People who let their dogs foul on the pavement should be banned from Pet ownership.

[HepLaurenceLB]

Another day of having to scrub dog shit off my kids shoes and my pram wheels. I am so angry with dog owners who leave dog shit everywhere. The pavements and parks near are a disgusting obstacle course, that my kids are bad at navigating.
The current penalty is £50. I don’t know if it is ever enforced.

AIBU that all dogs should be licenced to their owner with their DNA sample on record. Dog Wardens should trace poo samples to the owners. Owners get a 5k fine and are banned from dog owning.

@rookgizzardpie

bit dramatic to say they should be locked up

Really? I'd shoot the fuckers.

My idea of "proportionate to the crime" goes something like "number of people pissed off * pain/distress caused / difficulty to you to avoid doing what you did". Higher the number means the more selfish the person so the worse the punishment. If you are happy to knowingly piss your fellow citizens off simply for your own convenience you don't deserve a place in society.

@rookgizzardpie to be clear, "you" above means the general You, I'm not aiming at you personally!

@Pelosi that was my first thought too!

I’m a dog owner and I 100% completely agree with you OP.

Not picking up your dogs poo is unforgivably irresponsible....and on off-lead walks ‘my dog ran off/ahead and did it’ is not an acceptable excuse either, an off-lead dog should still be under owners control.

Gives me rage!

Today I was in my lounge and a neighbour was walking their dog, the dog was off lead and ran straight onto my front garden and did a poo. Neighbour was too far ahead to see it, she looked slightly embarrassed when I opened my door and shouted after her. She came and picked it up.
I have had a number of poos in my front garden and was blaming cats but given that the dog made a bee line for my garden I suspect it’s become a favourite spot for him/her.
I won’t be quite so polite if it happens again.......
I say all of this as a dog owner. If you’re on a walk with your dog you should be watching for them doing a poo and make sure you pick it up.

My ds keeps tropical fish because he has no inclination to pick up ddog shit so no I wasn't mad..
Was glad I had bought him a jet wash for Xmas though!!

Just remembered I actually used a tactic an old head teacher of mine used ..
Excuse me you have dropped something.
.
Except I said forgotten something.. A cringing woman turned back and scooped up the mahoosive pile her retriever had left and she tried to ignore..
My dh was mortified!! Try it, it's bloody empowering!!

My mums friend used to do that to litter louts.

She was a very sweet little old lady and would tap the miscreant on the shoulder ‘excuse me dear, I think you’ve dropped something...’

We occasionally had issues with dog owners letting their animal crap on our garden. We never caught them but my parents would have supported me if we had caught them, found where they lived and I would have gone and defecated on their lawn - they should be OK with that if their animal fouls our lawn.

That's the only time I'm ok with public defecation though.

you buy a dog, you commit to a decade or more of picking up warm faeces. Yes, disgusting - dog ownership is not compulsory

Agree. I'd impose dog licences, dna tests and heavy fines for owners with offending dogs. Money collected could be used to pay for dog wardens etc.

Dog owner here and I regularly pick up other peoples dog poop! I live opposite a park and yesterday there was a giant pile right by the goalpost! Vile and inexcusable!

My friend has an ex feral cat that won't stay indoors. It also doesn't like litter trays so does it's pees on her lawn and poops on the common grass/park next to her house. She regularly goes out and picks up numerous poops just in case one is her cat's (likely as the cat only uses the same small area).
If a cat owner can go to that effort and they don't even need to legally, there is absolutely no reason a dog owner, who does legally have to be with their dog at all times outside, can't pick their dog's shit up.

YANBU. I have two big dogs who do a lot of big shits and I manage to pick them all up, as do most of the people around here. However, it only takes a couple of repeat offenders to mess it up for everyone. On my regular walk, I'm spotting a turd every meter on the side of the path, and it's clearly come from the same dog (you get to recognise your own!). One lazy fucker is responsible for about 50 turds on one short stretch of path.

Outdoors used to mean outdoors. It meant walking through a field or forest and nature took care of cleaning up. Now the pavement is more like the floor in a shopping mall and we must all share it. Just like it's wrong to spit on it or urinate on it it is now wrong to let a dog shit on it.

