Mostly, I’m a responsible citizen. I pay my parking tickets, my taxes, and my library fines. But for some reason, I can’t bring myself to pick up my dog’s poop. It just doesn’t seem like a very big deal to me; a few turds in the grass by the side of the road doesn’t hurt anyone, now does it? If it’s right smack in the middle of the sidewalk, well, yes, that’s a different story, but even then… I sometimes don’t have a bag with me. I know what you’re saying to yourself. You’re saying, “If everyone thought like you, we’d have giant mountains of dogshit on every corner!” True, but everyone doesn’t think like me. Most people do pick up their dog’s shit, and for that reason, my dog’s shit is of little matter. So if you’ve stepped on some dogshit and you live in Northwest, there’s a likely chance it came from my dog. And I’m sorry… but not that sorry.

–Anonymous

100 replies on “I DON’T PICK UP MY DOG’S POOP”

  1. Me either. I am the same, a responsible citizen who pays their library fines. I even volunteer and put together community events. I just can’t seem to get around to picking up my dogs poo. I’ve even thought of numerous excuses to give should someone yell at me for it one of these days. I don’t really know when this trend started and I am not that old. But I do remember the days when if you stepped in dog poo you cleaned it off and were on your way. I don’t think people should take their dog to someone else’s yard but come on, dogs poo and the poo outside. And I ain’t touching it!

  3. & this is why I HATE YOU PEOPLE! Are you the assholes bringing your dog over to plant land mines between my back door & my car? Well thanks a lot…you made my 5 year old late to his own birthday party because of the GIANT & TOTALLY NASTY turd the poor kid stepped the other day. Its not hurting anyone? Tell that to the upholstery on the inside of my car and the toothbrush I had to sacrifice to get your dog’s crap of my kid’s shoes, socks & pant legs…not to mention the smear that ended up on the birthday present, which then had to be tossed away. Yeah, that’s right, you made me throw away my child’s birthday present. “Responsible” you say…bullshit! A responsible person would either pick up their dog’s shit, or realize that your not mature enough to have a dog. So, if you live in Ballard, I’m talking to you. STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY LAWN…I’M INSTALLING CAMERAS AND YOU MAY FIND MY BABY’S DIRTY DIAPERS ON YOUR FRONT PORCH SOME DAY!

  5. Just pick up your dogs poop it’s just plain common courtesy. With the population/concentration of people and their pets it does become a nuisance, not to mention the pollution from all the animal crap run off into sewers and then lakes and rivers. As the signs say in many places, “I don’t swim in your toilet, don’t pee in my pool”. Have a little decency. All you do is carry a plastic bag, turn it inside out, grab the poop, reverse bag, throw in nearest trash receptacle, takes but a few minutes. Show a little responsibility and courtesy please.

  6. Sometimes we all have to grow up and do the hard thing. Being an adult means that in order to live in the kind of world and society we want to live in, we behave accordingly.

    Do you want to live in a world covered in dog poop? Then PICK IT UP.

    Now, there’s the urine. That’s a problem. For some reason, people in Manhattan seem to have no problem walking down streets coated completely in dog urine. What’s up with that?

  7. Tim, you are a fucking idiot. In this day of oil spills, toxic waste, traces of lead in baby toys, and other chemicals poisoning people; you’re worried about dog shit polluting our water? What the fuck is wrong with you? I sincerely hope you were joking about that. But if you weren’t, you are the exact reason I’m moving away from this shitty town…..Polluting our waters..you fucking moron. If you’re that concerned about shit polluting our waters, go find the bums that shit on sidewalks. Frankly picking up dog shit is gross, but if you live in a city, its something you have to do as a dog owner. But don’t say you have to do it because it pollutes….www.raincityradio.org

  8. you sicken me. you suck if you don’t pick up your dog’s poo. i have 2 large poop machines, and no, it’s not fun to pick up steaming stinky piles of shit but i have a basic respect for others. i don’t want to step in poop (in fact i have a terrible aversion to shoe poo) and i’m sure nobody else likes it either. so stop being a big pussy and pick it up, you pussy.

  9. I used to have a neighbor with a sweet massive great dane. I adored the dog, and I think the feeling was mutual. In fact, I like most dogs more than I like most people.

    His dog was constantly leaving coffee table sized lumps on my lawn. I politely asked him to simply clean up after the dog. His reply: “How do you know it was my dog?”

