to think the dog mess problem is getting much worse since Covid?

[sadpapercourtesan]

It's actually spoiling most of my longer walks, now. It's so disgusting, especially when it's left right in the middle of a pavement so people have walked through it already and made it virtually impossible to avoid.

In the interest of not drip-feeding, I have ASD and I know I am a bit of a loon about disgusting things/poo/bad smells. I avoid the local park in high summer because the stench walking past the dog bins makes me swoon.

Has anyone else noticed the dog mess being much more of a problem in recent months? What can be done about it? I know it's on me to "get over it" and not let it stop me from going for long walks, but I honestly find it so difficult when there's shit every 50 metres or so and even though I'm ridiculously hypervigilant, DH and the kids aren't.

@Cornflour80

Literally emailed our council about it this afternoon. It's absolutely ridiculous!

let us know if you get a reply...I wont hold my breath though:(

As so many people don't want to pick up their dog's poo it will, hopefully, mean that they won't have another once their lockdown dog has passed on.

@PinkyParrot

As so many people don't want to pick up their dog's poo it will, hopefully, mean that they won't have another once their lockdown dog has passed on.

It was a problem long before last year. I’ve been clearing up after other people’s dogs for years.

I have an elderly dog and not once have I not picked up their shit. There are a lot of new dog owners and way more shit. Probably the same people who don’t wash their hands after going to the loo. It’s disgusting.

I only take my dog for walks in daylight now so we can avoid stepping in shit.

I sometimes go for evening walks to get away from the family and listen to an audio book. I mainly walk in the road to minimise the risk of stepping in dog shit.

We will have a whole generation of badly behaved dogs. There are no puppy classes, people are not allowed to congregate in the parks, so that the new owners can ask for advice from someone more experience.

COVID has been shit for so many things.

Lockdown puppies - massive issue around here with people getting them and not having a clue how to look after them, and now they're getting that bit bigger and out and about.

We've got a family further down the street from us who let their dog shit in the gutters of the road and think it's fine to leave it there un-picked up. So when you cross the road or go around to the other side of the car you step in it.

Someone seems to bring a dog down our street every day which deposits an enormous pile of shit on the pavement, or at the base of one of the trees where there are bulbs planted. I wish the bloody owner could be caught, the whole street is furious about it.

Where I live the council have removed all the dog poo bins, there is now sometimes a full sized black bin near one of the entrances to the parks or woods but often it's so out of the way you can't see it. This results in piles of dog poo bags where the bins used to be, and people not picking up pop because there's no where to put the bag.

My dogs always poop at the very beginning of the walk so it's easy to back track and take the poo to the bin, but I think a lot of dog owners don't want to carry a bag of poop for the whole walk.

It’s dog poop central around here. We are next to a park and there are more dogs, more people driving to bring their dogs to the park... fewer people are locking up- absolutely!

@happinessischocolate

Where I live the council have removed all the dog poo bins, there is now sometimes a full sized black bin near one of the entrances to the parks or woods but often it's so out of the way you can't see it. This results in piles of dog poo bags where the bins used to be, and people not picking up pop because there's no where to put the bag.

My dogs always poop at the very beginning of the walk so it's easy to back track and take the poo to the bin, but I think a lot of dog owners don't want to carry a bag of poop for the whole walk.

In all honesty there could be a bin every 30 paces and these owners still wouldn't pick up their dogs poo. The lack of bins is poor in places but I refuse to believe it's the reason people dont clean up their dogs crap.

Northwest here I run 5 miles everyday over different routes it's everywhere.

@Bloodybridget

Someone seems to bring a dog down our street every day which deposits an enormous pile of shit on the pavement, or at the base of one of the trees where there are bulbs planted. I wish the bloody owner could be caught, the whole street is furious about it.

He's proud of his dogs enormous turds, he leaves it there to let everyone know how powerful he and his dog are

Are we getting near to some critical threshold where enough people will complain and something will be done ☝️🙂
Or are we just stuck with the same old shit😖

Bleurgh!

I took 2 rolls of dog bags out this morning. We met up, about 10 of us, and walked through town. We usually do the popular dog walks but we're alerted to some different places.

Round our GP surgery?!?!

In front of the nursery and primary schools!

Gross.

The town council lent us their pavement washer and refuse bags. We used all the bags and the washer fluid in less than 2 hours!

Pictures have gone up in local facebook pages... oddly some are trying to defend the dog walkers... it's hard in lockdown having to walk locally when you'd usually walk the lanes and, presumably, not pick up!

Wow good for you @CuriousaboutSamphire oh yeah the dog shit defenders will be out in force, when I reported it the council as part of the complaint they were more interested in in accusing me of GDPR breaches because I'd screenshotted responses from a local facebook group post.

Someone put something on one of the groups I follow, and another user replied saying 'well what about all of the rubbish that gets left in the children's playground, 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.' So I replied are you seriously implying that the people complaining about dog shit are the ones leaving rubbish in the playground....therefore you're justified in letting your dogs crap in there. She was as well, unbelievable.

I don't do it often, I am usually working when the clear up crews go out.

Our litter picking one has some very odd comments too - about letting teens be teens and what does a bit of alcohol matter! Defending smashed bottles in the kids play area!!!

It's really bad around here too, much worse than normal. All over the verges and in the middle of the pavements too. Absolutely revolting.

It’s noticeably bad where I live too. I think people just can’t be bothered to pick it up anymore.