I wasn’t sure if this should be posted here, or GD, but here goes;
Scenario: I am walking my dog to the fields and woodland where he usually ends up relieving himself, when suddenly, right in the middle of the pavement, he defecates an unholy runny turd. I have my plastic bag for ‘emergency pick-ups’, but there is no way it is adequate for the mess I am faced with.
Should I at least attempt to wipe it up? If you witnessed a dog’s owner in this situation, would you expect them to clear it up?
I can understand how people get incensed at the thought of a dog turd in their children’s play areas, or in a public picnic park, but a dog turd on a pavement is easily avoided if one is watching where they are walking. If I step in a dog turd, I don’t curse the dog and it’s owner; I curse myself for being such a stupid git!
Ok, I think I would ask a nearby homeowner or shop owner if they had a roll of paper towels, a hose or a bucket of water or something. You need to make an effort to clean it up. If it was as horrendous as it sounds, you really need to wipe up what you can, as unpleasant as it may be.
You should replace the sidewalk.
You don’t say much about the immediate surroundings. Is there a homeowners hose or a store that can at least lend you a bucket of water so you can float the mess toward the gutter?
Considering the amount of money dog owners provide towards the economy, should local authorities not provide sand pits, or something at regular intervals, that owners could guide their dogs onto?
I think then you’d just have regularly spaced zones that stink to high heaven. Picking up afterwards seems to be the best overall solution for everyone inhabiting the area, with the occasional extra measure being taken when there’s a right awful mess at hand.
As a dog owner, I think you need to do your best with what you have, and then come back later with a pitcher of water to finish up if possible. Solicit a neighbor’s help and supplies if it seems likely without endangering yourself. There is a category of . . . um, leavings that must be regarded as “unpickuppable” but when they are on a sidewalk one must make a good-faith effort.
It could be part of the remit of street-cleaners, when they are removing all the broken glass, bits of cars, and other assorted rubbish left on the streets by humans.
I’m sure it must happen occasionally, but I have to say in all my years of owning dogs, I’ve never had one with diarrhea so severe that it could not be (disgustingly) scooped up into a plastic bag who was still capable of being taken for a walk. Their diets are just not complex enough to cause irregularity. The one little bastard who ate an entire paper grocery bag full of 12 grain bread? Well, yeah, his bowel movements were scary, but he also spent the whole weekend in his crate, groaning and whimpering. (After I took him to the vet, of course, where they said, “Oh, yeah. He’s probably going to spend the whole weekend in his crate groaning and whimpering. He’ll be fine.”)
But yes,* if* it happened, I’d make every effort to clean it up. There’s no reason anyone else should have to deal with it.
I’m going to have to go with WhyNot on this one - although I expect someone will dispute me - in years of volunteering at a dog shelter, I’ve not seen a dog with diarrhea that wasn’t able to be somewhat scooped or picked up. I’ve not seen dogs with extremely watery diarrhea like humans have, in other words… there is always some consistency to it. If your dog was that ill, you would very probably know it before you were out on a walk in public, i.e, they’d have soiled their sleeping area or other areas of your home or yard.
Worst I’ve seen was a dog who had a recurring intestinal problem and there was splash onto the walls of the kennel… but that was because she had danced through it for who knows how long until we got there. It also smelled like digested bloody death, but that’s another story.
But yeah, clean it up as best you can, and return to clean further if you must. I say this from the smug heights of one who was praised by the old lady down the block this morning as being the “only person she ever sees cleaning up after her dog.”
Edit to add that I think I need to order some of that Poop-Freeze for the shelter! Thanks, nd_n8.
So was the OP typed from an iPhone while standing on the sidewalk (“help me with this public doody - need answer fast”), or has it already been resolved - what did you do? What did you do with the doo-doo?
Or is this something that is totally theoretical you were musing about while watching your dogs ass transit above a public and difficult to clean surface?
The latter, fortunately. My dog had done a particularly disgusting doo-doo on the fields on the way home( He doesn’t seem to be ill at all, but I’ll be keeping an eye on him over the next couple of days. He’s old, and his stomach probably doesn’t have the constituency it used to have! ), and I just thought, “I’m glad that didn’t happen on a public pathway.” Now I know I’m expected to clear it up, I’m praying it never happens.
- in years of volunteering at a dog shelter, I’ve not seen a dog with diarrhea that wasn’t able to be somewhat scooped or picked up. I’ve not seen dogs with extremely watery diarrhea like humans have, in other words… there is always some consistency to it. If your dog was that ill, you would very probably know it before you were out on a walk in public, i.e, they’d have soiled their sleeping area or other areas of your home or yard.
My dog had done a particularly disgusting doo-doo on the fields on the way home( He doesn’t seem to be ill at all, but I’ll be keeping an eye on him over the next couple of days. He’s old, and his stomach probably doesn’t have the constituency it used to have! ), and I just thought, “I’m glad that didn’t happen on a public pathway.” Now I know I’m expected to clear it up, I’m praying it never happens.