to think that dog poo should always be picked up?

[Prudence69]

Because I'm getting sick of going for walks with MIL, her little dog doing poops and her saying, "Oh, you can't see that, it's in the roots of a tree,", me saying, "But a child could fall in that. It's disgusting." I once even said, "What kind of a pig leaves dog shit lying around?" but it's the same every time.

She just doesn't get it. I get really annoyed because each of my DCs have fallen with their hands in poop and it's the most disgusting thing ever.

It's happened to my dd too. The route to her school is near a park and its covered. I am sick to death of saying "mind the dog poo" every five minutes to her.

People like your mil aren't fit to own dogs imo.

I totally agree, these people give responsible dog owners a bad name.

It's also a health hazard (and we can probably assume that owners who leave shit lying around don't bother to worm their dogs regularly either).

Pet hate of mine. I make a huge song and dance about picking up poo when we're out in the hope that I shame others

I don't think anyone's going to disagree.

It's the law!

Totally agree - ALL dog poo should be picked up!

I'm forever having to try & avoid piles of it with my pram but don't always manage it!

I'm a dog owner & always pick up my dogs poop!

Makka everytime we see dog poo and there is a dog owner nearby I always say loudly to dd1 "Mind the dog poo that the dirty person was too lazy to pick up" Just incase it was the dog owner nearby.

Dd1 once spotted someone walking away from poo once and gave him a full blown rant about how dirty and disgusting he was and how he was not fit to own a dog

The man looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him. I was soooo proud of dd1.

How would your MIL feel if your LOs fell in dog poo and ended up sight problems as a result? My DH's friend fell in dog poo on a school field and is now partially sighted in one eye. It is very dangerous! I HATE it when owners don't pick it up. Grrrrr!!!

In the roots of a tree?

That's like pushing your peas under the knife and hoping people will believe you ate them

This is a real problem around us too - and especially outside ds's school.

However small it is and however tucked away it may seem, it should always be picked up, so no YANBU.

YANBU. I'd refuse to go out with her again until she starts clearing it up.

Oh this is SUCH a pet hate of mine.

Could you get the local dog warden to contact her saying someone has complained? might be the shock she needs to realise you CAN be fined for this disgusting habit

last week someone let their dog shit right in the middle of the school gate entrance - I was, apparently, the only one with the sense to report it to the office to get it removed and to the member of staff on duty near the gate to "watch it and warn people" YUK! Can you imagine if that was walked all into school, with the little ones sitting cross legged on the floor it would soon have been all over other kids clothes!

annoys me that "mind the dog poo" is still one of my most frequent phrases and one of all DCs first conversation pieces!!!

It's not unreasonable at all. I even pick up my dog's poo, when I'm walking her across farmland/fields. Next time I spot someone not picking their dog's poo up, I'm going to follow them home, and put it through their letterbox

Sorry, there's no way I'm picking up my dog's poo in a field full of horse and cow dung, a long way away from any children playing. I don't pick it up when I walk them down the lane outside a village and they do it on the side of the road which is also covered in manure from the scores of local horses. Again, there are no children playing here.

All those plastic bags full of excrement going into landfill are not good news.

I always remove it from footpaths and pavements though.

You absolutely should be picking it up from farmland, abraid.

Link to a PDF with more details

All of it needs to be picked up. It's people like your MIL who give responsible dog owners, like me, a bad name.

I actually have problem with picking it up, it doesn't disgust me to do so, but really, what is the environmental effect of putting it in plastic bags in landfill?

And which diseases can be passed from healthy, well-vaccinated dogs to, say, sheep?

Where I live there are sheepdogs out with the sheep, gun dogs out with shooters, and none of them will take the poo home with them (though they remove it from anywhere anyone is likely to stand in it). Surely it it was so dangerous to wildlife and farm animals, they would?

Actually have NO problem, that should have read.

And it's always the respectable little old ladies in fur coats that are the worst culprits.

In fact, the National Trust's advice on what to do with dog poo which is dumped 'where people walk, play or picnic in' is this:

'Flick it into rough grass or woodland,'

If dog poo has to be picked up in when it's left in remote fields, what about fox poo and badger poo deposited on farmland and woods? I just saw a dog fox leave an enormous deposit in a field.

abraid - my Nephew is blind in one eye because of an infection he got through dog poo.

When you pick it up it still leaves some there to walk in anyway or for children to roll in. How about carrying a spray (bright blue perhaps) that washes off eventually in the rain, but warns you not to step in it.

I'm a bit anal (excuse the pun) about dog poo. My dog is actually trained to poo on command after meals and it is suprisingly easy to achieve. I kid you not! This means accidents are very rare, but I do always pick up my dogs poo where it is accessible. I have even picked it up from the middle of the road with a pushchair and toddler in tow, which was probably slightly misjudged, but I was just so embarassed that I couldn't leave it.

I don't however pick up poo if it's in long (as in waist-height) grass, on the side of a riverbank, or down a ditch. I think there are exceptions. I wouldn't do it in the above situation again, either.

Yes, but most likely that dog poo was on the pavement/footpath in a playground/playing field where people are supposed to clear up.

I am a playground manager, btw. I am inter alia responsible for keeping dogs out of the playground. And for clearing up dog mess (and fox mess, incidentally). This often means asking rude people to take dogs out and explaining the dangers of dog poo. It also means begging people to help me rebuild bits of broken hedge and fencing to keep strays out. So I do understand the issues but think concerns about dog poo in remote rural fields, miles away from children, are a little misplaced.