What would you do if you saw someone walking their dog, the dog takes a crap and then they just walk on like nothing happened?

Well, I’d ignore it! Who cares?

I would be tempted to pick it up with a pair of plastic gloves, throw it at them and then walk on as though nothing had happened.

I’m a bossy middle-aged woman, so I run up to them with a plastic bag (there are always a few in my pockets for Zuppy poop) and give them one. I’ve never had anyone not take it and use it. I think they’re afraid I’ll go all Big Mama on their ass.

If it were on my property, I would hope I have my camera handy.

I’d offer them a bag to pick up after their dog.

It’s rude! I probably wouldn’t say anything, but it is the responsibility of the owner to pick it up and dispose of it.
@flutherother. That’s hilarious.

If it were on my property or public property near mine, I would offer a plastic bag to pick it up. If they continued to let their dog go on my property, I would take my dog over to their yard to do her business.

I could care less about dog shit. It will melt away in time. Im not going to be one of those assholes if its a one time thing. One piece of dog shit isn’t going to hurt anything.

@Mikewlf337 Although I agree with your general principle here, I also have children who play in the yard. I picked up after my dog so they don’t step in it. I don’t want to pick up after other people’s dogs as well.

@Mikewlf337 Totally agree. If it was on the sidewalk I might say something, but I’d also kick it into the street or into the yard.

Point at them and say/shout as loudly as bravery would permit: ‘Oi, look, that’s your dog’s shit, that is, better pick it up eh?’

Being British, I believe I could do this. Being a bit of a coward, I’m not entirely sure I would. However, I’m sure I could manage a loud ‘tut’, and the raised eyebrows to go with it.

Whoa, four jellies crafting… this is one that’ll get the pool a-wobble!

I also don’t want my dog getting sick from someone else’s dog’s poop. Irresponsible pet ownership in one area often carries over. I don’t know if that person has properly vaccinated their dog against any number of nasty parasitic infections that could harm Zuppy.

I wouldn’t say anything. Maybe they forgot to take a bag with them, (I’ve been guilty of this), or maybe the dog had to poop twice and they had already used the bag. I’d just give them the benefit of the doubt. However, I did notice a man that walked his dog by my mom’s house each day at the same time and the dog pooped at the edge of her property. After the 4th time of me noticing, I stood out there and watched as he walked by. He pulled his dog on down the street and he pooped in someone else’s yard.

I have told people to pickup after their dog. It is a problem in my otherwise nice neighborhood, there is a lot of dog shit on the sidewalk. And it’s worse on the local trail around the reservoir. And no, the rain does NOT wash it away.

This reminds me of a time when I was walking my dog. Somehow there were no plastic bags of any kind in my house; I dunno how, but there weren’t.

My dog needs daily excercise or he starts practically vibrating he has so much pent-up energy… and there are usually free bags at a nearby park, so I figured we’d make it until then, and then I’d get a bag for the rest of the walk.

Well, he decides he needs to poop before we get there—and it couldn’t have been more than 100ft. I was thinking, really?
Before I even have a chance to respond, a man across the street was picking up his newpaper and saw that I didn’t have any bags. He came running over to give me the one around his newspaper (well actually two, I dunno why there were two bags on his newspaper, but there were and he gave me both).

It may have just been because he didn’t want crap on the other side of the road from him, but I like to think he was genuinely just helping me.

I thanked him embarassedly, explaining I was trying to make it to the park. He responded by saying that it was fine, but that the park didn’t always have plastic bags, so here was one in his hand.
I get to the park, walk by the bag-dispenser, and he was almost right—there was one left. So it stayed there for someone else that day.

He was really nice, but it’s a long poo story, so I haven’t really gotten to share this man’s kindness until now…

For heavens sake, call 911.

@Mikewlf337 I’m getting the idea that everyone here is in the city….that would be different.

Yeah, I wouldn’t say anything – I’m not uptight about dog poop, whatsoever.

Yes, in the country we have to deal with dog poop, squirrel poop, deer poop, fly poop, all kinds of poop! I’m not going to make myself crazy worrying about it.

Mind my own business.

I love these responses.

I see some pretty strange stuff sometimes: last year we were at a provincial park that was nice enough to provide poop bags. This lady stood in front of the dispenser and proceeded to pull some 50 to 60 bags out. I was of two minds on her behaviour: part of me was thinking she may not have a lot of $$ and needed the bags and then the other part of me was a little irked she was emptying the whole bin and other people wouldn’t have them because she had taken them all.