    Never mind the fact that the neighborhood was zoned against horses, the only other domesticated animal large enough to leave such a prize. I had seen him do it repeatedly.

    So. The next time I saw one, I used a plastic bag, scooped it up and left it on the hood of his car in the North Carolina summer sun. When he asked me about it, I replied: “How do you know it was me?”

    Of course, the dog and I were no longer able to be friends. The really irritating thing is that he stopped his dog from using my yard after that. So it was something he could have done all along, but by choosing not to was just being an asshole.

    I love dogs. I have a dog. I clean up after him every single time he goes to the bathroom. The people who don’t clean up after their dogs are the first ones to complain when they aren’t allowed on the beach or in parks, etc. I love their dogs, but I HATE those people.

  12. Wonderbread, you’re like the guy who’ll jump on you if you voice your opinion on any subject. “OH YEAH? WELL THERE ARE BIGGER PROBLEMS YOU KNOW. HOW DARE YOU NOT LIKE THAT CHIP FLAVOUR, THERE ARE PEOPLE STARVING IN AFRICA.”
    In big cities especially, dog shit in the streets IS a problem, and yes it DOES go directly in the lake and contaminate. Same reason why you shouldn’t flush your dead fish down the toilet. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but you’re not the only one doing it, and boy does it add up.
    If you’re an owner who is too lazy/disgusted to pick up your dog’s shit, I can’t imagine what else you let your animal get away with. Fact is, you’re an awful pet owner and don’t deserve a pet. You deserve to slip on dog shit and land face first into another steaming pile and trade your dog in for a tamogochi.

  13. Wonderbread, do your research. Pet waste = unsafe drinking water

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency, pet waste has
    been identified as a major cause of “nonpoint source pollution” (NPS).
    In just one example cited by the EPA, “for watersheds of up to twenty
    square miles draining to small coastal bays, two to three days of
    droppings from a population of about 100 dogs…contribute enough
    bacteria and nutrients to temporarily close a bay to swimming and
    shellfishing.”

    According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association
    (APPMA), there are 74.8 million dogs in the U.S. As the dog count
    rises, more dog owners are looking for a simple solution to an
    unavoidable problem: the average dog leaves approximately 23 piles of
    poop a week. This amount of waste can seriously damage our ecosystem
    if not properly disposed of.

  15. hi people i have a three year old daughter who loves playing outside, and my next door neighbood thinks its ace letting his dog staffie run round my garden and poo everywhere my daughter plays. how can i report him??

  18. There are bacteria in dog shit that, in some cases, have caused blindness.
    Children. touch. the. ground.
    –and besides, it’s pathetically, irresponsibly lazy. There are very few reasonable excuses for not picking it up. When there isn’t an excuse, I reckon the offender should get the offending article rubbed in their eyes while they sleep 🙂

  19. just for the doubters out there, a bbc news article:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A3116684

    here’s an exerpt:
    Toxocariasis is an infection of the round worm Toxocara canis5. It is a zoonotic6 disease that is spread via unwashed vegetables and dog faeces. Young children in particular are at risk due to their weaker immune systems and because they are more likely to expose themselves by ingesting the eggs. A puppy can pass as many as 15,000 eggs per gram of faeces, and they are a major source of environmental contamination.

    Each T. canis female can lay up to 700 eggs a day. These are passed out when the dog defecates and can survive for up to three years in soil. After two to three weeks of warm weather the eggs develop into an embryo state, containing larva – this is when they become infective to dogs and people.

    The larvae try to migrate through the human body as they would in a dog’s, but the human body treats them as foreign material, which causes a reaction and tissue damage.

    There are two types of toxocariasis: visceral larva migrans (VLM) and ocular larva migrans (OLM).

    In VLM, the larvae reach the liver, causing inflammation and symptoms such as abdominal pain and pyrexia. Most people recover spontaneously.

    OLM occurs when a migrating larva reaches the eye. It causes a granuloma to form on the retina, causing significant visual impairment and in severe cases even blindness.

  20. Yeah, I’m a very responsible citizen, but because of people like you, I can’t seem to control myself around dogs. Every time I’m near one, I have a knee-jerk reaction to kick it. I go around kicking tons of dogs, all year long, but because the vast majority of people don’t kick dogs, I’m pretty sure that this small amount of abuse is not such a big deal.

