Dog shit!!!

Posted by: hungryhalibut on 25 April 2017

Being off work at the moment, I go out for a walk nearly every day, for five or six miles. This takes me along various footpaths, through the fields, the woods and along the coast. I meet lots of dog owners, who nearly always control their dogs well, and either get them to shit at the side of the path or, if they do it in the middle will either pick it up or flick it to the side with a stick. All jolly good. 

But some people put it in a bag and either leave it at the side of the path or hang the bag in a tree. Who do they think is going to pick it up? The poo fairy? How can people be so stupid? There was one bag hanging in a tree for at least a month. I'll happily (well not entirely happily) pick up other people's litter, but I'm not picking up their dog's shit. 

One of my neighbours was telling me today of a plan in a US city to take a DNA sample of each dog's shit so that any found could be tested and the owners prosecuted. A great idea, I thought. And to fund it - bringing back the dog licence might not be such a bad idea. 

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by The Strat (Fender)

Cats are worse

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by DrMark

"Who do they think is going to pick it up? The poo fairy?"

Hey, you asked...

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by hungryhalibut

And there was me thinking I might get some sensible answers.....

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by The Strat (Fender)

If I might say so Nigel a bit of a random one to throw out there!

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by The Strat (Fender)

Perhaps Labour will have a policy in their manifesto.  Apparently they're looking for ideas )

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by dayjay
The Strat (Fender) posted:

Perhaps Labour will have a policy in their manifesto.  Apparently they're looking for ideas )

If it's a Corbyn policy it would have to be that white chalky dog shit that was so popular back in the 70s

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by hungryhalibut

I'm not sure dog shit in bags is a hot political topic...

Does nobody else walk on footpaths? Does nobody else wonder whose brain is so tiny that they hang shit in trees and expect it to disappear? Does it not irritate anyone but me?

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by DrMark

The people in my neighborhood who bring a bag along all seem to be doing it so as to pick it up and bring it home and dispose of it properly.

Kind of serving as their own "shit fairy".

Why one would bag it and leave it makes even less sense than just letting the dog crap in the path or street; at least the latter speaks to them being lazy, but to bag it and leave it is pretty inane stuff.

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by fatcat
Hungryhalibut posted:

Does nobody else walk on footpaths?

I cycle on footpaths, but keep that quiet.

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by Don Atkinson

HH, I do a lot of walking, but I've never seen poo bags hanging in trees. 

It sounds disgusting, but from my perspective it doesn't seem to be top of the political agenda this year !

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by dayjay

Are you sure that they are not actually growing on the trees, perhaps that's where those little black bags come from?

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by hungryhalibut

Have you really not seen this? Maybe it's a local thing!!

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by Drewy

I've seen it. People make me sick. 

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by dayjay

I have seen it on occasion, its a disgusting thing to do and doesn't make any sense at all to me, it surely takes more effort to pick it up and then hang it on a tree than it would to leave it and it wouldn't take much more to pick it up and dispose of it properly.  We're fortunate that there are poo bins along the routes we usually walk.

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by hungryhalibut
Don Atkinson posted:

HH, I do a lot of walking, but I've never seen poo bags hanging in trees. 

It sounds disgusting, but from my perspective it doesn't seem to be top of the political agenda this year !

The ridiculous referendum has buggered the country for years ahead, Labour are going down the pan and we'll have the Tories for twenty years, Trump will very likely cause a nuclear war and nobody can be arsed to deal with global warming, the biggest challenge of all. So that's politics. Shit in trees, that's what people are talking about in my street.

 

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by JamieWednesday

Blame the cyclists. If it wasn't for them, dogs could shit in the cycle lanes.

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by TOBYJUG

We have a small turfed area beside the house that's right on the roadside. Being on a relatively quiet lane off a high street, many dog walkers welcome this little patch, especially if I've been lazy and left the grass without a mow for a while.

however I'm often catching the buggers with a quick twitch of the curtains.

often find those little poo bags in my bins when left out on bin days even though there's a poo bin ten yards away.

perhaps the poo bins should have some satellite recognition for everyone with smart phones. Alerting when approaching from a poop app.

Posted on: 25 April 2017 by Mike-B

A sensible response for you Nigel,  an old news item on the same subject & something I did last weekend:    Back in 2016 there was a news report from Barking (no, not a joke) Barking & Dagenham about a pilot scheme to test the DNA of dogs & poo to catch owners who fail to clear up.    Samples of dog mess will be collected by officers & park rangers over three months & DNA will then be compared to a database of registered dogs.    Registering dogs for poo tests is voluntary but microchipping will be required by law from April 16.    Not sure where the DNA testing ended up,  just thought it relevant.  

