I grew up in the 70’s (yes I’m that old) and into the 80s and 90s there was a dog close at hand. Back then I, and other dog owners, never really spend much time picking up their deposits. The general rule was leave it where it fell, though if you were kind at heart and it was a hard deposit you would gently nudge it into the gutter.
In the 80’s there was a campaign started in Denmark where people would go around and put a little flags into the deposits they found on the pavements. It did the trick, somewhat, over the years more and more people started to pick up after their mutts. I can only guess that this turn of event also got the ball rolling over here and people started to pick up after their mutts.
Though this event didn’t spread to Paris, while I lived there I learned a brilliant skill. Keep one eye one the stunning architecture and the beautiful people and with the other you scan the path ahead, so that you can hot step past the many deposits that covers the French capitals streets. Who have never heard about the “PooperScooter” that zoomed about in Paris and picked up from lazy owners. It’s been a while since I was last in Paris, so I don’t know if it is better now.
In the last many years I haven’t always owned a dog but I have always been a dog lover. It saddens me to see that there is still a good amount of people who don’t pick up after their best friend. This is where the I have made good use of the skill I learned in Paris, though it is not one you really want to use.
Not picking up after your dog is right up there with RLJ – Red Light Jumpers, cyclist who makes the cyclist who DO stop for red – look bad. I hate to think what other people think about me when I out walking Tilley and we happen to walk past someone else’s deposit, that she didn’t create and I didn’t pick up.
I’m not sure what I find the saddest: A deposit left laying on the pavement or in the grass in the park etc. Vs. the left plastic bag with a deposit in hanging from a tree on a nature walk, next to the entrance to a park etc. I think it is the latter, since the owner has done something, but couldn’t be bothered to do the rest, but went out of their way to tuck it into a drystone wall. Please take it home or to the nearest bin.
Yes, you could have forgotten a bag or not seen the deposit being produced. But there isn’t really an excuse for not having one – 300 Tesco Everyday Value Nappy Bags for £0.35 – yes that is 35 pence for three hundred bags! Even if you have to double bag, it is still much cheaper than a normal doggy poo bags, thanks for the heads up Varity.
So please folk pick up from your K-9, we all only want the best for our little fury friends.
I wrote this many moons ago and was planing to take some pictures of the worst offenders, but never really got stated. But today is a good time to post it even with the lack of photos, because :
Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, has teamed up again with Keep Britain Tidy for The Big Scoop on June 13th 2014.