Question: I think you might have written about this before, but I am going to ask anyways. There is somebody in the neighborhood that does not pick up his dog’s poop. It is disgusting that people will leave dog poop on the side of the road and not even pick it up! Is there something we can do about it?
Answer: Yes, there is! I know because we have the same problem where I live.
I walk my dogs — Sunny and Indy — every day around our neighborhood. And there isn’t a single day that I haven’t seen abandoned dog poop on grassy spots along the roadway. Not a single day. I can’t imagine why people just leave their dog poop there. It’s not like they didn’t notice it. So why leave it there? What’s so hard about picking it up and throwing it away?
Not only is it neighborly — it’s also the law. According to the Hawaiian Humane Society, the city ordinance against littering includes a provision that applies to animals. It states that if a pet deposits feces on private or public property, owners are required to clean it up. You can call the Honolulu Police Department and report it.
Aside from the law, there’s a health reason to pick up your dog poop. It has been estimated that a single gram of dog feces can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which are known to cause cramps, diarrhea, intestinal illness and serious kidney disorders in humans. Two or three days worth of poop from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria to temporary close a bay to swimming, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
That’s serious.
So what can you do? I’d confront the culprit, if you ever find him or her. I’d order them to pick up their dog poop, otherwise you’ll have to report the incident. It’s only fair that pet owners do their part. They’re making the rest of us look bad!
Anyone got advice to add?
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17 Comments
Hello Cat,
I agree with you. If you can’t pickup after your dog, you shouldn’t have a dog.
Another reason why I have a cat. 30 million years of evolution have enabled felines to bury their crap. Evolution not so kind to dogs.
Ah yes, this is so incredibly annoying! In our neighborhood, it seems that the culprits do their thing on the evening walks, when no one is watching. I have yet to see someone not pick up after their dog during the day.
Great Q&A, well done!
“Two or three days worth of poop from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria to temporary close a bay to swimming, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”
WOW…!
@JMattHicks Enough reason to say out of any body of water after a heavy rain, especially on the North Shore or West Side where a lot of farms are.
The only other recourse is to bury the droppings OR burn it with Jet A. I’m certain the Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department of Health would frown on the latter.
Yeah, you hit a sore spot for me Cat! I live on a street that is popular for walking and I have one of the few yards with a nice lawn. I don’t mind when people let their dogs use the lawn and clean up themselves, but when the weather is nice I often have to clean up at least two or three poops a day! Then there are the people who bag the poop (when people are watching) then covertly put it into my ivy!!! When I trim the ivy I will usually find multiple bags of poop which has been there for a long time. NOT COOL!!! Once I even found a dirty diaper shoved into my ivy. Talk about gross!!!
@kaname650 Are you serious?! I can’t believe people would do that! I just don’t get it…
@kaname650 Put a video camera up… then post the videos on YouTube… should solve your problem 🙂
@kaname650 Oh boy, that is so wicked! The nerve of some people.
@Cat Yeah, it really sucks when I have to put on surgical gloves before I trim the ivy!
@dbjack I’ve thought about that, but I would have to mount the camera across the street to see the offenders.
@kaname650 @Cat I think you can buy the wireless cameras, probably have enough range to connect to them across the street. Of course the neighbor would have to agree to it… maybe they have a yard full of poop as well.
The real challenge is catching owner and pet in the act. If there are people around, an owner is less likely to leave their pet’s mess. Short of installing a hidden video camera in your shrubbery or mailbox, one might employ the assistance of neighbors to be on the lookout for each other’s yards. I’d even offer neighborhood kids (if there are any) a reward for reporting offenders. (Who ya gonna call? Sheetbusters!)
dog poop recovery by dog owners is one of those consciousness raising events of continuing social evolution. when i was a kid, if you saw a person walking behind their dog with a garden trowel, plastic bag and wearing surgical gloves, you would have been astonished. i think picking up after your dog, at least in American, began in New York City, where the soil of Central Park does not just have dog poop on it, it consists entirely of same. imagine if the proverbially objective ‘man from Mars’ came to Earth and saw a modern dog walker. he would report back to his home planet that dogs were the dominate form of life here, and that humans were their obedient servants. come to think of it maybe that’s not so far off.
The poop can also make its way to the streams/ocean and pollute them!
What about cats? Can we do anything about cat poop? There is ALWAYS cat poop in my yard from the cats that belong to another neighbor.
CAT,
As a “poop buddy”, I get irritated by owners who don’t pick up. Sometimes I watch to try and catch them. If I do I would follow them home and fling their dog’s poop in their yard! However, worse are cat poop…try weeding and finding their gold mine…Yikes! It is pass out time!!
@Annoddah_Dave I’m with you on cat poop. Stinks. And my dogs love to nosh on that stuff. Blech.
Can’t stand people that don’t pick up after their dogs….though the people that insist on letting their cats run free so they can spray in my garage & poop in my garden are worse!