Spring and a Walk in the Park

Okay, spring has sprung the grass is… well, mostly green except where the pet owner of a Great Dane has left a gift for the public. Oh poop!

I was out for my regular morning stroll with Charlotte, my million dollar mutt, when I realized that the owner of the Great Dane was not going to “stoop and scoop”. When I shouted to the man to come back, he just turned for a moment, glared and then kept on going. Grrrrrrrrrrrr!

Not one to mess with dogs the size of small horses or tall, glaring, cranky men, I nevertheless made the decision to run after these two. My dander was up. I really wanted to communicate my great displeasure eyeball to eyeball. As I ran, I tried to figure out how I could get this message across while also getting the dog’s owner to go back to clean up the dog poop mess. An obstacle to be sure. How to overcome my instant anger? Running was helping. Humor… yes, maybe humor would work. Maybe we need a new PUP campaign with cheezy t-shirts.

I never did get an audience nor verbal answer from this poopy pet person. Yes, I’m still peeved! Body language was all I got for all my effort. This great oaf and his Great Dane just kept loping along, glaring staright ahead and ignoring me. In retrospect this w as probably not the worst case scenario. The Great Dane might have had me for lunch at the owner’s command and I may have ended up as more poop in the park! Yikes… pop philosophers could no doubt have a hey-day with this thought.

The beautiful park we were in on this glorious sunny morning is adjacent to the university and is enjoyed by many… pets and people alike. Pets and people. Nice. We all know how much pleasure can be derived for pet, pet owner and others when they all meet in parks. People without pets get to share the joy of other people’s adorable pets and the proud pet owners get to show off their special pet. All good. 

The shine comes off the poor pet though when people like this guy clearly show that they don’t care about anyone else but themselves. People like this are usually the first to complain (loudly) when they hear that others don’t want pets in public parks.

Who wants to lie in Rover’s droppings? Not me! People don’t want their kids crawling around in this dog poop mess either. It is a real shame that one person like this very selfish dog owner can wreck it for all responsible pet owners. Don’t know what journey this guy is on, but some enlightenment would seem to be in order.

As “big brother” as it is, some cities have resorted to posting videos of people like this and while concerned about the escalation of this type of high-jack amateur journalism, it may in fact have the desired effect… to get irresponsible pet owners to change their behavior. 

It is all about etiquette after all… simple etiquette and respect for others.  No big deal. There are a gazillion products on the market to help with the PUP responsibility. No excuses! Dog owners who use designated dog parks also need to know the rules of etiquette… read about dog park etiquette here and as Roy Rogers used to say… “Happy (clean) trails ’til we meet again”.

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Becca Ross - Freelance Writer and Regular Contributor to MillionDollarPetPix.com
Other articles by Becca - Pet Friendly Hotels and Travel? and Dogs Detecting Cancer in Humans