Clearing it up is better than nothing, but imagine letting your dog do that in a shopping mall or the lobby of a building and saying "It's ok. I'll pick up the biggest lumps". You just wouldn't would you.

Times have changed and potential pet owners should plan an alternative. What's wrong with your own garden? Or maybe a litter box if you're in a flat.

I am a dog owner and pick up after my dog as I see everyone else on our walks do. I hardly ever see dog mess on the pavement. Where as cat and fox mess I see daily. I am forever picking up cat crap from my garden as well as the dead animals they leave in both my gardens
The majority of cats that are allowed outdoors are more of a problem then a few dogs shits here and there.

@LastTrainEast
"Now the pavement is more like the floor in a shopping mall and we must all share it. Just like it's wrong to spit on it or urinate on it it is now wrong to let a dog shit on it."

Eh? Pavements have always been used to walk dogs on! In city centres, fields and forests are in short supply and most green areas are parks, are you seriously suggesting that parks where people go for leisure activities are better for dogs business than the pavement? The ACTUAL issue is the same as ever increasing litter levels, a general lack of respect for the environment and others and an attitude of "someone else will deal with it"

And what would happen to their poor dogs? Taken away from the family they love and put into kennels hoping they'll be re-homed? It's bad enough when people have to surrender their pets anyway; but to penalise the poor animals for something that's not their fault?

@LastTrainEast you're joking surely? If not.. wow!

I agree, and the same for cats too.

I completely agree leaving dog poo is awful and really antisocial. It is a selfish act. I live in an area with lots of dogs and honestly most pick up. I sometimes pick up another dog's poo if I come across it, but it is disgusting. We have many signs about asking people to respect their neighbours and pick up.

I don't have a garden now, but when I did I got a handful of cat poo frequently when working the soil. Ruined many a pair of gardening gloves. Just as disgusting as dog poo but it seems acceptable because most cats make an attempt to bury it.

@LastTrainEast

Outdoors used to mean outdoors. It meant walking through a field or forest and nature took care of cleaning up. Now the pavement is more like the floor in a shopping mall and we must all share it. Just like it's wrong to spit on it or urinate on it it is now wrong to let a dog shit on it.

Clearing it up is better than nothing, but imagine letting your dog do that in a shopping mall or the lobby of a building and saying "It's ok. I'll pick up the biggest lumps". You just wouldn't would you.

Times have changed and potential pet owners should plan an alternative. What's wrong with your own garden? Or maybe a litter box if you're in a flat.

I completely agree.

What possible justification did he have for leaving dog shit on a pavement?

The only valid justification is that the dog is a guide dog and the owner genuinely has difficulties in seeing what has happened.

But as guide dogs are both small in number of the canine population, and are also taught to poo on command (so the owner has maximum chance of dealing with it) this really isn't the core of the problem

The fine in our area is £1000 but I’ve got no idea how it’s enforced, also our borough council just went bankrupt so I don’t think it will be high up their priority list.. it’s always always been awful here and there are definitely repeat offenders, but allegedly when told by others to pick it up they are aggressive and abusive.

Can I also complain about the cat who shits on my front lawn ? I’ll have the little fucker one day 😡

At least it's the front lawn. I would prefer a cat to shit on my front lawn, which I don't walk on unless I'm cutting the grass, rather than on my back lawn, right beneath the washing line, like one of the local moggies does.

I'm getting another dog as soon as I've had my knee surgery, that'll sort the cheeky fucker.

@Whammyyammy

YANBU. I find it disgusting too. Most county councils have one or two dog wardens, which are normally useless, so doubt fines are very often enforced.

Our local park is an on lead area, rarely do people adhere to this and dogs are way off from owners, so they couldn't possibly see their pooch doing its business-maybe that's why they're exercised this way??
I've even seen dog mess in the play area of parks when taking the dgc.
Sadly its a few irresponsible owners.

Dog control is a district/borough function, not a county function.

And because the law doesn't specify a minimum level of provision, it's an area that is very vulnerable to cuts. There used to be 6 dog wardens in the district I live in, there are now 2 (if they haven't cut the last but one!).

Yet another thing to blame the Tories' 40% reduction in revenue support grant for, I'm afraid.