To not pick up dog poo...

[Moonfishstar]

... when in a quiet forest, but to flick it with a stick into dense undergrowth instead?

I don't see any issue with this, but I've got a feeling lots will disagree with me, so I wanted to get some other opinions.

Both my dogs have recalled from running deer, I think that counts as control though I do admit I can't control their bowels!

I have already confirmed with a forest ranger (during the aforementioned chat about dog poo and foxes) that it is perfectly fine to walk two dogs off the lead, let them run where they choose as long as they recall when asked, and pick up poo where it's close to or accessible from the car parks or the paths. A single small poo in the open forest is fine to leave, especially as tramping out to search for it is likely to damage the environment more than leaving it. I can't give you a source to check for this as it was just a conversation, but it's guidance from someone whose job it is to manage the forest and educate the public about it, which is why I'm trying to share it.

I can only assume that as pp have said, many people on here don't have much experience of proper forest as opposed to simply rural. That's the only explanation I can think of for the disgust and contempt people seem to have at the thought of a single dog poo left in the middle of a huge inaccessible area that already has horse, cow, pig, rabbit and deer poo, and no doubt a lot more that I don't know about.

The forest is open to everyone to enjoy but it's important that everyone understands that it's not a free for all car park, country park, unsupervised play area or petting zoo, it has different conservation needs, and what's appropriate in the other environments may not be appropriate here. Otherwise it's going to get destroyed.

I’ll add this news item again:

Henry Rawlings collected more than 88lb (40kg) of faeces during a 65-mile (105km) sponsored walk of the Serpent Trail in the South Downs National Park.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-64281652.amp

That’s disgusting. 40kg of other people’s dogs’ crap collected in just 4 days.

It isn't about it suiting my narrative. I didn't say which type I use.
It's about what I've observed. Most of the bags I see hanging in trees and from fences etc. and in dog poo bins, like those in the carpark I mentioned, are clearly plastic bags. Usually black shiny plastic. Not ones made from plant fibre, like food waste bags.
Of course there are biodegradable options, but it would appear that most people still use the cheaper plastic ones.

I thought @delamore said ‘ that’s nice dear’ because you said you would ‘lick ‘ muck around the forest 🤣🤣

Exactly! It's untenable isn't it?

These are the same people who think the little doggos should all just walk on the footpath though, neatly and carefully - and not budge an inch off it! And they certainly should NOT not shoot into a deserted dense woodland for a play and a bit of an adventure.

One poster was losing her shit and shouting about 'IT'S MY LAND!!!' Yet she bought some woodland with a public footpath running through it, and CBA to fence it off. Apparently it's tooooo expensive to fence it all. Yet she could afford to buy the land... D'oh! 🙃

The people moaning about dogs running about in woodland, are very likely the same type who moan at people not taking their dog out, and the dog is whining and barking too much.

Some dog owners just can't win. No matter what they do or DON'T do, it's wrong.

"Both my dogs have recalled from running deer, I think that counts as control though I do admit I can't control their bowels!"

I'm sure that if you have 'excellent' command of recall you can train your animal to crap in your own back yard.

You just can't be bothered.

You'd rather 'spoil' outdoors/public places for others.

I'm sure that people enjoying the outdoors, wherever that may be, do not enjoy having to clean your animal's shite off their shoes/property.

My mother would never take her dogs out unless they had 'done their business' - dogs are creatures of habit and can easily be trained to release their bowels at the same time/in the same spot.

You just don't want your own shite anywhere near your own property - so you deliberately leave it on someone else's.

Oakleaffy, its already been mentioned many times on the local 'Next door' site. It doesn't seem to deter him. Was thinking about installing a camera in a tree branch, but not sure on the legal ramifications of doing such a thing.

A camera on a tree branch could also take images of children. I would be wary of doing this.

@MyOtherCarIsAPorsche you are wrong. They go in my garden. They usually go within 100 m of the car park or within the first 5 minutes of the walk, in which case I pick up. I can't control whether they need to go again another half hour into the walk, or where they may be when that happens. If it's where I or anyone else can get to it, I pick up. If it happens 500 m from the path in the middle of nowhere there is zero chance that anyone else is going to go anywhere near it.

I'm sorry if you've had to clean up after getting mess on your shoes but I very much doubt that that's happened in the sort of areas I'm talking about.

@MontyDonsBlueScarf

If they 'go' (great name for shite by the way) in your garden, you need to train them to do this before 'walkies!' (Like my mother managed to do serval times a day.) And NOT five minutes after you start your walk. Or are you so busy and important you don't ever have five minutes spare?