It does bother me when people just walk away. There are a LOT of dogs in my community and if everyone did this…boy oh boy would it be a mess out there!

My dog did have one walk where he pooped multiple times and I ran out of bags. I ran back to the location and cleaned it up.

I have two dogs, three kids and a head injured sister I don’t have the time not the inclination to spend my time cleaning up after other people’s dogs. But I have. As I walk around the community if I have a spare bag with me and there is dog poop some where I clean it up.

If I lived in the boon docks then this wouldn’t bother me as much.

I’m in the burbs, we have lots of little kids in the neighborhood, it’s just nicer not to have poop all over. That’s why god made those newspaper bags!

If it is near my house,I will hand them a bag to pick it up.
If they refuse,I set my dog on them.;)

I would scream…“OH SHIT!” then when they turned around I would say calmly pointing at it, “see there, good thing you didn’t step in it!.” and walk away.
okay maybe not but I would be tempted

I always carry bags but I notice there are plenty of piles around so obviously not everyone does. But I am not the Poop Police so it is not my business. I can’t think of any diseases I can catch from stepping into dog poop unlike used syringes, disposable diapers, etc. so I don’t really worry.

But as I am cleaning up the poop with the plastic bag I always think, if the poop were just allowed to sit in the grass, it would by virtue of the sun and rain and bugs disappear into the grass within a couple of days. However when I pick it up with the PLASTIC bag, it will sit in the landfill sealed inside its bag for the 17 light years it takes for the plastic to disintigrate. It makes me wonder if I am doing the environment a favor or causing more problems???

@rooeytoo Good point! You should ask that.

I’d be soooooo tempted to say, “Excuse me, you dropped something” and point but I’d actually keep my mouth shut and grumble instead.

it’s just shit. Got plenty of other shit that need my attention for real. If dog shit was the worst thing for me to deal with I’d be doing ok.

Don’t really care, if it’s on the side of the road. I live in a rural area. Even though the street I live on is a residential neighborhood, there are still plenty of unobtrusive, wooded spots on the side of the road.

If it were in a yard, I’d be more tempted to say something. When I was a kid, I’d always play at my gram’s house, and it was one of those neighborhoods where the dogs run around free and shit all over the place. Even as a kid, I learned to watch out, but it sucked if you got caught up in a game and stepped it in anyway.

I have 2 dogs. They pull alot. One day I was out my dog pooped on some guys lawn and as I was fiddeling with the leashes, and my gloves and searching for the bag in one of my many pockets and being pulled away from the poop all the same time the guy comes running out of the house yelling…“Excuse me! Excuse me! Can I get you a baaagggg!!!”. In that split second I grab the bag! Throw it up in the air and yell back, “Uh no thanks, we have our own!”.

I was actually a bit perterbed at this guy I was not even a foot from the actual dumping site and I was not walking away. But I really put it down to this, I am the only person it my neighbourhood that walks dogs on a daily routine, how do I know? I have been going with my dogs the times vary but always everyday 7 days a week weather does not stop us and we have never came across the same dog more than twice in a week. We have been on this schedule for 1½ yrs. One homeowner has told me to get my dogs to pee on the boulevard instead of his lawn! This other guy I bet sees us go by regularly and there is alot of dog crap around so put 2 and 2 together the regulars get the blame. Even though maybe twice I have run out of bags, but I will ask anyone around if they have an extra bag. My one dog actually wears a back pack to carry the poop bags and keep my hands free. But I’m really responsible about the dog poop, but I don’t say anything to someone else if they don’t pick up the poop, and actually I worry more about the food garbage that people throw on the sidewalks like the other day, I seamlessly had to pry 1 marichino cherry, 1 banana peel, 1 apple core, 1 Oreo, half of a crispy crunch bar, and a dead racoon or a really wet grey hat :/ LOL <- no hands were involved thank god a very loud gasp plus a yell did the trick though. I have a Labrador what can I say. And she did almost die from eating an unknown substance.
So to get my dogs to not go on peoples lawns we have tried walking on the road, but then I piss the cars off, I guess you can’t please everyone.

It depends.

If you say anything at all about dog shit in Paris, for example, people would think that you’re insane. You really need to watch your step there. No one cleans up, it seems.

And at times when I’ve walked with Willow and she has answered the call of nature in a field or even by the side of the road (off the road) in a power line right of way, for example, then I ignore it myself. Why waste a plastic bag on something that’s not going to harm anyone right where it is?

When it happens in my own front yard (rarely) from someone else’s dog, then I just grab the scooper that I use to clean up my back yard and pick it up. It ain’ no thang.

