Dog poop is one of those things that raises everyone’s ire. It stinks, it’s a health risk and it’s plain unpleasant.

Pick up poop. A home-made sign in Wellington, New Zealand.

I found this article astonishing. It seems that one or more dog owners in a luxury condo building in Baltimore, USA, not only allow their dogs to poop inside the building, but they don’t clean up afterwards.

Some are suggesting DNA tests to help deal with the issue:

Under the proposal, every dog at Scarlett Place and guest dogs would be swabbed for a DNA sample — owners would then have to pay $50 each to cover the test and supplies. Dog owners would also pay an extra $10 per month per dog to cover the cost of having the building’s staff scoop poop and send it to a lab. Feces, like saliva, contains tell-tale DNA.

If the lab identifies your dog as the pooper, that’s a $500 fine. …

Dog excrement has been found in the elevators, in the long, carpeted hallways, in the common areas.

[Via Doggone DNA - baltimoresun.com.]

That sounded like a great idea, at first, but the article went on to point out some drawbacks to the plan. One suggestion was that a dog owner could be ‘framed’ by someone with a grudge.

I guess I’m most shocked at the idea that some dog owners are so cavalier as to just not pick up after their pet inside the building. We already know people don’t bother outdoors.

Amazing. And time those dog owners became a bit more responsible.

Dog poop seems to be one of the biggest issues that determine where dogs may and may not go in a city. In downtown Wellington, New Zealand, dogs are banned from the city centre during daytime. There are certain areas of Wellington where they are allowed off-leash though.

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In one area of Mumbai officials are considering banning dogs completely because owners are just not picking up after them:

Dog poop is spoiling the Marine Drive, says the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), proposing to ban pets on the 4-km stretch. …

The BMC’s cleanliness and sanitation bylaws of 2006 make a pet owner responsible for clearing poop on Mumbai’s pavements. … everyday at least two violators are fined by the clean-up marshals for not clearing their dog’s poop.

…The issue came into the spotlight some two years ago when columnist Tavleen Singh refused to remove the poop of her dog. … “poop is bio-degradable and the BMC wants us to clean it up with plastic, which is not.”

Churchgate resident Tunali Mukherjee, who regularly walks her German Shepherd-Labrador cross-breed, said, “There are no dustbins on the promenade. Even if I pick up the poop where do I throw it?” she asked. …

Cities like Paris, New York and London have come up with “poop-scoop and bagger”, a pickup device that has a scoop for picking up waste and has a plastic bag lining it which can be used to remove the waste.

[Via : Proposed fiat: clean up poop or take dogs off Marine Drive.]

What do you think about the issue of using plastic bags for picking up dog poop. As we try to take plastic out of the landfills it leaves us with a bit of a dilemma. What alternatives are there to plastic bags? And what about the problem of there being no rubbish bins around?

What are your thoughts on these matters? Add them to the comments.

It’s more than a year since the City of Sydney introduced dog-friendly policies and off-leash parks. Now they’re finding owners are being more responsible and fewer animals are ending up in the Pound:

… figures show huge increases in the number of dogs in all Sydney metropolitan council areas. …

But this apparent dog boom may simply be a boom in responsible pet ownership. Council campaigns encouraging owners to microchip and register their dogs are working, councils and veterinaries said.

… microchipping had reduced the number of animals in the council’s shelter.

…Dog-friendly strategies encourage residents to get dogs or people with dogs to move to the area.

The Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, who has championed the social benefits of dog ownership, said the majority of feedback she had received since the designation of new off-leash parks in April last year had been positive.

[Via : Chips on shoulder or barking mad? City gone to dogs.]

A recent report tells us that Wellington wants to get tough on dog owners:

Councillors at today’s Strategy and Policy meeting agreed to consult Wellington City residents on a number of changes to the Council’s Dog Policy and Animals Bylaw.

The proposed changes will go out for public consultation on 26 June [2009] and include:

• a requirement for dog owners to carry a dog poo receptacle and dispose of their dog’s poo.

The news media put a figure on what will happen to dog owners who can’t produce a poop bag:

Owners caught walking their pooch in Wellington without a way to dispose of doggy poo will face a $300 fine.

I have several problems with this:

1. Not carrying a poop bag is circumstantial evidence of nothing. I have 2 dogs myself and generally carry 2 bags and a spare. Sometimes I forget the spare. I can easily see an occasion where I’ve used both bags to pick up after my dogs and have dropped the filled bags in a rubbish bin, meaning I’m no longer carrying a bag. That doesn’t mean I’m a wrongdoer who doesn’t pick up after her dogs.
2. There are people who just don’t pick up after their dogs, ever. I believe some of them will carry a bag, but just not bother to use it.
3. There is actually already a law about litter that provides for a maximum fine of $5,000¹. The Council could apply that fine to people caught not picking up their dog’s poop.
4. Wellington actually has a bigger problem of litter and waste.

Every day when I take the dogs for a walk there is litter and waste all along our path, and yes, that includes dog poop. But the dog poop is only a small proportion of all the mess.

Some of the litter is quite dangerous. I wear good walking shoes, but the dogs feet are exposed. We often find ourselves walking over pieces of broken glass (I can’t see and avoid every bit of broken glass along our path).

Rubbish beside the road.

My little dogs are close to the ground. On every walk they snaffle and eat something — usually I don’t even know what. Last week Oshi ate silver foil, and a bit of tissue, and some bread that I knew about.

The litter in Wellington is unsightly at best and unhygienic and dangerous at worst — to both people and dogs.

Clearly we Wellingtonians (and perhaps visitors) at large are careless about our rubbish and how we dispose of it. Rather than arbitrarily fining dog owners for some imagined transgression I’d like to see the Council get tough on those people who are actually creating the problem.

• Identify the people creating litter, and apply the existing laws.
• Create a ‘Beautiful, clean Wellington’ campaign to raise awareness and pride.
• Add signs in buses and public places encouraging people to keep Wellington clean and tidy.
• Increase the availability of rubbish bins in places where people walk dogs, such as the official off-leash areas.
• Provide free poop bags with every dog registration. Send them out with Rates notices. Make it easy to buy the Council’s poop bags online.

There are just a few ideas I came up with in a couple of moments’ thought. I’m sure there are more and better ideas to be found.

Have your say in the Comments below.

¹ Litter Act 1979 No 41 (as at 30 September 2008), Public Act – New Zealand Legislation:

Offences and penalties

15 Deposit of litter in public place or on private land

• (1) Every person commits an offence and is liable, in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $5,000 … who deposits any litter or, having deposited any litter, leaves it
  • (a) in or on a public place; or
  • (b) in or on private land without the consent of its occupier.
• (2) …Where … the litter deposited is of such a nature as is likely to endanger any person or to cause physical injury or disease or infection to any person coming into contact with it (being in particular any bottle whether broken or not, glass, article containing glass, sharp or jagged material, or any substance of a toxic or poisonous nature) that person is liable
  • (a) In the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 month, or to a fine not exceeding $7,500, or to both;

On 12 June 2002 the Wellington City Council reported back on the results of trials of dedicated dog poop bins at several venues around the city:

Purpose of Report To report back on the results of the Dog Doo Bin Trial and provide recommendations for the way forward. …

Results from the trial reveal that the project has achieved some improvement as the bins have been accepted without damage, they are being well used and the subject parks appear to be gradually becoming cleaner.

[Via : DOG POO BIN COMMITTEE REPORT.]

Update, July 2009: it seems the company that manufactures these bins is Stallion Plastics in Palmerston North, New Zealand.