To put cocktail umbrellas in every dog turd in our back lane?

[IceIceBabyBump]

I live in a Victorian terrace where our back yards and those of the adjacent street back on to each other with a lane between them.

The lane is intermittently dotted with huge dog turds because some selfish cunt doesn't bother picking up after their pooch. Its really starting to grind my fucking gears.

I'm thinking of putting cocktail umbrellas in each turd to show just how much shite there is in the hope of shaming the selfish cunt into being a responsible human being.

A couple of years ago, some posters went up saying the area was monitored by CCTV and dog-poo-people would be caught and fined. It seemed to dissuade the poo-er for a few weeks but that was all - I don't think there was any CCTV.

I have my suspicions of who it might be 😏DP's not convinced and thinks he might actually be under suspicion from other neighbours.

I should say that I'm also taking more normal measures like getting in touch with out local councillors! But I'm wondering if I'd BU to combine these more adult measures with some guerilla umbrella action??

I meant DP thinks he might be under suspicion of not picking up our dog's poo, not under suspicion of him being the back lane shitter.

Ridiculously, I didn't make that clear in my OP 😆

We had a terrible dog shit problem near our primary school a few years ago - someone sprayed them all with a kind of paint that washes away. It was remarkably effective at shaming the culprits and the poo problem disappeared 😄🤷‍♀️

Contact your council and ask if the back alleys can be gated. Ours were done about 12 years ago. We had to contribute but not much and all residents got a key to the gates. Completely stopped randomers cutting through and the poo stopped totally. Even if it didn’t, you’d then know it’s someone who actually lives in one of the houses that back onto the alley.

I sympathise but that would be littering and you could get in trouble for it. Dog poo isn’t nice but it is at least a natural feature done by a dog and dogs are under the age of criminal responsibility

Unfortunately we can't get the back lane gated because it's technically a throughfare with public access (or whatever the legal term is).

Ah, washable paint is a good idea 💡

Someone around my area did the paint thing, but appears to have used something a little too permanent!, leaving many small blue hoops decorating the pavements, but now indicating nothing as the poo has long since washed away. Washable though, does really draw attention to the issue, and might prompt shame in some owners to change (you can live in hope).

@Murpe Did the slightly too permanent paint thing work?

There have been threads on here before about it. It seems to stop people leaving it behind for a time then it starts up again and the biodegradable poo spray starts again.

Also it highlights it for those with less then great eyesight and especially young children who are running and not paying that much attention to the floor and those with prams.

Someone started doing it on my school run, bright pink, all the poo was roughly the same size so we assumed same dog twice a day. It was like a dirty protest and the poo spray highlighted how much there was.

Can anyone recommend a biodegradable spray? I agree it would highlight the problem so the culprits would know that they're attracting attention, and it would be a service for people who risk stepping in, or pushing prams /wheelchairs into, a lump of shit.

We have a local fox population too - but you can tell the difference.

I think spray chalk is probably what gets used.

I think that’s inspired OP.

I think it's a great idea! I've got lots of dogs and manage to pick up every single poo. It does my head in when folk don't do the same. Disgusting. Gives us all a bad name!

Agree about the spray chalk. A toddler may be attracted to an umbrella before a parent notices, or if it becomes separated from the dog shit then a parent might even allow them to pick it up.

I’d be watching non stop for the culprit and would deliver it back to their doorstep

This would absolutely be my preference but I can't. Each back yard has a six foot wall separating it from the back lane so I can't peer over to watch for the culprit.

And the lane's dead straight with brick walls on either side so nowhere to lurk and keep watch either.

We had similar issue.
Spray paint that washes away, like I suppose they use on football pitch lines (?) could be your friend.

We also got some “Pick up your dog poo or get fined” type of notices from local authority which we pinned up.
Every little helps.

We had a real issue with it on the grassy banks on our road during lockdowns, I was always worried people would think it was us as we had 6 dogs (including fosters) in our house so would pick it up.

OH wasn't as ashamed & would just find a stick to mark them, it must have worked as the problem did go away!

Safe spray paint is the better idea as there's no risk of it getting removed from the turds. Cocktail umbrellas could be blown off/ kicked off and is then hazardous to animals and young kids.

Do it alongside other measures such as reporting or asking the council about cctv?

Yes - that’s what I thought. It might well lead a toddler to the pile of poo …

Someone used the paint/chalk spray method around our school a few years ago - it did seem to deal with the problem.

Could you put up a go pro camera to catch the buggers?

Get a wildlife camera which is triggered by motion to start filming.

It's terrible round where I work. Someone got a picture and shamed them on the local facebook page.

We had a camera for a while and all we ever 'caught' were people with dark hoodies on, the hoods pulled right over their heads. Impossible to identify, sadly. Just goes to show they know what they're doing is wrong.

If we are in the middle of a spate of dog fouling that appears overnight, I leave our outside light on which illuminates the pavement at the front of the house. This seems to act as a bit of a deterrent, and the neighbours don't mind it for a few nights.

But I'll be after chalk spray next!

Someone did that in a village we once lived in too. Another time someone ringed them in coloured chalk and added giant exclamation marks. I have a fair idea who it was, as they had several frequently-renewed laminated notices on their front boundary (sort of posts with a chain between them -- there was a covenant forbidding walls or fences in front of houses) saying WE CAN SEE YOU, WE KNOW WHO IS ALLOWING THEIR DOG TO FOUL OUR VERGE. WE ALWAYS REPORT. SHAME ON YOU!!!

In fairness, I think it was the cleanest-footpathed place I've ever lived.

I'm not sure whether a Go-Pro or wildlife camera would work - I'm not sure what I'd attach it to which would capture the whole lane rather than just the big outside my gate. As I said, it's all brick walls lining the lane.

If its the chap I suspect, I wouldn't need to see his face - I'd recognise his dog. I don't actually think he goes out with the dog, just let's the dog into the alley to do his business 😡

I didn't think of kids being drawn to the cocktail umbrellas- good call. I did think about mini flags with "My owner is a selfish cunt" printed on them ☺️