I would not say anything unless it was in my yard. Then I would. There has been some crap in my yard lately, one of the neighbors (not sure who) must be letting his dog run loose. I am not usually around but it kind of irks me because it’s unpleasant to look at and to have to try to avoid.

One time about two years ago I was with my toddler daughter in a public park in upstate NY. She was toddling around the grass and I noticed she came about six inches from a pile of shit. It would have been a big disaster if she stepped in it, because she had sandals on. I think when people are careless in a public park it just has the ability to ruin it for everyone. If I stepped in it, it would have been pretty upsetting, as well.

My dad once “returned” the gift left by a neighbor’s dog on his lawn. He picked it up with a shovel, followed the woman home, rang her doorbell. When she opened the door, he tossed it in her house, and said, “Your dog left this in my yard.” She never walked the dog by our house again.

I’m waiting for this to happen when I have the time and a plastic bag at the same time. I’d pick up the goop and follow them home, then deposit the poop, without the bag, on their porch.

Actually, I’m sort of looking forward to it.

In fact I think I’ll go stuff some plastic bags in my coat pockets and purse right now.

I’ll throw in another vote for “I don’t care.”
I wonder if it is just me, but when I walk my dogs they have no desire to poop. They are way too excited by the sights and smells along the way to be bothered to stop to take a shit. I carried bags with us for the longest time, but, after I while I just gave up. I don’t even bother to take one anymore.

are you talking about in the city? In which case, it makes me furious, having trod in it, so now I run up, hand them a bag ( or anything) and say, “you’d better clean that up” – I’ve had people look like they want to kill me but they always act embarrased and clean it up, or make an effort to.

I’d make a call at the time. There are a lot of crazy, stabby people in the city I live in so I’d be inclined not to do anything. If I did have a bag with me, which I would if I was walking my dog then I would probably offer them a bag. I’d have my dog, which is a well natured German Shepard but has been trained in the bitey arts, so I’d feel more secure about it anyway!

When it happened in my yard, I said something. I was sitting on my deck, kind of slouched down in a deck chair, reading, and I guess the kid didn’t even know I was there. I told him he’d better run right home and get a bag, since I really didn’t want my kids to step in his dog’s poop. When I spoke up, I scared the crap out of him. He almost needed two bags. ;)

He did come back and clean it up, and I hope he learned not to walk his dog through other people’s yards.

I would most certainly ask them to pick it up.
We live in a quiet country lane where people walk their dogs at all times of day and night. However I have asked many, many people to pick up their dog poo – their initial reaction is to look quite confused that I am even requesting this. Most people then look quite ashamed and DO pick the mess up.
I have dogs myself and always pick up their poop. Why should someone else potentially get the poop on their shoes and take it home with them. I like to think I am responsible.

If the offending shite is within sniffing distance of my house, you will be picking it up. We have plenty of bags in the house for my dawg so no problem giving any out. Where I live if you’re seen not to pick up said poo, a fine of £50 can be imposed. I tend to do as i’m told, I like being rich see XD

I am talking about city living. Where you have to abide by leash laws as well as fines for leaving your dog’s poop behind.

I’ve had my kids (when they were smaller) walk through dog poop and then track it through my house because they didn’t realize it was stuck to the bottom of their shoes. That’s gross and a giant pain the butt.

I wish this question never came to me in the first place, it’s a little upsetting that in today’s culture people don’t give a shit no pun intended as I said before I ruthlessly pick up my dogs dirt. On the other hand I’m also upset at the many that are ok for revenge. Talk about power trip! I mean this is the kind of stuff that causes retaliation even bigger. Who’s to say you say something and that person doesn’t have a bag or an answer but has a knife in return. Or you throw shit at their door but later on can’t figure out why your tires are flat or your car is keyed. I wouldn’t be so quick to think that your voice will change that persons idea on everything. I myself have brain damage and my reaction to people can be very different at any given moment which I cannot help. Wait I need to also put here that this doesn’t mean I myself will knife people or go out guns a blazin’ my reaction are much more typical of crying, yelling, swearing tantrum like, but I know people look at me like WTF! People usually don’t understand disabilities…that’s a whole different topic….

As much as I hate people that do that (I have been known to complain that they give us responsible pet owners a bad name), I am not great at confronting strangers. I wish I was the type of person that would say something to them but I probably wouldn’t. I know, pathetic.

Edit: I forgot to mention that if I happen to be in the countryside atthe time it doesn’t bother me. Poop is pretty much a given in the country. My above answer was regarding towns and cities.

