To remind you that dog poo can cause blindness?

[UnlimitedChipsAndSalsa]

Around 100 people (mostly children) a year in the UK experience vision loss because of exposure to dog poo. Clean up after your dog every time.

YABU - I already knew about dog poo and blindness.
YANBU - This is new information to me.

Thanks for voting. I'm really curious to know whether this is common knowledge.

Also, keep your dog out of "no dogs" parks! (Pretty much just a rant from here, so feel free to skip this part .) I'm also so tired of seeing entitled dogs owners bringing their dogs into "no dogs" parks, which are set up (in part) to reduce children's exposure to harmful faeces.

PREDICTABLE EXCUSES:
PE#1: "But I clean up after my dog."
Not 100% you don't. There's no way you would rub your hand in the place you just cleaned up and then stick it in your mouth. That's what kids do, and that's why there are a few but some areas that do not allow dogs.

PE#2: But I worm my dog regularly."
The reason it has to be redone is because dogs pick up roundworms again, so it's not 100% effective.

PE#3: "But I'm just passing through."
Passing through the "no dogs" park is being IN the park. And dog faeces aside, there are other reasons why people might go specifically to a "no dogs" parks (severe allergy, fear of dogs, etc.).

PE#4: "What about cats/foxes?"
We're talking about dogs here.

PE#5: "What about service animals?"
Service animals are allowed to go anywhere the owner goes, so obviously I'm not talking about those.

@icedcoffees

I though it was common knowledge.

Cat and fox poo poses exactly the same risk.

Yes, but unfortunately cats have "right to roam" in the UK and foxes don't have owners.

The other day there was a woman in the kids playground with her dog, not just that, but dog was off the lead. She was challenged but said she didn't want her dog to be stolen!

I would have challenged her but she was letting my son play with a toy she'd brought and I felt bad making a scene when I realised she owned the dog.

I did know there was some health issue with kids and dog poo but not blindness. Another reason to dislike my SiL's lockdown puppy being around my kids

@DotDotDotDot

Is anyone else reminded of Amanda from Motherland with the patronising and bossy tone of this post? I'm picturing her at a flipchart with the predictable excuses on a page each.

"What about cats/foxes?"
We're talking about dogs here

yes very goo, but OP is right. I did know this, but had forgotten- thanks for reminding.

@Ileflottante

So you’re not happy even when people do clean up after their dogs because they can’t remove all traces? What would you suggest?

There I'm talking specifically about the excuses people make when they bring their dog into the "no dogs" park. So, I would suggest they don't bring their dog into areas where the dog is not allowed.

But in my dream world, people would only be allowed to let their dogs defecate in their own garden instead of taking them for a walk to leave smears all over public and private spaces. Of course, I recognise that is being unreasonable.

I knew this because my mum would constantly tell me as a child.

As for picking up dog poo. We always pick up ours and don't take them anywhere dogs aren't allowed. People who don't pick their dogs shits up or take then where they aren't meant to be really piss me off.

Absolutely knew this, but I have dogs. Human poo can do it too,if the person has worms, and many do these days.
I will never understand why it’s acceptable for humans to take a crap in the great outdoors and leave it, unburied or unpicked up, but it seems to happen a lot in the country park near me.

@Drivingmeupthewall

If I’m walking in the woods, I just bury it. It’ll break down in a matter of days. It doesn’t make any sense to preserve it for all eternity inside plastic in those circumstances.

If it’s a human area, I obviously pick it up.

So, it's your own private woodland and you're the only human walking there?

Total vision loss from toxocariasis is very very rare. As in, about the same risk as being struck by lightning. Clean up after your dog because it's mucky, not because of scare stories.

I think the point is people don’t walk their cats to park/playgrounds and let them shit there.

As others have pointed out cat and foxes pose the same risk. My Nan nearly went blind because of cat poo!

It’s getting tedious now all these dog hating posts. A majority of dog owners pick up after their dog only a few idiots don’t, where as cat owners don’t go round to other peoples gardens and pick up their cats shit do they?? No I’m the mug that has to pick it all up from my private garden and protect my family from it.

@UnlimitedChipsAndSalsa actually op 'stick and flick' is being increasingly recommended. If you can remove it from paths.

@UnlimitedChipsAndSalsa

Yes, I know that.

I'm just saying that even if every owner knows the country picked up after their dogs 100% of the time, it wouldn't eliminate the danger.

More people know this fact according to your poll than can name the uk prime minister, for example, so it’s incredibly well known already.

But in my dream world, people would only be allowed to let their dogs defecate in their own garden instead of taking them for a walk to leave smears all over public and private spaces. Of course, I recognise that is being unreasonable.

OP, I completely agree with you. I think in a few hundred years, people will look back in disgust and disbelief that dogs were allowed to shit anywhere and everywhere. It’ll be regarded much the same way as medieval people throwing their slops out of the window.

