AIBU to want to know what a 'normal' response to dog's mess is?

[Cara707]

I have severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, with a contamination obsession as part of my condition so these kind of things are a problem to me. I am just wondering what a normal reaction to seeing dog's mess on other family members/household member's shoes is? It seems like every day there is a small quantity of dog's mess on someone's shoes and as I'm not able to clean it myself and don't want to be constantly nagging people to clean their shoes I would just like to know how much this bothers 'normal people' (without OCD).

For example if you see a small amount of dried dog's mess on yours or someone else's shoe do you clean it? How do you go about that? (e.g. do you wear gloves?, do you handle the shoes or avoid touching them? etc.)

We are shoes-off household so it's not as though people are tracking it on their shoes through the house but it's a source of anxiety to me so would like to know what to do about it!

That is ridiculously extreme. You must be very well off if you can afford to just replace children's shoes like that.

It cannot be happening every day. I happens maybe once a year at most here and that is one walking to school, one dog walking and another one doing a daily hour long walk.

Throwing shoes away is incredibly wasteful. No wonder landfill is full.

If you're finding it on shoes every day I can only assume you live in a really scruffy place. I cannot remember the last time anyone in my family got it on their shoes. It must be many, many years ago. Anyone would be repulsed by it. I wouldn't wear gloves but if it was happening so often I'd have a special brush to clean it off shoes.

It would freak me right out. I don't have a dog so I'm not used to being around dog poo. I also haven't found any on a shoe for years and probably years before that. I do suspect I have OCD but this wouldn't worry me in a contamination sense just that it's dirty and I don't know how to clean it off without being close to it. I have a very weak stomach so anything like this sends me gagging.

Depending on the shoe/mess I may bin - soft converse type with poo in the fabric would definitely get binned. Hard doc martens only on sole I would try to hose off in the garden then put hot jugs of soapy water, rinse and spray with an anti bacterial or something before rinsing again. I would feel absolutely weird wearing them again the first couple of times but after that I would be fine.

I appreciate a lot of people would find this extreme but I find it extreme that people can deal with this sort of thing easily. We are all so very different

I would take the shoe to the bathroom sink. Use loo roll to get off as much as possible. Then use an old toothbrush, and soap to scrub it off gently while cursing the owner. It smells awful so I'd gag a bit, but would survive.

Wouldn't use gloves, I'd just wash my hands very thoroughly afterwards.

I read this wrong i thought you said you chuck them over the fence. Like it's the neighbours problem now 🤣🤣

I must admit I agree this does seem unlikely

I just scuff them outside for a bit. But then, I grew up on a farm covered in all types of shit.

So I am the complete opposite to you.

(Must add that we never wear shoes in the house, they are always in the porch).

I HATE poo of any sort, not good at cleaning it up-but I'd run shoes underhosepipe with some sort of detergent and a cloth, wash my hands thoroughly, dry shoes with a towel and put them soemwhere to dry fully.

I think it's really, really unlikely that what you are seeing on people's shoes every day is dog's mess.

If people are walking on pavements/paths where there are, or have been, a lot of dead leaves over the winter, it's probably just leaf matter that's rotted down over the winter.

Unless you have literally just stepped in it, there's no need to worry all the time that a homeopathically tiny speck of dirt came in from the outside pavement just because "dog poo is everywhere" .

Of course you can test any surface and find traces of bacteria: floors, shoes, dishcloths, toothbrush, loo seat: but these are in the sort of concentration that most of us don't need to worry, our immune system will cope.

Me too.

I don’t understand how this is happening to you. Do you live in 1975? Or is it just mud?

"Horror and revulsion is a normal response to dog feces."

No, it isn't. Neither is throwing away shoes that get dog shit on them.

I agree OP, dog shit (and cat shit) is absolutely vile. We are no shoes indoors and they are left at the front door but if there is shit on the shoes it still gets trailed in the car etc if not cleaned and school bags often get shoved on the car floor so thats unhygienic as anything.

Some people are irresponsible dog owners and wouldn’t clean their dogs mess up if they could get away with it. Even when it’s cleaned up there is still residual left, it’s awful

I use bleach on the bottom of the shoes and try and get it off like that 🤢

I have a very sensitive nose so if I think there's dog poo then I leave the shoes outside and then scrub them clean with an old toothbrush before they are allowed back in. I absolutely do not want it coming into the house at all.

Like others, though, this happens rarely - probably a couple of times a year? Less? I have small(ish) children and a buggy - it tends to be the buggy which picks it up rather than a person.

I wonder if the OCD link here is that it's causing you to think there is dog poo when there is not, or mistake mud for dog poo, or worry about traces of dog poo in ordinary shoe dirt and therefore your threshold for seeing it is different to other people's.

I have OCD. I'd be gone.

Presumably you wipe your own and your children's backsides.

Not trolling . I have ASD and OCD. I get us cheap shoes and always get extras as where we live dog poo is a huge problem .

Depends where you live. I’m in a London borough. Every time any of us walk on grass in the park or verges we tread in it so we avoid but even then the pavements are covered it’s disgusting

We offset our footprint. Yes we throw away more shoes than average but we have never owned a car and we have never taken any flights at all. We do the best we can

I’m also in the ‘are you sure it’s dog poo’ camp.

I have a dog, walk him in woods and around the streets, and don’t get dog poo on my shoes, and nurses anyone rise in the household. I think it’s mud as well.

When it's happened to me or anyone I've been with, we notice pretty quickly and you find a patch of cleanish grass and wipe your shoe on it (still wearing it on your foot) until it looks clean. Then carry on with your day

I wash shoes with the enzyme killer Simple Solution (sponge off) which gets rid of the smell. I used to have a heightened disgust reaction to dog poo that did impact my life a bit (worried about going for walks etc). It is much better now and I have no idea what cured it but I suspect I had both anemia and a vitamin deficiency at the height of my abnormal disgust reaction. If I feel it coming back I make sure that is not happening again..

I don't remember saying that it did @Mightymoog ? I definitely don't feel 'special' having OCD and a life that is severely limited by it either! (or the months I have spent in hospital or all of the horrible places that it has taken me to!).

Anyway, thanks to everyone else for your suggestions!

Pretty sure ANY amount of dog mess on shoes would bother 'normal people'. Nothing to do with having OCD...