Doggy doo, or doggy don’t
Poo bin/damesnet
It is always disappointing when things seem to be going backwards rather than forwards. And nowadays it seems to be happening at every level –whether we are talking about global peace, disease control, wealth distribution, xenophobia, racism, nuclear proliferation, barrier erecting… and dog shit on the pavement.
“I beg your pardon?” splutters the Damesnet-reading Colonel of Tunbridge Wells (not sure how many subscribers of this ilk we’ve managed to sign up, but I live in hope).
The fact is that at street level – literally – this was a war I’d thought we’d won. When my kids were little and we pounded the thoroughfares of south London one of the first things they learned to say was ‘Mind the muck’. I became adept at pushing their buggy around the piles of doggy doo left scattered on the pavement, and once they grew too old to be wheeled around they learned the skill of hopping smartly to one side to avoid the offending crap.
Then, wonder of wonders, things began to improve. The local council created dog-free areas in the parks and commons so we could let our little darlings play in the grass without fear of contracting toxocariasis. The council also put up signs warning offending dog owners of prosecution if their pets fouled the streets, and they installed special bins for waste disposal, to make it as easy as possible.
And that really seemed to work – the whole issue was raised in the general public’s awareness and everyone rose to the occasion. We parents perfected the art of looking askance at people whose dogs were crapping on the pavement, thereby shaming if not actually naming. The streets became cleaner and everyone lived happily ever after.
This last, of course, only happens in fairy tales, and nowadays it is as if that brief period of time when the pavements were shit-free never happened, rather like in the early 90s when the Berlin Wall came down and we all naively thought that the world’s problems were solved for ever.
Yes, the wheel has turned full circle, the pavements are littered with little piles of poo and I’m back to perfecting the hop, skip and jump technique as I walk along. “But why oh why?” I hear you asking. Well, there are many theories, none of which I believe in; one such example is that as areas become gentrified, people are better educated in the risks posed by dog poo, and they modify their attitudes and behaviour accordingly. Then once an area has become so upmarket that the dog owners themselves are no longer actually walking their own dogs, this task is taken over by dog walkers, who can’t actually afford to live in the area where they walk the dogs and are therefore not that bothered about cleaning up after the mess that might be created.
An east London borough is introducing a scheme where people who walk their dogs in the local parks will have to have their pets’ DNA tested, the aim being that those who allow their dogs to foul public areas could be tracked down and fined. Now I find this somewhat bizarre – from a financial point of view it is hard to see how much revenue it could generate when set against the costs of implementation, and frankly, actually getting people to pay up could be tricky. There are certain dog owners I wouldn’t want to go near, let alone demand money from them, and they are the ones I see coolly watching while their dogs poop.
So if anyone knows how best to deal with this, answers on a postcard please.
Take the owner’s photo, and that of the pooch, and send it to your local authority, asking that they set up a name and shame page on their website – and ask them to pursue the offending owner for the fine. It doesn’t often happen in our area, but I don’t see why we should all be tarred with the same brush.
I cover my bit of street with ‘no dogs’ – a green gel from the pet shop and it keeps my patch clean for when I get out of the car. Or there are blue granules to sprinkle around the grass area called something like ‘scam’. One dog offender has stopped leaving a huge pile in front of my house now. Someone in my street circles the shit with chalk and some times leaves a comment like “disgusting”. Get the chalk out?
I agree that this has become an awful problem. I think it is far worse in winter because people who might normally pick up their dog poo cannot be bothered in the cold/wet weather. Also, as far as parks are concerned, in the spring and summer months they are mowed regularly, which does make a difference. I also agree about the waste of money of the DNA approach. Much better, in my view, to have a big poster campaign to the effect of “Owners who do not clear up their dog mess are dirty and disgusting and can be fined £1000.” Maybe that might re-introduce the shame factor, along with Louella’s good suggestion.
I like the idea of the poster campaign. Surely the shame factor is a powerful element?