Did anyone see the program SWAG last night? One of thir stunts was watching out for dog owners letting their dogs foul, and having a loud speaker announce that their dog would be terminated unless they used the poop scoop and gloves on the little truck!

It was preceded by lots of shots of dogs peeing and defecating.

My Dad and his wife were here at the time. They aren't into dogs at all, but have looked after my two oldest ones for me on occasion. My father was of the opinion that if dog owners wanted to keep dogs they should be kept solely on their premises and certainly shouldn't be allowed on the streets and parks where they would poo and annoy people.

I responded that it is the owners job to pick up after their dog. His attittde was that it was almost as unpleasant to see people picking up as the actual pooing!!

Now this may just be my strange Dad, but I havelots of had people say 'Yuk' and 'Oh I cxouldn't do that' 'Disgusting' when I have been picking up. Actually I find poop pick up far less nauseating than changing the nappies of my two children when they were babies!

What we must remember as dog owners that many people who are anti dog need very little excuse to feed their view that dogs are not acceptable in public society. It behoves owners to give them no ammunition for any extreme views.

As has been stated by some of our US board members the freedoms many of us enjoy with our dogs are much restricted in some places, and could all to easily happen to us!!!

I am in Norway at the moment and have been amazed at the attitude over here - the dogs are on leads all the time, as people who are afraid of dogs "should be free to walk without fear". At the time we were walking in the middle of no-where and had only seen other dog owners, walking their dogs with 5m long leads too! How lucky we are in the UK! ( though i have to say, i will be breaking that law when i live over here :-) )

I wonder which country is the most dog-accepting?

Where dogs are seen as being part of society, but also where dog-owners accept they have to make sure their dogs aren't a nuisance or health-hazard, but where normal canine behaviour is also accepted.

Perhaps I should form my own island state!

They do love their dogs, its just strange that they have to be on leads. i've been cross-country skiing, and the dogs i see up in the mountains love it - both on and off the lead - i got taken over going downhill by a Gordon setter that was nearly flying, running after its owner (beautiful dog i might add!!). Makes a change to dog walks in the uk ;-)

The answer to your question is Switzerland. Dogs are allowed pretty much everywhere. If you are seen not picking your dogs waste up you recive a 100 pound fine and official warning. There are parks everywhere made for dogs. People are very dog tolerent there. I live there andd have two dogs but I am not Swiss.

Lord sounds like my Dads views aren't that unusual :(

I agree with Brainless on this one. I can quite happily deal with dog poo pick ups etc. Even when I tread in some poo which another owner hasn't bothered to pick up, I can deal with it quite easily. But nappies or any sort of human waste and worse..human sick, well I feel well and truly ill. I suppose I am doggy through and through and there is no hope for me :)

Cast in the same mould sounds like. I don't know how mychild minder could change the nappies I could just about do it for my own kids because I had to but the idea of changing someone elses! I don't know how people cope with an incontinent relative, this is something that has always worried me, and frankly I have ben rather ashamed of myself.

I could not change someone elses childs nappy without fainting.... but nor could I pick someone elses dog muck up. I can cope with all of my own...but I don't see why i should step in, or pick up after anyone else. Talking of which, someone keeps letting their dog foul outside my driveway. When I see who it is I shall follow them home, after picking up a weeks worth of great dane "waste" off my garden, and dump it on THEIR driveway!!

Back to the point - I think, as always, the minority are spoiliong it for the majority in the minds of the public.
Chloe

We have a big problem on the Thames tow path not only with all the poo left on the path but with all the illogically left bags of poo - I've seen dozens and while all the unbagged poo eventually disintegrates, the bagged poo can be there for months. I've had to pick up some myself because I can't stand it anymore but there are no bins anywhere which makes me even crosser. Maybe someone has had luck in getting the COuncil to install bins in their area???

lol Chloe - our neighbour used to make his GSD poo in our front yard which drove my microbe-free Dad insane - even more so because the neighbour was a doctor and according to Dad should have known better. One day he did it in front of my Dad who did an Incredible Hulk, grabbed a shovel and threw it all into the neighbour's yard. We all got into trouble for laughing and still do.

regards

Like you, I can cheerfully clean up after my own dogs, and change my own child's nappy (luckily at 16 he's past that stage now!) and almost tolerate other babies' nappies.......but not sick. No Way. Not without adding to it. Luckily my son has only been sick 3 times in his life - and I remember each one clearly.

I didn't mind clearing up after an faecally-incontinent elderly dog.....but I pray my mother never reaches that stage.

I had an 'interesting' one last night. One of my fields backs on to a new 'housing development', an old RAF camp.
I took the dogs out to have a look at the winter wheat. These houses have only been occupied since Christmas. An area between the field and the houses has been left 'green' and a pathway built around the outside.
As we walked along that boundary I was aware of white blobs in my field, out from the hedgerow. There must have been at least 150 bags of dog S### poo. Seems like people are happy to clear it up, but why oh why do they think I want it??
I used to rent another field in a similar situation, every time I came back from working it, I had to spend at least an hour cleaning of dogs mess. those bags catch on every nut and bolt......
I always clean up my dogs mess, but other peoples dogs......ugh!