It’s definitely got worse since lockdown.

This post is good. Well done for starting it. I am a dog lover but not owners who disregard the picking up of poo. Our recreation ground is a large one and up to recently was great for walking, football and dog walking. However the so called “Friends of xxxxx” decided to set aside a largish area behind some hedges for the purpose of encouraging bees and wild life. Okay, good intention fine by me. However it has grown like Topsy in that other areas have also been taken over so long grass, weeds, etc are covering banks, the area in front ot the entrance to the playground. The only areas mowed are the football playing ones. I now fear for ticks if I walk through it and wonder how much dog muck is hidden in it. Not satisfied these Friends have advocated leaving our verges unmowed. Hence visitors parking cars have to get out into long grass and goodness knows what else. We mow ours but lots don’t. I visualise these visitors unknowingly bringing it into houses. The gardens around here are quite big and we have everything in ours poppies in abundance. Plants of all kinds. The wild life around here is well served. It also is home to lots of dogs, lots of them. As said before I love dogs but the warning on this post is needed.

So, it's your own private woodland and you're the only human walking there? hmm

It’s buried. Into the ground. Exactly how much risk does that pose do you think? If a child comes to the woods, armed with a shovel, and just so happens to dig where my dog’s poo has been buried…well, that’s an unlikely and unfortunate situation.

In those circumstances though, no I will not bag it up in plastic, preserve it forever, carry it about and then place it in a bin, or drive it home, as that just increases the risk of contamination for lots of other humans.

Don’t be obtuse and dare I say it, just a little bit precious. No one is saying it’s a health food….

@burritofan

I knew this. It’s infuriating, our local park is “no dogs allowed” on the central field, but it’s not fenced off so plenty of owners just ignore it. There are so many shit smears on the grass from owners who think they’re OK because they cleaned up the bulk of the poo . Wish we had a no dogs park. Or a no dogs country, tbh.

A no dogs country? I'm in. Most dog owners don't care tbh. I'm asthmatic and quite allergic, and you get the same attitude if one sits next to you on the bus or train or in a cafe. They always expect me to move and consider IABU. Overwhelming majority of dog owners just super selfish

I think the issue now is that so many people have dogs and a large percentage of them seem not to be very good at owning them. Dog poo around the Lake District is a huge problem,lots of owners let their dogs off lead ( big problem with sheep around) so don’t even know where their animal is shitting and some that do kindly hang it up in trees as a kind of poop installation. Very attractive.

Ffs!!always people moaning constantly about dogs on mn.
It's not dogs that are causing climate change
It's not dogs that deal drugs.
Dogs don't shoot or stab
Dogs don't want money or power
Dogs have, and do work hard for humans,protecting,guiding,helping,bringing joy,friendship and love into the world.
Leave dogs alone!!
They don't have flush toilets.Think back to human sewage that used to run down the street causing illness and death..The poo is picked up as best as possible.
Give me a dog over a whining entitled human any day.🐶🐕🐩🐺🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

But in my dream world, people would only be allowed to let their dogs defecate in their own garden instead of taking them for a walk to leave smears all over public and private spaces. Of course, I recognisethatis being unreasonable

I understand that. Even as a dog owner, I get it.

In my dream world cats wouldn't be allowed to wander and shit in people's gardens. We don't always get everything we want unfortunately.

@KarmaStar we are not discussing any of those things but we are discussing dog poo and while you may pick up after your pooch, many don’t sadly.

Total vision loss from toxocariasis is very very rare. As in, about the same risk as being struck by lightning. Clean up after your dog because it's mucky, not because of scare stories.

Thank goodness, someone with a bit of common sense! Some people do go overboard. There is danger in so many things in everyday life, and there are already plenty of people who are almost too scared to leave the security of their own home - there's no need to add to it!

i worm my dog and clear up after him but as a matter of factual factiness, this website says "Up to" 100 childen a year not "around" and as we all know from sales shopping 101 "up to" includes the figure zero as well as all the figures between zero and 100.

www.netdoctor.co.uk/ask-the-expert/babies-children/a9459/toxicariasis/

Its also an issue in cats (worm your cats folks!) and in foxes and the NHS says rare in the uk, even rarer for sight to be affected.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/toxocariasis/

PS dog poo is gross in public places though.

@Katedanielshasakitty

But in my dream world, people would only be allowed to let their dogs defecate in their own garden instead of taking them for a walk to leave smears all over public and private spaces. Of course, I recognisethatis being unreasonable

I understand that. Even as a dog owner, I get it.

In my dream world cats wouldn't be allowed to wander and shit in people's gardens. We don't always get everything we want unfortunately.

oh this definitely

Dog ownership contributes to climate change via their meat consumption though.