<p>S just came back from helping to clean up a local stream with a community service group he’s part of. He says that one thing they found lots of was plastic bags filled with dog poop. I see this on our local walking/bike path. People apparently let their dogs poop, pick it up, put it in a bag, and then leave the bag on the side of the path.</p>
<p>Why would someone do that? Why go to the effort if you’re not going to go all the way? Will anyone here admit do doing this?</p>
<p>What things do people do that make no sense to you?</p>
<p>Ok, I’ll admit to doing it, sort of. I often leave a bag of poop on a trail that I walk, usually behind a rock on the side of the trail, and then pick it up on the way home. I do pick it up then, though, and have even gone back once I’ve forgotten.
But I imagine that people intending to pick it up on the way back, and then forgetting or missing it somehow, is how this happens. Yuck.</p>
<p>I would not be surprised to find if we had this problem in our area. Our neighbors tend to not pick up at all. There is only one or two who I notice that will pick it up. The alderman for the area always mentions picking up after pets and leash laws in his newsletter but I’ve not heard of anyone being fined for this. </p>
<p>I would feel guilty if I did that, and I actually feel guilty about using plastic bags for picking up the mess in the yard.</p>
<p>Here in NYC most people are very conscientious about picking up dog poop-- most of the time. Of course there are some who don’t, but there are often others on the street with the dog walkers and we NYers are known to glare at our fellow NYers when they do something we don’t like. So it’s a social pressure not to leave it on the sidewalk or in the gutter. They just don’t dare!</p>
<p>My brother and my dad both WON’T pick up after their dogs. They don’t live in NYC, but there are definitely people who walk their dogs (or let them run free in the neighborhood sometimes), let them go in other people’s yards or public spaces, and don’t pick up after them. It is mortifying to be related to them… but I can sure vouch for the fact that there are people like that out there. :(</p>
<p>On a similar note, people who let their dogs out on those invisible fences without supervision. My mom has now been “confronted” twice by two large dogs while out walking my pibble who busted through their invisible fences. Luckily, these dogs were friendly, but really people? Watch your dogs! Same with people who leave their dogs chained up all day. Come on, now.</p>
<p>I can understand walking your dog and not picking up after it. When I say understand, I don’t mean I can excuse it. I think it’s selfish and disgusting. But I can figure out the thought process. After all, there are certainly times when I look at my dog’s poop and think “Uggg, I wish I didn’t have to pick that up!”</p>
<p>But, unless you’re moonchild and planning on coming back for it, I don’t understand the logic of picking it up, bagging it, and the leaving it. I don’t see who it benefits. It’s just adding trash to the situation.</p>
<p>I think those people think that at least it’s not sitting naked out there. It’s been bagged, so it’s somehow “better.” </p>
<p>Which of course it isn’t. At least if it’s unbagged, it will disintegrate. If it’s bagged, it’ll last as long as the plastic bag lasts – forever.</p>
<p>ETA: Romani, we have an invisible fence and my dogs would never never never go beyond its borders. The pain is too great.</p>
<p>Occasionally I forget my baggy when we go for a walk (maybe 3-4 times a year). I try to bring an extra baggy next time and see if I spot the errant pile to pick up then. But sometimes it snows between walks, so that doesn’t always work. And once I dropped the baggy somewhere during our walk, and am not sure where it ended up… just know it wasn’t in my hand at the end. But can’t imagine leaving the bag (or just the pile) on a regular basis. </p>
<p>What makes me crazy is that someone with a big dog (mine is also good sized) lets their dog do its business on the side of the road near our driveway regularly. I have to take a flashlight if I take my dog down there in the dark because I might step in it (I know it isn’t from my dog, we pick up). THAT is uncommonly rude, IMHO. Once I caught a guy in my headlights at night letting his dog go there. I rolled down the window and asked if he planned to pick it up. He clearly had no baggy… grrr… I picked it up the next morning. Not sure if he is the “regular offender” or not, I didn’t recognize him.</p>
<p>There was a great This American Life piece a year or two ago about an apartment complex that made all dog owners provide a DNA swab from their dog, and they matched “misplaced” dog piles to the actual dog. Fined the owners after the first couple of offenses, too. :D</p>
<p>I always take bags and always pick up, unless it is on our own property. When I pick up, I carry the bag until I encounter a trash can or get home. I have occasionally thought about leaving it and picking it up on the return swing, but I’m afraid that either I will forget or someone will see me leaving it there and think I am a Bad Owner. In fact, when my dog is pooping in the grass along the road, I always take out the bag with a big flourish and stand there ostentatiously prepared to pick up the instant she moves away, just in case anyone is watching! :D</p>
<p>Don’t know about NYC, but in the OP, if one is out in nature, it would seem far more kind to leave the poop and forget about the plastic bag. At least poop is biodegradable. I’m with the OP, I don’t get it.</p>
<p>If we’re permitted to discuss something besides dog poop…</p>
<p>There are a couple of young women in my department who just cannot for the life of them make it to work on time. I’m not talking hours late, just 4 to 10 minutes. Every single day. They’re hourly, so it matters. They have been reprimanded, their pay has been docked, and still – 4 to 10 minutes late every day.</p>
<p>Here’s what I can’t understand: How do you not do whatever it takes to get out the door 10 minutes earlier than you have been? Especially since you’ve been in trouble for it? Can’t you set the alarm a little earlier? Can’t you cut something out of your morning routine? Can’t you make yourself move a little more quickly? I just don’t get it.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why, when you are trying to merge onto a highway, cars will actually speed up in order to keep you from getting on. WHY?!?! Didn’t THEY have to get on the highway at some point? :mad:</p>
<p>Just came back to this thread and feel a need to defend my poop bagging choices…;)</p>
<p>We do have hiking trails where I live, which we walk regularly. But these are primarily horse trails, and they are fairly well-traveled. If I just left the poop on the ground, someone, even a horse, might step in it. It’s much more considerate to pick it up, stow it behind a rock or fence-post, and get it on our way back. We usually walk three miles, and if I’m just starting out, it’s a pain to drag the smelly thing with us. (We only have a few trash cans- apparently they spoil the faux-rural feel of the neighborhood :rolleyes:)
And as for the biodegradability–I use biodegradable bags. Available at your local Petco.
If I were in a more urban setting like when we walk down by the beach, I’d just bag it and carry it until I see a can.</p>
<p>Some dog owners complain about the horse poop on the trails. I don’t mind it. For one, we wouldn’t even have the trails if it weren’t for the horses, and two, horse poop is almost like mowed grass. Not nearly as stinky as dog’s.
Ahh. Now, on to the cars and highways.</p>
<p>How about people who walk their dog on these long retractable leashes and the dog jumps up on you (with muddy paws) when you’re dressed for work and they don’t pull the dog back at all – they just look at the dog with the bemused smile of an indulgent parent?</p>
<p>I grew up with dogs. I love dogs. I don’t love other people’s dogs when they’re creating a dry cleaning bill for me.</p>
<p>Why do people bring grocery carts into drugstores and block the aisles with them? Are they buying 10,000 Q-tips? </p>
<p>Why do people bring their coffee onto commuter trains and leave the half-empty cup on the floor of the train where it will inevitably tip over, spill, and make the floor sticky and gross for anyone in the next 2-3 rows?</p>