Dog poo - what's the solution?

[Threeforagirl]

Given that everything in our area for toddlers is shut down at the moment, all we can do is walk the streets and parks. So I'm really noticing the amount of dog crap everywhere. It's revolting and I don't fancy cleaning it off shoes and buggy wheels anymore.

What's the solution? Clearly the threat of fines (is anyone actually ever fined?) isn't stopping crapsy owners, so what will stop it?

I've taking to being the crazy lady who stops and watches when a dog poos, to make sure the owner picks up (and I ever so generously offer a nappy sack if they do that stupid pocket patting "I forgot my bags" thing).

But what would actually deter people? I suggested to my husband that people should have their dogs removed, or the owners should be PTS, but he thinks I'm being a little overdramatic....

Totally agree I wish I knew what the answer was. If you ask dog owners apparently they all pick up their dogs poos.

In our area at a local beauty spot the local authority was handing out £100 fines for people when they saw the dogs pooing. Loads of outrage on facebook but same levels of poo again a week later.

I think the owners should be PTS too. I'm a dog owner! They give us all a bad name, and it really is a minority.

Not sure what more can be done about it, but it's noticeable where I am. I assume it's people walking their dog at night.

The informal doggy community at our local park leaves a container of poo bags in case someone does forget theirs, but it's the pavements that are the worse. And it's on a popular route for the school run.

But it does give dog owners a bad rep that I hate.

It's really annoying to assiduously pick up your own dog's crap and then tread in someone else's. Grrrr.

One woman told me with a totally straight face that having to pick up after a dog was an EU regulation, and now that the UK has left the EU she doesn't have to do it any more.

(This is total bollocks, just in case anyone's wondering.)

You follow the offenders home to where they live and you tell them that the next time you see them not picking up after their dog, you are going to put it through their lettre box. This was done to a an old neighbour of mine who was very anti social about picking up her dog's poo and used to scream abuse at people if they asked her to do it. Apparently, someone carried out the threat and posted it through her letter box with a note, "I think this is yours." She never did it again. But in all seriousness the kinds of people who don't pick up dog crap tend to be quite ignorant and antisocial, it would take a lot to make them pick up and catching them in the act is hard.

It drives me mad. I bury my dogs' doings when in the woods, and if they go on a path or a pitch or whatever, I pick it up. I've been known to pick up other dogs' cold poo which their owners have left on the path within 15 feet of the poo bin.

I have no idea what the answer is. It's got better over the years - when I was a kid it was all over the pavements, all the time - but there is still a way to go: someone let their dog shit right outside our front door the other day, and just left it there.

I think it's got worse over the course of this year. I don't know if it's lots of new lock down dog owners that don't want to pick up, or people walking their own dogs who previously used a dog walker and also are not prepared to pick up. Either way it's disgusting and gives the rest of us a bad name.

I like the letterbox one.
I am so sick of cleaning dop poo from DDs shoes. It drives me bananas.

She put her hand to her shoe time before last because she knew she'd stood in something but didn't know what. She was marched home with me holding both hands above her head and was stripped and scrubbed I was that terrified of her getting it in her hands and eyes. No one should have to deal with this due to someone else's selfish ways.

I've previously walked to school with my dog and another parent with her kids (pre covid). We came across dog poo and mother (quite rightly) complained about it. I felt like I had to prove I was responsible and showed her my many empty bags that I always bring.

It's horrible and I don't understand why you would get a dog if you don't want to deal with the poo. The amount that I see on the school route is awful.

It's so frustrating that it's clearly a widespread issue. And that there's no obvious solution.

I did think once "if I win the lottery, I'd install poo-cams in every street, and employ people to watch the footage and track down the culprits". Which goes to show how much it pisses me off, because the other option for spending my winnings was buying a country estate, which would be dreamy, but the poo-cam dream pipped it to the post.

Did I imagine it, or can you buy fluorescent poo paint, to at least highlight where it is? That might save others treading in it, and might stop the crappy owners a bit, if they keep walking along seeing highlighted piles of their own dogs poo...

I'm off to Google environmentally friendly bright pink spray paint...

I found an old mumsnet thread about spray paint whilst looking for spray paint!

Sounds like it had some success from reading the first few posts.

That's it. I'm changing my Christmas wishlist to nothing but cans of spray paint.

#callmeobsessive

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/the_doghouse/2994702-What-on-earth-is-this-spray-painted-dog-poo-about

If anyone else cares as much as I do

Maybe some wee flags and glitter?

(glitter idea from the Toxteth Day of the Dead .. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000dk6w)

As a dog owner I think its disgusting those who do this , fines hardly ever get given as who us monitoring
We always pick ours up and avoid areas where kids play as much as possible , should be tougher measures

A local mum used the biodegradable spray paint in a campaign highlighting the dog poo. It definitely drew attention to it and reduced the offence.

I've just spent the evening researching such paints.

I've also emailed the council to see if they a) can either do more, or b) are happy for me to spray with such a paint.

I'm so sick of dog poo ruining our walks I think I really need to actually start doing something to try and reduce it. I spend my walks shouting "poo!" And grabbing at my kids to re-route them! It's miserable!

I had someone throwing their poo bags into part of my property .
I've since re-fenced the land so now they can't. (I found twelve bags in varying states of decay).
But, there is still someone letting their dog shit on the path at the front of my house. I'd love to catch them at it.... and would definitely return their belongings through their letterbox if I could find out where they live.
It's just plain selfish.
If you have a dog nowadays, and don't have somewhere to let them free-roam where you don't have to worry about picking up, don't have them! 🤷🏻‍♀️

One of those bright spray paint cans that gardeners use to highlight where the turds are?

Im a dog owner and what I really don’t get is - that as a dog owner you’re probably the most likely person to tread in said shit - we walk in the dark, we walk a lot, we walk in the places that dogs are most likely to poo. So why do people not pick it up?!

If you have a dog nowadays, and don't have somewhere to let them free-roam where you don't have to worry about picking up, don't have them!

Where exactly would you not need to worry about picking it up?

Even in the moors/woods etc dog owners should ALWAYS be picking up poo, because it's horrendous for the environment and can pass diseases to many other animals (e.g sheep). Carnivores don't exist in those numbers in the wild, so it can't be compared to fox poo. It should never just be left there.

I was hoping PP meant huge private garden when they said not picking it up!

They do mention "part of" their property and referencing their "land", so that does suggest sizable space for a dog to roam. I couldn't use either of those phrases about my house without massively exaggerating the size of my tiny plot!

Out road got very bad and it has a school at the end of it. I therefore pick up dog poo and the level of it went down. If dog owners see dog poo they assume it's somehow ok to leave theirs as well. Grim job but slightly used to it as a dog owner

People are shits.
We are not all in it together.
They don’t pick up because it’s a chore that they don’t want to do.
I had to pick up a big dog shit from right outside my mum’s house today.
There is dog shit everywhere, it’s vile. Ruins parks and streets, I don’t know why we let people get away with it.
I have my own dog and wouldn’t dream of leaving his shit where someone could step in it.