Monday, October 03, 2005

Pet Peeve


One of my pet peeves is dog pooh on the sidewalk. Everyday there is a stretch of sidewalk my boys and I travel to and from school that more often than not is littered with dog pooh. You wouldn't think this area would have a problem, because it is a well to do area, but they do. Now that the leaves are falling Its camouflaged.

What led me to this post is this morning I saw a man leaving his house with two dogs, off leash, and heading towards the doggy bathroom I like to call the sidewalk. There were no grocery bags in tow to pick up the packages that his dogs were going to leave. Although I never saw the actual act of defecation, I wouldn't be surprised to find a fresh pile of steaming pooh on my way to pick D up.

If you are not going to pick it up maybe you shouldn't have the privilege of having a dog let alone two. I am not a pet person. I admit it, but I don't hate them. People should be able to have a pets if they can properly handle taking care of them. One of the reasons we don't have pets is because I would be the pooper scooper. Its not fair to the dogs or your neighbours.

The funny thing is when I first noticed the dogs and their owner, I noticed that one of the dogs was urinating and I quickly turned away to give the dog some privacy.

7 comments:

ABQ Mom said...

I've seen signs in peoples yards saying "please leave your name and address so my dogs can come poo in your yard too."
And if they have dogs, that means they have a backyard, so why can't the dogs just use their own backyard? Why? Because the owners don't want to have to clean it up!

Philosophical Karen said...

What bugs me is the people who walk their dogs without a leash during the busy school "rush hour". And if you challenge them on it, the response is always the same. "He won't hurt you." (That's not the point. There's a bylaw, stupid.)

Even the lady whose big dog poked its nose on me somewhere it didn't belong didn't even apologize, just said, "Oh, he won't hurt you." No? Well, I guess it doesn't hurt to have a big dog stick its nose in your behind when you're walking along minding your own business, but it's still RUDE. And if the dog was on a leash as it should have been, that wouldn't have happened.

So, Alyson, just in case it wasn't obvious, I'm with you on the Pet Peeve thing. ;-)

Proud Mum said...

Is it not a law (or at least a by-law) up there that the owner needs to scoop up the poop?

That's exactly why we don't have a dog, either. Give me a poopy diaper over having to scoop poop with a bag anyday!

ABQ Mom said...

sorry I have another dog related pet peeve! Dogs that bark all night long. I swear some night I feel like I'm sleeping in a dog kennel. (I used to work in one in high school, I know what it sounds like and have had plenty of experience scooping poop!) I know one neighbor works nights so thats why her dogs stay outside but her daughter is home, why can't she let the dogs in? Then another neighbor has his hunting dogs outside all the time. Come on, if you're gonna leave them outside at least give them something to chew on so they're not barking at the neighbors dogs all night long!

Sariah said...

I'm so not a dog person. When we were in Preston, we had some neighbors across the street that would let out their dog every morning about 6 am and watch the dog as it went to other people's yards to poop. They let the dog back in, and that was that. I wanted to scream at them "Excuse me Mr. Rudeness! I have a TODDLER that plays in the yard! There are lots of kids around here! Clean up your crap!" Never had the guts, though.

I also hate dogs that bark at you for no reason. I don't see why, if you are walking down a sidewalk, a dog has to bark at you from inside their house or behind a very tall wood fence that you can't see through. Scares me to death.

I'm with Karen. I don't care if your dog won't hurt me. I don't want it coming anywhere near me.

BTW, I'm also scared to death of the monsters. I swear all dogs look at me with evil in their eyes, thinking "Mmmm, she looks especially tasty."

Philosophical Karen said...

Hey Sariah, we used to live in Preston (a neighbourhood in Cambridge, Ontario). I hate those barking dogs, too, especially behind a fence where you can't see them.

Proud Mum, all the entrances to our bicycle path are posted with large signs showing several bylaws: mandatory poop and scoop, mandatory leashes, and no motorized vehicles. Unfortunately, people ignore all of them. (Not all people, just stupid ones.)

The worst time to be on the path is in the spring. Dog poop gets buried in the snowbanks all winter, and then when the snow melts...

Anonymous said...

I AM AN ANIMAL LOVER AND I DO WALK MY DOG BUT I PICK UP THE POOP AND HE IS ALWAYS ON A LEASH. THEY NEED EXERCISE AND IT HAS BEEN ADVISED BY MY VET TO WALK MY DOG WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST WE DO???