I nearly always have bags in my pockets as I’m a dog owner. I would approach the person and offer them one of mine.

@downtide Do they usually accept the bag and pick the mess up?

@partyparty I’ve only had to do it twice and in both cases yes they did.

I just called the management of the complex where I lived and asked them to send out a bulletin to everyone asking them to pick up their dog messes. Seems everyone’s gotten lazy over the winter.

It’s just dog shit. As long as everyone is not doing it, it’s fine. It’s better to pay more close attention to where you are walking anyways.

@KatetheGreat – Troll! You need to get better than that if you want attention.

@markferg I am new to this can you explain the term troll to me, please? I think I know what it means but am not sure.

@optimisticpessimist I believe the term is Internet slang. A troll is explained here…
If there is a Fluther term I’m unaware of what the description would be if it is indeed different.

@Meego Thank you. I did look it up.

@markferg Ummm, no, I’m not a troll. What I stated is just what I believe. People need to stop being so uppity.

@markferg You use the term “troll” too loosely anyways. I basically stated what I believe and it’s different than what most of you think. A troll is someone who deliberately tries to make people mad with nonsensical statements.

@KatetheGreat The trouble with dogshit is it carries some seriously dangerous bacteria. There was a story in my local newspaper about six months ago about a little girl aged two, who stumbled in a park, and her hands landed in a pile of the stuff. She cried, and wiped her eyes with her hands. Now she’s permanently blind.

That’s why dog owners need to pick it up.

@downtide Ahh, I’ve never heard that before. Thanks for telling me though! I knew that there was bacteria but I didn’t know how harmful it really was.

OP…you’re a troll. You followed me here, didn’t you!!!

@downtide – I find that hard to believe, what is there is dog crap that could cause blindness? Is it only dog scat that can cause, how about babies who smear their own poop in their hair and eyes, can that make you blind too? Never heard of this before.

I just googled it and there is no medical response that confirms this, just people who heard from here or there. As I said before there are some zoonoses that transfer from dogs to humans, but very rare. Usually the scat has to be ingested orally and generally the worse that could happen is a case of worms.

I think that child must of got an infection and then went blind because of a raging infection that did not get looked after properly…I’d believe that more. I mean I’m sure there are tons of people out there as gross as it sounds who don’t wash their hands and go and touch their face and everything else around them…but I don’t think they are blind! That’s like saying pee in the pool and it goes green and marks the spot on you. Blind people must be dirty poo hand face touchers then! =O
(my husband was legally blind…not by poo…he musta been an exception.)

@rooeytoo Apparently the poo of dogs that aren’t wormed can cause Toxicariasis. One of the symptoms of this is vision problems.

@Leanne1986 you are correct, it’s toxicariasis. The story is genuine too, there were photographs of the poor little kid in the newspaper.

ETA: I found the story it seems she lost only one eye not both.

So it’s the infection from the toxicariasis that causes the vision loss not the actual poo, reason why we are told to wash our hands constantly and don’t touch our face. In the story it even says if not treated in 72 hrs full vision loss can occur, so when the first signs appear that are different than normal get it looked at fast. I really do feel bad for this little kid. I often think now as I’m older how I used to sit on the grass and roll around in the grass and I wonder now what was I rolling in, cuz I never thought of that stuff, can I just say grass in no longer my next favourite outdoor “carpet”. My own daughter is extremely allergic to grass she cannot even touch the stuff without breaking out in extreme hives.

This article says “ingestion” of the feces or soil containing feces, not simply contact with it. And given the percentages shown, I think it is a greater risk to have a coconut fall on your head and kill you.

It is interesting, I recently moved from an area where the care and hygiene regarding children and local dogs was absolutely appalling and the major health problem shared by kids and dogs was when the dogs had mange as most did, the kids who played/slept/ate with them developed skin lesions that the doctors called scabbies. When the dogs were treated with ivermectin on a regular basis, the mange and parasites disappeared and the kids scabbies did as well even though they were not directly treated. But I never heard of a child developing toxicariasis. It could have happened and was never mentioned. I will ask my medical friends

@KatetheGreat: i think you would feel differently if you had a child. Don’t know if you have a child, but in the example I gave, with my toddler toddling around a park and coming real close to stepping in a big pile of it, it definitely would have ruined our day. Smelly, messy, more detail then I would like to get into but as we were away from home, it would have not done much toward us having a good day.

@ica agreed. But in addition, a fresh mess is a hazard because if you step in it, you could slip and fall. Makes it a problem for anyone, especially those with fragile bones.