My village (parish) council had a dog poo blitz about 2 years ago & its continued & grown,  numbers of poo bag disposal boxes installed & free poo bags for OAP's dogs etc.,  Whilst its been embraced & done wonders for village pavements (most of the time) it seems there is a rule for payments & no rules for countryside.   I live close to the entrance of an of an area of land held in trust for the village as a nature reserve.  Its an open hillside maintained by grass cutting sheep & humans for green paths & well maintained gates, styles etc., & it does all it says on the tin.  Except the entrance (near my house) with a 100 yard woodland path of steep slopes & steps up to the open hillside area & it seems as soon as the dog is in 'wild' natural it can be allowed to dump & the owner is not obliged to scoop it up.  I walk there 3 or 4 times a week & it is shameful.  Only last weekend myself & some trust people installed a poop bag box & dog poop notice printed specifically for the area,  then we scraped up the poop trail,  & as the nearest garden spade  guess who's volunteered to continue that pleasant task  ????

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by tonym

As a dog owner myself, this sort of thing really makes me mad! The first time we saw a dog-poo bag hanging in a tree we were charitable enough to think the people responsible were on a walk & would collect said bag on their return, but no, it was there for a week or so. I really cannot imagine what sort of mentality these t*ssers possess, it defies explanation.

We live in a very rural location & we know all the local dog owners. Most of us carry bags, but then, having discussed the matter (as you do) we all feel it's better to train our dogs to go out in the fields to do their business and let it rot down naturally, rather than collect it in bags and put it in bins. The local council recently put a doggie poo bin up at the end of our lane and I notice it does fill up, and you seldom see dog sh*t lying about. Apart from fox poo, which the dogs do like to have a good old roll around in. Lovely!

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by Richard Dane

We have a forest just over the road and there's a small bridle path nearby to access it from our house. Over recent years I have noticed a growing number of blue plastic "poop fruit" hanging from shrubs and small sapling trees near the entrance/exit to the bridle path.  The blue plastic bags lead me to conclude that this is the same person who is leaving these things behind at the end of their walk.  Like you Nigel, I ask myself "why?"  I can only conclude that while they feel they are "doing the right thing" by picking up their dog's business and bagging it, when they come to end of their walk they don't like the idea of taking it home, so, as it's quiet and usually nobody is around, they just sling it into the bushes.  The crazy thing is that it would be far better if they just didn't pick up the crap in the first place.  In this case, going a bit of the way to doing the right thing is actually far worse than if they just did nothing...

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by hungryhalibut

Absolutely. Perhaps they think the Council is round every couple of hours clearing up. If only!

I remembered a story earlier - my old boss, many years ago, was a distinguished gent of about 60, who lived in a house with a grass verge outside. A lady started letting her dog poo on the verge, at the same time every day, and he got really annoyed by it. So one morning he hid behind the hedge with a trowel. As soon as the dog had finished he shot out, quick as a flash, scooped up the poo, opened the lady's handbag, deposited the said poo in the bag and said 'madam, I think you've forgotten something'. That's the sort of direct action I like. 

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by Cbr600
Richard Dane posted:

We have a forest just over the road and there's a small bridle path nearby to access it from our house. Over recent years I have noticed a growing number of blue plastic "poop fruit" hanging from shrubs and small sapling trees near the entrance/exit to the bridle path.  The blue plastic bags lead me to conclude that this is the same person who is leaving these things behind at the end of their walk.  Like you Nigel, I ask myself "why?"  I can only conclude that while they feel they are "doing the right thing" by picking up their dog's business and bagging it, when they come to end of their walk they don't like the idea of taking it home, so, as it's quiet and usually nobody is around, they just sling it into the bushes.  The crazy thing is that it would be far better if they just didn't pick up the crap in the first place.  In this case, going a bit of the way to doing the right thing is actually far worse than if they just did nothing...

Richard, as it's a bridle path, count yourself lucky, could be bigger bags full of horse sh*t.

have to say guys I fund this thread very entertaining this morning, nearly split my sides with some of the comments

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by stuart.ashen

A recent post elsewhere stated that hanging poo bags killed a horse as it was attracted to them and ate them. Terrible. Dog owner myself, but why would you?

I am often seen in restaurants and pubs wearing my poo bag bum bag having forgotten to take it off. So if ever I am taken short....

Stu

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by james n

Pick it up or flick into the hedge out of the way. Never understood the bag it and leave it brigade, but then i don't understand why people drop litter either...

Posted on: 26 April 2017 by thebigfredc

I have always found the dog shit problem to be far worse in urban areas, especially where there are lots of flats. There is also more of the stuff about in Winter, presumably because owners don't want to be out in the dark and cold for very long, and the problem is actually worse on the continent (another reason to be pro-Brexit).

Given the above criteria, you will not be surprised to learn that last Novembers mini-break in Milan was something of a dog shit dodging ordeal for myself and Mrs Coleman. 

Ray