A neighbor writes (I think non-passively aggressively):
May I request that you post the following about reminding neighborhood dog owners to observe proper dog walking/scooping etiquette? Thanks!
Dear Dog Owners of Wallingford –
Just a friendly reminder to pick up your canine’s feces immediately after he or she deposits it. Not only is it a health hazard, but you can be fined if you do not pick it up. Please read the information here to refresh your memory as to why it is so important, and the potential financial consequences.
Understand if you have forgotten a bag, if so – please go back and pick it up. Or if you see someone else who was not courteous, please pay it forward, and pick up that.
Many thanks for helping keep our neighborhood healthy.
– Your Neighbors
Not sure about the potential financial consequences: I’d lay down money that a ticket hasn’t been written for that crime in years, if ever, in this city, but the rest holds, I’d say.
I agree whole wholeheartedly. Would be even better if the same rules applied to cats – for some reason it’s okay for cats to roam around off leash and poop where they will. Still a health hazard.
Also be good to add this nugget to the OP:
The trash guys can and do refuse to pick up garbage cans with dog poop in them. Lots of dog walkers don’t know this, and put their baggies in neighbor’s trash close to the bowel evacuation ground zero. Please don’t do this. I have no idea what you’re supposed to do with the bags of poop, but don’t put them in my garbage can. I think the odds are pretty good it won’t be noticed, but if you’re going to do top crimes of that nature, put it in your own can.
Pet waste goes in the garbage, preferably double-bagged. It does not go in yard waste or recycling. Check out the city’s site about what you should do with pet waste:
http://www.seattle.gov/util/myservices/lookitupwhatsaccepted/yardwaste/petwastelitter/
Also, cat litter should be bagged and put in garbage as well–NOT flushed down the toilet–cat feces contain bacteria that is harmful to animals in Puget Sound–where all our waste water goes in the end.
There is no question that dog owners should pick up the dog poo. I’d like to second the comment about cats. Our kids’ daycare center has to spend hundreds if dollars and multiple hours each year combatting cat feces in the kids’ sandbox. Yuck! Cats are not allowed to roam anymore than dogs are, and according to multiple vets I’ve consulted, cats don’t need to roam the neighborhood as some cat owners claim. Plus cats kill song birds. Please keep your cats indoors Wallingford!
Agree- and another comment to dog owners- can folks please respect leash laws?
I’ve never had a problem with the trash guys picking up properly bagged or double-bagged dog poop. The key is that it is properly bagged, as Barb notes above – and that means also that the bag is tied or knotted shut. As for tickets, The authorities have issued tickets for unlicensed pets and no poop-picker-upper supplies – usually in local parks. I don’t think they have the enforcement resources to do it all the time but they do it enough to remind you that you’ll pay the price for failing to pick up poo. And thanks to the original poster because I just remembered I need to replace the bags on my dog’s leash!
Wow, the posts and comments on Wallyhood really explain the reputation Wallingford has in the city. Notes about recycling put in the wrong place, lengthy discussion about dog shit.
Be happy your child isn’t gunned down in the street by a cop for jay-walking!
#afluenza #firstworldproblems
Hey Runyararo,
It’s a neighborhood blog about a small neighborhood, where neighbors talk about neighborhood issues like recycling, gardening, yard sales and so on. If you want to talk about Syria or Gun Control or Abortion, there are forums for that.
Being annoyed by dog shit is a worldwide phenomenon, and not limited to Wallingford.
It’s illegal to let your dog even walk on private property let alone crap on private property even if you pick it up. The Poop & Scoop law applies to public property.
Steve
We often have people drop their single-bag poop into our empty can. Every once in a while, we don’t see it and drop the trash in. The last time this happened, the poop exploded. The trash men were NOT happy when they emptied the can and had poo come out. (They yelled at me to bag my poop properly. We don’t have a dog.) Please, take your poo home and drop it in your trash bag. It will prevent a lot of messes and help keep our neighborhood garbage collectors happy. 🙂
BTW, dog owners who find themselves without bags-on-hand do come back to pick up later.
A month ago, I went out to find some poop in our sidewalk strip. Grumbling (as I am wont to do), I headed inside to get a poop bag — only to have a nice fellow pull up on his bike, pull out a bag and pick up the poop.
He apologized for not getting it the first time — had no bag at the time. I said no problem — really appreciated him coming back to take care of it.
Kudos to all other Wallingford dog owners who do this!
prickly plants work wonderfully.
I was walking a dog in the hood on trash day, had a full bag in my hand, taking it back to the dog’s house, and the trash driver actually stopped his truck and offered I relieve myself of said bag.
Dogs love relieving themselves on my parking strip, I must have an awesome tree(!), two dog owners have left the poop behind in the last week. Not cool.
I myself have been caught without a bag, but I will always drive back to pick it up, and have even used big fallen leaves to pick it up. I just can figure how people think their dog’s poop should be somebody else’s responsibility.
“Or if you see someone else who was not courteous, please pay it forward, and pick up that.”
LOL. Good luck with that.
@8, I don’t think anybody is equating concerns about dog poop on private property with world hunger. I also think it’s a reasonable thing to complain about, as it affects our neighbors, sanitation workers, et al.
I think what this article, and many of the comments, speaks to is the widening gap in behavior between the responsible dog owners and the irresponsible ones.
Some of us (and I include myself here even though I no longer have a dog of my own) DO decide to carry along a bag or two and help clean up after discourteous people. Wish I could say that is on private property, but frankly, the dog feces left behind in our Wallingford parks is more than enough to, er, handle.
Is that the right thing to do? I don’t know, just as I don’t know if it’s “right” to confront some dog owners when they’re leaving mess behind, or running their dogs unlawfully off-leash. One standard answer seems to be, “OH YOU JUST HATE DOGS,” and I have no idea what to do with that, either.
But come to think of it, I wouldn’t mind a scenario where the City fined the daylights out of the irresponsible dog owners….then applied a share of the revenues toward maintaining our parks. There would be some justice in that…
Until then, we do what we can. I like the original post, and I like many of the comments that followed. These are appeals to ALL dog owners to be considerate, and to treat out neighborhood with care. I’m for it.