Dogs should not be toileted in public places. It's disgusting. (Full stop)

How on earth do you know that absolutely no one steps in your dog's waste?

When I was a child there was none of this "bag it" culture. Dog poo used to be flicked into the gutter or under a hedge to rot. It was not great - we children used to regularly arrive home with dog poo on our shoes.

It is clearly a better option to bag and bin it, wherever you are, although in a wood there will of course be lots of other poo for children to hone in on like magnets: badger, deer, rabbits etc., although their poo tends to be less grim than the meat-fest superglue-like faeces produced by dogs. Hence I do not have a dog.

There used to be someone down our open-plan-gardened cul-de-sac who used to walk her dog up to our lawn on the corner and have it shit on our grass - every bloody day.

Someone suggested I should pick it up, put it in a paper bag, place the bag on her doorstep, light it with a match, ring the doorbell and bugger off; so that she would come out, see the fire and stamp it out. I never quite had the courage to do this ......

@MontyDonsBlueScarf

The problem is though - if it’s fine for you to do it, it’s fine for all dogs to do their ‘one poo’. You have to apply the same mindset to all dog owners.

As I’ve said before:

Dog poo is very high in nutrients in a typically low nutrient ecosystem. It disturbs the balance.

It leaches into streams and rivers.

There are bacteria and pathogens in dog poo that exist even after the poo has broken down. These can cause cows to abort, the horse issue that a poster had to pay a huge bill for posted earlier, leach into rivers and kill wildlife.

A large percentage of fox diet is now dog poo, which again in unnatural and passes on the unwanted bacteria/pathogens.

A bag and binned dog poo can - at least - be controlled and put in a waste area : and not a natural ecosystem Where it disturbs the balance.

Forestry England no longer support the stick and flick method.

and pick up poo where it's close to or accessible from the car parks or the paths.

Which you have already confirmed you don’t always do because you let your dogs walk behind you so you don’t notice them/can’t see them shitting.

Horse, cow, pig, rabbit and deer poo

Non of which are comparable to dog poo, either in composition or effect on the environment. It’s been explained many times on this thread, and links have been provided to show how damaging decaying dog poo is to wildlife and flora and fauna.

a forest ranger

It’s been explained, and many links to the relevant policies have been posted, that flicking dog shit about is NOT the corse of action the requisite authorities prefer, for the aforementioned reasons.

it's not a free for all car park, country park, unsupervised play area or petting zoo,

It also isn’t a dog toilet.

it has different conservation needs

Yes, which don’t include rotting dog shit. Let your dogs spread faeces over your lawn, leave it to rot, then observe the effect on the grass. Or do some research.

You can dress it up however you like- there is no reason for not picking up your dog poo other than “I can’t be arsed”.

There’s been quite alot of storm debris recently. Plus sharp, loose branches, widow makers and deep holes. Ankle breaking and eye losing territory…. The forestry commission don’t want you in there either.

Please give an example of a non plastic bag that is suitable to take in the mountains and not get damaged in the way down?

@goodkidsmaadhouse I don't think it's that the whole forest is inherently dangerous, but there are certainly areas where you wouldn't want kids to be playing unsupervised, particularly after the weather we've had lately, as @oOmoonhaOo says. Lots of partially uprooted trees, loose branches, unstable fallen trees. Many areas that are normally OK at this time of year are full of horrible viscous mud. It's fine for kids to play but you need to be mindful of where and what the current conditions are - a bit like skiing, you wouldn't let your kids ski anywhere they fancied in the mountains without supervision but you'd probably let them loose on the blue/red runs as long as the weather was OK.

What happens when I’m wild camping Abe wake up on the side of a mountain with my dog?

There’s loads- google it. Many different shapes and sizes, made from plant based materials, or recycled paper etc.

You are allowed to carry all manner of bags in the mountains… spoil yourself and try a few different types!

Because in all the years I've been walking in the forest I have never seen anyone even attempting to walk in some of the areas over which my dogs run free. Maybe this picture will help explain.

That’s just a picture of some trees?

It's a picture of the sort of area where I walk my dogs. It's exactly what the forest I've been talking about is like. I posted it to show the impossibility of picking up absolutely everywhere and the likelihood of anyone else stepping in it.

Looks like a totally normal place to be walking.

Im finding it quite amusing how many posters think that going for a walk in a forest is an activity unique to them that nobody else could possibly understand.

I thought the same thing 😆

😆