Mans best friend or persons best friend times change

[Paul Drury 23]

in my opinion walking a dog is one of the simplest and most rewarding pleasures modern life has to offer. It helps to strengthen the bond between you and your canine companion and it helps to keep you both fit and healthy. Once dog walking was a simple pleasure.you could just take your dog out and walk along the streets and across the fields without a care in the world, he does his business, barks at a cat or two along the way and you come home. no fuss. Today however, as our society becomes more and more complex, even dog walking has earned its own set of rules. Before you take off into the rural jungle with your four-legged friend, it’s a good idea to arm yourself with a lead and supply of doggie bags. Dog fouling is a serious problem in Gobowen. As it is in the country as a whole we are nation of dog lovers there are a reported 8 million dogs in the UK and they produce thousands of tonnes of faeces every day.

Excuse Me, Did You Drop Something?

Not only does dog muck make the village look unsightly and causes a bad smell people can tread in it and walk it into their homes and in to local shops and public buildings, it is also a public health risk. If dogs are not treated regularly they can carry a worm called Toxocara (roundworm) which can be deposited in there faeces.Humans can get infected by faeces carrying the eggs, through soil or sand contamination the parasite can last up to two years in soil or sand even after the faeces has

degraded. Infection can last between 6 and 24 months ,children between 18 months and 5 years old are Most at risk but it as also been reported in adults, this infection can cause blindness abdominal pain, coughs, headaches and shortness of breath. It is not dangerous to clean up after your dog you will not be infected by the Toxocara eggs as they are not infectious until they embryonate. This occurs at least 2 - 3 weeks after they have been deposited by your dog. Most dog walkers are responable and clear there dog mess up but a lot don’t. The best way to clear up after you dog is to use your plastic bag Invert the bag over your hand, so you can pick up your dog's droppings without touching anything directly fold the bag back seal it and toss it in a bin or take it home with you Enjoy your walk be courteous and safe!.

[Simple Simon 36]

It's amazing, but I still see people walking their dogs across the football field prior to a match on a Sunday morning! I've been removing litter before play starts only to look up and see a large dog hunkering down for a big, long dump in the middle of the pitch while the owner gamefully walks on with their nose in the air. I've also found carefully tied bags of poo discarded on the playing field hedges and even fresh deposits around the play equipment.

To counter that, I also see good owners scooping it up...and I appreciate it can't be fun! But if you are going to excercise your dog in a public area where children are going to play, you should dispose of anything your dog leaves behind.

Last winter I did get some complaints that the top of St. Martins Road, by the roundabout, was getting very dirty with dog mess, so I'm guessing that owners change routes when the weather gets colder.

[Matt H 2]

As a dog owner (and one that walks his dog several times a day) I do have to agree that nothign irritates me more than standing in someone else's dog's mess.

It really isn't that hard to pick up poop and put it in the correct bin. Nope, it's not particularly pleasant, but it really is jsut common decency. Not picking up your dog's mess from a public area just proves that some people have a total lack of empathy.

One thing I have seen in some places, but not around here, is free poop bags in shops near parks and also in one place I've been to near Warrington there was a little bag dispenser near the bin for the dog mess. Great idea, but I don't know whether it would make any difference to people's efforts.

I heard the other day that in some places police can spot-check dog walkers and fine them if they don't have bags on them!

[Mabel 0]

I agree that dog owners should be more responsible. I don't think it is just the lack of free poo-bags that stops people picking up after their dogs, being as any plastic bag will do, and we discard enormous numbers of carrier bags anyway so most people should have a ready supply. It only takes one dog, allowed to poo where it will say 2 or 3 times a day, every day, for an area to become covered in poo despite the majority of owners in the same area being responsible. I know that it is recommended that you should offer a bag to an owner letting its dog leave its little deposit behind, but whenever I have seen this happen I have been too scared of the owner (invariably a man) to do anything about it. What I really hate on these dark evenings, is going into undergrowth to pick up after the dog and then stepping in another dogs poo which has been left behind. Owners take a torch with you when its dark!

[Simple Simon 36]

Perhaps I should name and shame....? It was Casper wot did it...right in the centre of the pitch.

I'm not sure if dog crap is the worst. Broken glass from kids experimenting with how alcohol effects co-ordination skills can cause harm to careless walkers and young children playing on the climbing frames. Discarded lumps of chewing gum isn't nice either...and then there's the discarded bags of chips, crisps and fast food, all found on the playing field.

I see a variety of dead wildlife, probably initially attracted by a plentiful supply of abandoned half-eaten food. I've removed a dead rat, a maggoting squirrel, a rotting crow and a shot pigeon!

Edited December 3, 2011 by Simple Simon