Mrs Bramble suggested I throw it all back????? What do you say????

BB

I think I'm with Mrs B. with this!

Jeangenie,
You and Mrs B seem to have too much in common.........
I'd better check you ain't her :)

Hell 2 of you :rolleyes:

BB

Phew!!!!!!!!! ;)
No she's in the barn 'Lambing'. :o

I am a 'Mrs B.' though......... ;)

What you like up to your elbows in sheeps.... er.... you know !!!! 'bits'???. ;) we could do with a 'hand'.
We've still got about 480 pregnent ewes left. Baby Bramble did the night shift last night, and I'm 'on' at 4:00. :rolleyes:

BB

My friends have sheep, BB, and I've done the "look at my glove puppet" routine several times! :D

That made me smile :o :d :d :d...........its the sort of 'trick' Baby Bramble does.
I can still remember his 1st girlfriend's face when she watched him 'perform' for the 1st time. :rolleyes:
Anyway you're hired......

I'll just pack my Marigolds....

Well, that's me off to the lambing shed..........The expression getting down and getting dirty take on a whole new meaning now? :(

I used to help at the local farm in the village when I was at school, at lambing time. I loved it!
BUT, we didn't wear gloves in those days!
Liz

No, I don't wear gloves when I'm 'doing it' for real - only on the Net!!! :D :D

The mind boggles :rolleyes:

Lambing, Admin - go and wash your mind! :p :D

i saw the program - i thought it was a fantastic idea too!! That woman looked like she'd never picked up after her dog in her entire life, need more of those little cars around lol!
We don't have so much of a problem here with people not picking up after their dogs as in the city, but it's still pretty rife. Most of the dog owners here are older people, and they just won't do it! If i had a £1 for every time an elderly person has stood staring at me until i've picked up after my two and then commented on with something along the lines of "i should think so too" i'd be a rich woman!
Agree that nappies are FAR more nauseating as well!!!!

Annette

I could have done with a loudspeaker this morning, sitting on a bench in the country park, enjoying the scenery, watching my dogs frolic and play and my two young kiddies playing happily (moments like that are few! :)) A man walks along with 2 Goldies and a Setter and the Setter proceeds to poop on the side of the path - just where the children will be running 5 mins later - he sees us so directs his head anywhere but in the direction of the Setter - I'm not that stupid! So I calls out, excuse me but your dog is going to the toilet, he just shrugs at me as if to say what can I do about it - when he reaches me I ask him if he would like a bag, so he says, this is a country park, the dogs only doing what comes naturally!!!!!! I ask him how he feels about my children stepping or falling into it and he just gives me a look that say that is your problem, then goes back to the poop and pushes it into the heather with a stick, because of course no one will step there!!
I was furious but luckily the children were there so my language was reserved!!
Why has he got dogs, and 3 large ones at that, if he is not willing to clear up, they give us all a bad time. We have a path where lots of owners let their dogs off after getting out of the car that we call poo path it is that bad!!!

Sorry to rant, I wasn't allowed to swear this morning, but I feel better now!

Hayley

(I can cope with most kids nappies, but sick is still a no no!)

Hayley, Makes yer feel better having a 'rant' doesn't it??.
I'm always amazed at the -----
"I come into the countryside so my dog can have a s~#t". attitude.
But then I'm amazed at many 'attitudes' people have towards 'my' countryside!

BB

I don't need a loud speaker - I've got a 5yr old who'll tell complete strangers how disgusting it is not to pick up their dog poo and will then offer them a nappy sack and glare at them until they pick it up!! :D :D

I don't have a problem with poo at all - but if one of the kids is sick I end up being sick as well :(

Fiona
x x x

It definitely is the minority spoiling it for the majority - one of my regular walks has one person with 2 Newfies who just does NOT clean up - and they defecate all round the fields, a bit further each day until they start again!!!

I worry that these people will one day cause the rest of us to lose our freedom with our dogs. I get really cross about it - how dare they?! Yet they don't care or half the time, don't even seem aware.

I once worked ina kennels and had to pick up after all the dogs - oh yuck! It all went in a big bucket and was tipped out onto a disgusting muck heap.

Lindsay

I think that in the *public's* opinion, dog fouling is the thing that people hate the most. And I completely agree with them. It spoils the walk when you are picking through piles of it all over the place. But it is the minority of people who don't pick up.