  21. Two of my neighbors are doing the same thing in the grass behind my fence where I park. I just love stepping out of the car into a pile of dog shit because the lazy worthless creeps who live around me apparently think that the concepts of society and being a good neighbor don’t apply to them.

    Grow the fuck up and clean up after your pet. And do the world a favor and have yourself sterilized right now. I would hate to see how you would treat a baby if you can’t even properly care for a dog.

  22. Two of my neighbors are doing the same thing in the grass behind my fence where I park. I just love stepping out of the car into a pile of dog shit because the lazy worthless creeps who live around me apparently think that the concepts of society and being a good neighbor don’t apply to them.

    Grow the fuck up and clean up after your pet. And do the world a favor and have yourself sterilized right now. I would hate to see how you would treat a baby if you can’t even properly care for a dog.

  24. More than once I picked up a mignon after dropping it on the floor when I worked at the olive garden…

    I hope somebody like you ate it, the floor was VERY clean but my shoes might not have been

  25. I have an aversion to picking up dog poop myself.

    That’s why I have a *cat.*

    With one of these babies, you’ve got an eco-friendly poop disposal system that doesn’t require human hands: http://www.catgenie.com

    Do you have a small dog? Maybe you can train him to use something like that. (Hey, it could happen.)

  26. I JUST DONT GIVE A SHIT, NOR DO I TAKE ONE. SAME OLD SHIT DIFFERENT DAY. SHIT HAPPENS ENOUGH SAID, SAID IT BEFORE SAYIN IT AGAIN, ENOUGH WITH THE CRAP I ANON COLUM GET BACK TO THE GOOD STUFF THAT MADE THIS COLUM POPULAR IN THE FIRST PLACE, PUT SOME NEW IDEA BALLS IN THE MANATEE TANK OR SOMETHING.

  27. Hey Anonymous, I’ll bet you don’t vaccinate your kids either, do you? ‘Coz, you know, enough other people do that your kids aren’t at risk. (Which is bullshit, in case anyone thinks otherwise.)

  28. Well then, you shouldn’t own a dog.

    If you can’t take responsibility for a thing, you don’t deserve to have it.

  29. I have to agree with the really-pissed off father of a birthday-boy – but maybe I won’t yell.

    My son has picked up poop because it was all moldy and looked cool, my daughter has stepped and then slipped onto a pile of wet nasty poo, I have smelled it, stepped in it, and have decided that yes, one pile of poo is not a big deal, but there are a lot of very irresponsible people who have added up to there being a lot of poo in our neighborhood. You people that think there is no big deal to leave a bit of poo are uncaring of the rest of us that use these common spaces – it is not a big deal to pick up what is yours!

  31. The dog owners in Seattle have completely lost control. There’s a dog friendly apartment building in my neighborhood that was only built a few years ago, and it’s gotten to a crisis situation with the amount of dog poo all over the place. These dog owners let their dogs go right in the middle of the sidewalk and leave it! It’s almost worst when they leave those logs hiding in the grass parking strip, because I can’t see them when I get out of the car.

    I’ve had so many nasty surprises that I actually am considering moving. What other options do I have? The self-righteous dog owners next door actually get OFFENDED when I catch them and ask them to pick up after their dumb mutts. What purpose do all of these damn dogs serve anyway? They’re just a time sync for boring people who have nothing better to do but sap the planet’s resources in order to maintain a population of a species that has no place in our cities. They just make the city a less pleasant place to live, and all the poo DOES pollute our waterways.

    If you feel the need to get a dog, why don’t you just get some FRIENDS instead. You can actually TALK to them, and they probably won’t take a dump on the street that they’ll expect you to pick up. When you buy a dog, that signals that you’d rather spend some of your precious time on this earth at a level of mental interaction significantly below that which takes place between you and another human, because dogs serve no other purpose than to occasionally amuse. It’s like people who sit and play sudoku, when that time could have been spent reading.

  32. Mostly, I’m a responsible citizen…

    But for some reason, I just can’t keep from wrapping 50 NoDoz in a cheap cut of meat and leaving it in my front yard. I know that caffeine is poisonous to dogs and that if everyone did this a huge number of dogs would die, but since it’s just me and your dog, it’s of little matter.

    So if you live in Northwest and your dog has died of a seizure, there’s a likely chance it visited my yard. And I’m sorry… but not that sorry.

