trodden on, or have a ball kicked into it (or I kick a hole and bury it if it's on the leaf litter in the woods, or I make sure it's right off the path in amongst so much undergrowth that nobody is going to tread on it or otherwise encounter it).

I have lost count of the deposits other people's dogs have left which I have kicked well into the brambles or nettles, to get them off the path. I usually draw the line at picking those up, though I have done once or twice.

grimbletart · 09/09/2014 16:19

My daughter and I took her dog for a walk to some local ancient forest - Forestry Commission land where there are special walks etc. Armed with the poo bag she looked where to deposit the dog's offerings and couldn't see any bins. Then we saw an official sign saying "flick it with a stick" i.e. flick it into the undergrowth off the paths. We were really surprised that the FC policy was not poo bags but "flick it with a stick". Don't know how common that is…...

Beastofburden · 09/09/2014 16:26

ewwww about not picking up liquid poo. Liquid stinks even worse and probably the dog is a bit poorly so it carries more germs.

Why cant you train to dog to go on command? preferably in your own garden where you can poick it up, and leave the runny ones for your own kids to play in if thats how you feel

OwlCapone · 09/09/2014 16:29

Why cant you train to dog to go on command?

Can you shit on demand?

HappyAgainOneDay · 09/09/2014 16:31

BeastofBurden

Beastofburden · 09/09/2014 16:34

Owl I know lots of ppl who have trained their dogs to shit at a specific time in a specific bit of their garden. I even knew someone who got her dog to shit into a hole in the ground specially dug for the purpose.

Obviously you dont go, "on my command, PUSH".

You have a time of day when they shit, you wait for them to do it, they get off the lead once they have.

What do you think police dogs do?

GobblersKnob · 09/09/2014 16:42

Dog poo is not wild poo and shouldn't ever be left to rot into the ground, the inconvenience to humans is not the only consideration, and tbh seeing as you can clean your shoes it really is a minor one.

Far more importantly it can cause disease in grazing livestock and pollute watercourses, here.

FyreFly · 09/09/2014 16:43

Stick n' flick is a fairly common Forestry Commission (and Woodlands Trust) practice now. You also see it at some National Trust lands.

I always pick up after my dogs: in the village, on / near the road, or on / near the path. If they go in a ditch or uder a bush etc I tend to leave it.

If I could teach them to go on command, that would be fantastic as I could set up a litter box, and it would make my life much easier. Unfortunately, when they want to go (or how much they want to go) depends on when / how much they've been eating. Although their food is accessible to them 24 hours a day, when they decide to eat is random. Sometimes they'll scoff it in 10 minutes, other times they'll leave half which I throw away the next morning. I can't forcefeed my dogs to ensure they stay regular and they would only get confused if I kept them on the leads waiting for something they just can't do. It wouldn't be a consistent or realistic way of training for mine. If your dog eats and shits regularly then go for it!

ThatBloodyWoman · 09/09/2014 16:45

Where people can stand in it, even if picking blackberries, sloes etc.
If its accessible go stand on its accessible to pick up imo.

FyreFly · 09/09/2014 16:55

I think that's a good rule ThatBloodyWoman

Coumarin · 09/09/2014 17:28

If you can reach it then you pick it up and if your dog has managed to get in there to poo then you'll be able to get your arm in there.

Speaking as the owner of a dog who seems to relish in pooing right under bushes or in brambles.

ender · 09/09/2014 18:24

FyreFly, agree its probably impossible to predict when dog will poo if its able to eat whenever it feels like it.
Mine are fed twice a day and always go exactly an hour after their meals. If they had access to food 24 hrs a day they'd spend all their time eating and shitting, especially my lab who would keep eating until he vomited then eat that as well.

specialsubject · 09/09/2014 18:56

anywhere that someone has to garden/mow the lawn.

such as on the verge outside my house, which I have to keep tidy as no-one else does it. I'm sure the council lads aren't very keen on having dogshit flying in their faces from their strimmers either.

don't like to pick it up? Shoot the dog and be done with it.

FyreFly · 10/09/2014 05:11

I don't think there's anyone on this planet who likes to pick it up, special I certainly don't stuff my pockets full of bags every day in quivering anticipation. It's not something I would shoot my dogs over though.

I will pick it up anywhere someone else could come into contact with it. However I take a rather more pragmatic approach if one of the little darlings has utilised the side of a bush which is out of my sight and I can't find it. Or even long grass a few metres ahead of me. I spent about 5 minutes once looking for some crap on the edge of a field. Couldn't find a damn thing. I think the bugger had just had wind and was messing with me.

Oddly enough ender, mine are labs, as all my dogs have been. I have never, yet, had a typical greedy lab. I have friends with labs who'll swallow their food in 10 seconds flat, but all mine have always grazed on and off. Until they get hungry, or lucky when there's a little gravy left over from dinner. My old labrador used to give me the nudge at 8am every morning, sharp, then when I fed him his usual fare he would give me a look of complete and utter disdain, and sulk in the hallway. He'd eat it later on when he felt like it. Put a little rice on it however and it wouldn't touch the sides.

SignYourNameInBrownAndFlame · 10/09/2014 05:34

My current dog won't poo if he's on the lead. Took us a while to work this out. Fortunately, other than being a "traveller" he tends not to be an inaccessible poo-er, so he's easy to pick up after. He also won't poo on anything other than grass, which is a nuisance as our garden is paved (in rental so no options to change this). He was an elderly rescue when we took him on, so we assume he was previously trained this way.

Previous dog had a nettle-and-thistle poo habit. One particular clump was right beside a fence with a "do not enter, unsafe building" sign on it. I admit that I didn't go ferreting about in the waist-high thistly nettles next to the collapsing building to retrieve his poo, on the basis that anyone who was in a position to tread in it would have bigger things to worry about than a bit of dog crap on their shoe, what with being nettle-stung to buggery while bits of masonry fell on their heads.

If dog has dicky tummy and runny poo is a possibility, I carry a big bottle of water with me on our walks to sluice it away. Fortunately he has fairly robust digestion so this is rarely an issue.

As a general rule - if you can stand in it, you can pick it up.

waithorse · 10/09/2014 07:58

It's reasonable to pick up your dog poo, when your massive big dog does a massive big shit outside my house.

ender · 10/09/2014 08:45

My dog once poo'd on a wasp nest. I didn't realise until I was picking it up and saw my hand, poo and bag covered in wasps . So dropped everything and ran pursued by wasps and ended up stung all over, face, hands, arms. The bastards even crawled under my t shirt and stung my back and chest. Dog was fine.

ThatBloodyWoman · 10/09/2014 08:53

But did you get the poo ender ?

(Really though -how horrible!)

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