I had the weirdest experience today. When Ron and I took our daily walk, we stopped to talk to a neighbor, we'll call her Karen, who was already talking to a fellow walker, we'll call him Oscar (well, actually those are their names.) She was explaining that she was tired of dogs pooping on her lawn - which in our neighborhood consists of stones, not grass. So to make a point, she pushed all the poop onto the sidewalk. I was the only one of the four who thought this was crazy. She seems to think (and the guys agreed) that this would make the point to the dog walkers that they need to pick up after their dogs. I disagreed.
I think
1 - This simply inconveniences the people who walk (without dogs.)
2 - Anyone inconsiderate enough not to pick up after their dogs will not change their ways because of this.
2 - After all the people walk through it, what does the sidewalk look like?
3 - This is an over-55 community. There are people who courageously walk with canes and walkers.
4 - If somebody slips on her sidewalk, they could probably sue. (Somebody tripped on a crack in my sidewalk years ago and they sued.)
I could go on and on. I only got through point number one because nobody would listen to me, so I'm appealing to my blogger friends. What do you think? I'm wondering if Ron and Oscar just agreed with her because she's young (for this neighborhood) and cute. Or am I wrong?
Perhaps the best route to take is stay out of the discussion. I do a lot more of that nowdays than I did ten years ago. Seems to make my life easier.
ReplyDeleteThis is quite the stinky subject (sorry, I couldn't resist). I have to agree with you, the old two wrongs don't make a right (but three lefts do).
ReplyDeleteInconsiderate dog owners will never change, but I'd think there may be other ways to handle this. There must be ordinances or HOA rules that can be enforced.
I've run into this issue before and it never really got resolved to my satisfaction. A good campfire story for someday.
PS: My daughter went to college in Grantham, PA. I'm familiar with Dillsburg. :c)
I agree with all your points - even both #2's!
ReplyDeleteWell, I would fix the numbering, but Diana's comment made me LOL.
ReplyDeleteI agree totally with point 1 and the first point 2. In my experience, people who don't pick up after their dogs will not change because they see poop on the sidewalk. On the other hand, I can understand Karen's actions - sometimes you just get so fed up with how inconsiderate people are that you do some useless (like move the poop to another inconvenient place, instead of disposing of it properly - like on the front porch of the dog's owner's home!).
ReplyDeleteI am pretty environmentally conscious, but when someone leaves a flyer on my windshield when I am in a parking lot, I get so annoyed that I ball it up and throw in on the pavement. I don't want it, I don't want it in my car, and I don't want to have to throw it away - to deal with it IN ANY WAY. I know that what I do isn't the right response, but I do it anyway, and forgive myself for this one irresponsible reaction to something I think should be ILLEGAL (to leave trash on people's cars, no matter HOW important you think your flyer is). So I understand where Karen is coming from.
I agree with you. Pushing the poop onto the sidewalk probably won't change the behavior of an inconsiderate dog walker and why would a person want to have all that poop on their sidewalk for any length of time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Karen could try a spray that will help deter pooping on her lawn.
I agree with points 1 and the first point 2 [ what a cruel sister you have !!}
ReplyDeleteIf they are inconsiderate enough not to pick it up in the first place then, I think you just have to clear it up yourself and also congratulate yourself that you are helping keep the neighbourhood neat and tidy.
Laurie and Odel have a good point too.
Yes, some people are inconsiderate and thoughtless. However, that doesn't mean that you have to do the same.
ReplyDeleteMy house seems to be a "Bermuda Triangle" for leaves and I don't even have a tree. The wind seems to blow them into a corner. Does that mean that I collect them and dump them into the street. I don't think so...
Picking up some dog poop takes a minute - get over it and move on.
I think she should put up a sign, PICK UP YOUR POOP! On her lawn..and then a security camera right next to it to see who's dog is not being pick up after!...THEN Send them a bill for lawn cleaning! MONEY talks..
ReplyDeleteMY Neighbor lets her dog on a very LONG leash lift his leg on a plant Im tring to very hard to get started at the edge of my driveway...Then her dog passed away...so it grew pretty good...NOW she got another MALE DOG and already she is allowing him to pee on my bush..
so i put all sorts of dead limbs and prickly bits of wood all around it so I hope this helps keep him out of reach...if it doesnt I think ILL put up a sign with a dog lifting his leg with a NO symbol around it!!
We're with you, Barbara. What Karen did won't make a bit of difference. After she cleans it up, maybe should should get a cute sign of a dog--behind down to the ground--with a red line through it. It should say, "not here."
ReplyDeleteThough I can understand her frustration, I doubt that what she did will make one bit of difference. We had a neighbor once whose dog pooped right outside our fenceline. We tried to wait him out on the clean-up topic, but it was summer and the smell got so bad that we ended up cleaning it up just so we could use our deck. We put the bag (sealed) on his doorstep. He got the message, and we didn't have a problem after that.
ReplyDeleteYeah irresponsible dog owners are a major nuisance worldwide. The poop on the front yard is something which really annoys me. What annoys me even more is poop on the footpath. So what Karen has done is move HER annoyance onto the footpath where it becomes an annoyance for others. The dog owner lives on another planet so would not even get the message. Being an over 55 community I would expect there is a committee to follow up on breaches of local rules. I am sure dog owners are expected to clean up after their dogs, so a report to the committee should be high on Karens agenda.
ReplyDeleteOh, I forgot to mention... in our community, there is one yard with a nicely painted rock that says "Here lies the last dog that pooped in my yard!". Pretty funny (I thought), and might actually do the trick.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! I do like the idea of a clever little sign in the yard.
ReplyDelete