    [This sickening thought posted for parody purposes only. I do not mistreat animals. Their owners, on the other hand…]

  33. Sad that you feel so entitled. I feel sorry for you. Some people just don’t have a conscience for anything but themselves. There is no treatment for this type of personality. No, you are not responsible, regardless if you pay your taxes or library fines. It’s like a thief saying “I never stole from my family.” So what? You are still a thief.
    I am sorry for your loss, as logic and consideration can not always be taught.

  34. dog shit on the ground come on if you havent got the common sense to look where your walking to not step in the shit you shouldnt be out really its a bit of crap not a crime. if my dog shits i leave it simple well who really s gonna stop me lol lol lol

  36. i also do not pick up my dog’s poop. i just can’t bring myself to actually handle something so foul and have it near me, especially if there’s no trash can around. it makes me want to gag. it’s much worse for me to deal with that than for you to have to see turds in your lawn. trust me, would rather find her leavings than my vomit.

  37. Hey, “pissed off mom”. I hope that you aren’t instilling this type of “I am a victim” mindset in your 5 year old. Or use that language around them.
    Nobody is taking their dog to your house to poop. Certainly nobody paid you not pay attention to your kid and let them roll around in dog crap. If the turd was that big, it must have been a horse or elephant, not a dog. Nobody MADE you do any of that stuff. Quit whining.

  39. I stepped in dogshit this morning; actually, ‘kicked over a towering pile of dogshit’ is more accurate. It’s one of those early spring days when you’re grateful for the warmth and the sun and you think everything is going to be just great! so you stick on a pair of sunglasses and hit the streets to see just how wonderful life can be, even in the middle of a recession; even after a long, cold, dark winter; even if you have to do it on your way to work. Today was going to be such a nice day. I turned onto an avenue that was flooded with sunlight as if it were the gateway to Elysium, and then it happened. Yes, I was distracted. Fuck you. There is no symmetry whatsoever between my momentary lapse of concentration and some guy pondering his huge dog’s smouldering mound of crap and deciding it isn’t worth it that he should do his part in keeping a crowded street in a crowded city clean. I spent almost an hour trying to scrape that awful stuff out of my sneaker, gagging all the while. Kayla: your reaction to poop is not special and does not excuse your failure to adjust to the responsibilities of pet ownership. Besides the fecophiliacs, we all feel that way. If you don’t pick up your shit, someone else has to deal with it.
    When I’d finished cleaning my shoe, I searched google for a discussion on this subject and it soothed my temper to read other people’s outrage, but I was surprised to see so much discussion on the law. It really makes my blood boil to watch someone behave like a brat or an asshole (or any behavior that involves one person arbitrarily making life difficult for the people around them) and then in their defense invoke the law and shift the discourse to this paranoid, libertarian rant. “I am within my rights, so all is well.” Bullshit. First of all, I’m sure the founding fathers would be uncomfortable knowing that their contributions to history are being activated to stand between two or more dicks that can’t get along. (Like if I farted loudly in a slow, crowded elevator and responded to everyone’s anger by saying, “Everything I have just done to you people is within my rights, and is furthermore a perfectly normal function of my biological constitution! God bless America!”) You are within your rights and you’re not doing anything truly punishable by law, but this is irrelevant because I am not a cop. Neither am I a judge, county prosecutor, vigilante, or red comunissss oppressor. I am your neighbor, and I share a community with you. It would be easier for me to leave my dog’s shit on the sidewalk too. I don’t pick up after her because holding crap in a crumpled grocery bag makes me happy, I do it so that my neighbor can get to the subway (/take the kids to school/go out for a bite/just take a walk) without having to look at my dog’s shit, or worse, not look at my dog’s shit and then inadvertently step in my dog’s shit. I can’t promise that you’ll be thanked by your neighbors for meeting this simple expectation or written up in the papers for your heroics, but I can say with absolute certainty that you will have a positive impact on your world if you stop being a selfish prick bastard.

  40. Good thing your a punk bitch hiding behind a comp I would love to know where you live and put a truck load of shit in your house or better yet make you eat your dog shit. scum bag

  41. i don’t pick up my babys poo either. the world is his oyster. and frankly i’m more fixated on the chinese and korean fuckers killing 2 million domesticated animals a year for ILLEGAL produce. like eating dogs and using cats for medicine. but get this, my dog actually rolled around in another dogs, dog shit.. which i cleaned up.

  42. Dirty Whores! If you don’t pick up after your dog in someone else’s yard or near a main walking area YOU ARE A DIRTY WHORE. It reflects on you, you dirty whore are probably filthy and nasty is other aspects of your life. It reflects on your nieghborhood, and makes your whole neighborhood look like a bunch of diry whores. I hate you all, you filthy disgusting wretches.

  43. Dirty Whores! If you don’t pick up after your dog in someone else’s yard or near a main walking area YOU ARE A DIRTY WHORE. It reflects on you, you dirty whore are probably filthy and nasty is other aspects of your life. It reflects on your neighborhood, and makes your whole neighborhood look like a bunch of dirty whores. I hate you all, you filthy disgusting wretches.

  44. Seriously, who cares that much about dog poo? Should we start cleaning up bird shit too? I really don’t get why people are so angry about this. Angry mom – you are a fucking idiot, why would you throw away the present? If the present was wrapped, all you had to do was take the paper off. It sounds like you’re just normally a psychotic freak whose little “meltdown of the day” happened to be little Billy getting dog crap on his shoe. If I knew where you morons lived, I would bring my dog over JUST to shit in your yard.

  45. EatMyDog’sPoo…

    First off, you ask “who cares that much about dog poo,” but are reading this and commenting here? Second, BIG difference between the birds and the dogs — the dog shit is there because dog owners LET it be there! If you think it’s no big deal, my guess is you’ve never actually stepped in a pile left by some thoughtless asshole. How ’bout if you walk around wearing a shirt saying “I think dogshit on the street is no big deal,” so that one of us that DOES think it’s a big deal can push your face in a pile, and THEN see if you think it’s so bad?

  46. Ok, seriously people, have you ever thought to WATCH WHERE YOU STEP?!?! I can understand if a dog poops on a sidewalk, or a walking area, sure, pick that up, its in the way….but if your choosing to not walk on a sidewalk and walk through grass, or walk through a yard, and you’re not watching where your stepping, then you’re just asking to step on dog poop, rock, snake, ant hill, whatever….its part of LIFE. If a dog poops in the grass, and there is a sidewalk present, i’m not picking it up. If you’re so worried about stepping on it, then either walk on the sidewalk like your supposed to, or watch where you step when crossing grass…..morons…

  47. It’s all well and good to say “oh I’m the only one doing it so its not a big deal” or “watch where you step and it won’t be a big deal” but its unsanitary.

    That shit gets into the water.

    You really want to drink dogshit water?

  48. TO ALL RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERS. HEY IF ONE OF THIS JERKS BRING THEIR DOG TO SHIT ON YOUR LAWN AND DONT PICK IT UP BECAUSE THEY ARE DISGUSTED OF TOUCHING POOP,THE BEST THING YOU COULD DO IS PUT DOG POOP UNDER THEIR CAR DOOR KNOB WHERE THEY CANT SEE IT! THATS WHAT I DID IT WAS THE FUNNIEST SHHH!TT! EVER THE GUY GOT IN HIS CAR AND WAS SMELLING AND LOOKING AT HIS HAND FOR A GOOD MUNIT. HE GOT BACK OUT AND SAW THE POOP>>> VENGEANCE IS SERVED. IT WORKED THE GUY GOT A POOP SCOOPER. NO CAR NO PROBLEM JUST PUT THE POOP ON THEIR HOUSE DOOR KNOB ON THE BOTTOM SIDE OF THE KNOB.. I LOVE ALL ANIMALS AND RESPECT ALL PEOPLE SO RESPECT TO BE RESPECTED.AND DONT LET ME CATCH YOU, OR YOU WILL PAY IN MANY DIFFERENT PRANKS PUNKS

  49. I’m a water resource engineer and also own two dogs. One thing I’ll never forget from my environmental engineering professor is that a study was conducted by his grad group showing that pet waste (cat, and dog) severely contaminated our fresh water supply. your toilets go to a waste water treatment facility, a landfill is contained within a lined area that can’t drain into ground water. Think about it, your dog poop is going into our water directly so pick it up since it does pose a threat to our health, and our environment’s health! Be proud in being responsible, and showing people YAH I PICK UP MY DOG’s POOP and am PROUD of it! Plus you now can get scented biodegradable bags from petsmart, NO EXCUSES.

  50. I am lucky that I own a doo feces collecting device which would pick up the feces in a bio-degradable beg before it drops to the ground.
    I could understand others,just like me , love to own dogs but not their feces.
    but to be a responsible owner and citizen it is still our duty to do so. But in a smart way.

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