One thing I have noticed though is that dog people seem so much less sociable with their dogs these days. Having not had a pup for a fair few years, its been a bit of a suprise how the done thing is now to get your dog on the lead and walk past with no/little interaction. I'm not sure if its because he's big (i do put him on the lead for that very reason - no-one wants their dog squashed - but still people don't let their dogs come up and have a sniff) or if its just that dogs are generally less socialised these days... adn are therefore dodgy with other dogs themselves.

thoughts?
Chloe

Ah, one of those 'chicken and egg' problems!

Because dogs are not welcome in so many places they don't get taken out and about as much as they should....so they don't know how to behave when they're out and about....so they're not welcome....

And because they're not socialised properly they maybe aren't reliable with other dogs...so they are not allowed to socialise....so they never learn to be reliable....

IMO dogs should be taken absolutely everywhere so they know how to behave with people and dogs....and the owners should clean up after them. Then there'd be no problem.

World sorted!!!

I totally agree with you. We started even before they were finished their shots taking them everywhere - at first in our arms or hiding in our coat (it was January), but we took them to the town centre shopping, to the train station, to pubs. Our puppy class leader actually asked us to try 2-3 new situations a week (but we were doing it well before then).

I would rather err on the side of oversocialising than not enough.

Wendy

We're very lucky over our country park Chloe. nearly all dog owners are very friendly, in fact there are about a dozen I sometimes happily walk with. There are obviously exeptions, and I must admit if I see someone put their dog on a lead, I will often call out and say mine are fine if your's is, I agree it is absolutely vital that all dogs are socialised with all dogs - how big is he anyway? We meet all sorts, from a Papillon and a toy poodle to a Malamute and numerouse Bernese and we have rarely had any problems, maybe there is somewhere more friendly you could walk?! :)

Hayley

Isn't it true that in France dogs can even go in restaurants and stores with their dogs?

I went to Ironbridge the other day - and its the first time I have seen tearooms with signs welcoming dogs!

Chloe :)

Hi Hayley

He's a Great Dane and he's only 7 months - but he is HUGE. ABout 9 stone now. I can understand why people don't want him bounding up to them, but even so, I put him on the lead and he sits beautifully wating for them to pass - but they won't even let their dogs come up and sniff him :( I do feel sorry for him as he is only a baby and he is desperate to play. He has got a girlfriend though - a rescue GSD called Shelley, and he does play with her.

I only live in a small village - so I do have to be careful. They can have you hung drawn and quartered round here for stepping out of line! :D

Chloe

Hi again Chloe

I think I would take the bull by the horns and ask if HE can say hello to their dogs, they may think he is naughty as he is on the lead, not that you are a sensible owner.
It's a shame you are not closer, my Honey (dubious cross, but looked like a Great Dane cross at 6 months, but then didn't grow!!) would probably love him, although she is a bit into the dominatrix scene, so he'd have to look out!! :D

Anyway, best of luck with him, I hope he finds some more friends soon

Hayley

If people have kids running out of control who would expect other people to like them, the same applies to dogs.

i don't remember saying any dogs are/were out of control - just that people are not as sociable with their dogs as i remember.

I noticed this isolationist attitude for the first time on this very forum. I thought that dog owners were basically a sociable lot like their dogs naturally are.

There is an attitude with some owners that the dog should see them the owner as the sun and moon and stars and require no other interaction. The reason I feel this is sad as we are taking away the animals identity as a dog, and I feel a dog does require company and interaction with it's own kind.

People who show are often critiscised for not lwtting their dogs have a full life to preserve coat etc. Sadly it seems that there are those in the working disciplines who isolate their dogs, and the only interaction they have is with their owners for training, so the dog is mad keen to work. What about the fun of owning a dog?

The pleasure to be had of you both meeting new and interesting people/dogs, the happiness on their face4s when they spot one of their pals? I have four dogs, so they are not lacking in canine company, but they really enjoy meeting other dogs, and recognise ones they like from shows or walks, and are pleased to see them. When they meet another of a particular breed where they have a good mate they look ever so surprised when they realise it isn't their friend.

I had always thought this sociability was what distinguisehed us from Cat owbers qand their pets.

The problem we have here is that there are absolutely no bins, anywhere! We always pick up after Minx, unless she manages to find a really inaccesible spot that we really can't get to (only twice, halfway down a precipitous slope falling into the river, if anyone goes down there they'd have the fall and drowning to worry about before they have to fret about the dog poo!). She always manages to lay one pretty much as we set out, so we take the whole walk carrying a little bag of steaming poo (no wonder people are not sociable to us then, hehehe). I'm not sure how much of the 'unattended' poo we see is due to the lack of somewhere to put it, rather than the ignorance/apathy of the dog owners around here. And we find that folk will restrain their dogs and march past with their heads down too. When I last had a pup (my god, 22 years ago now!!!!), I couldn't make much progress down the street for folk with and without dogs wanting to stop and talk to and about her. How times change! But then of the loose dogs we have come across, only about 10% of the owners can call their dogs back from Minx, good job we've not met a nasty one, and so far Minx is pretty bomb proof around other dogs. Maybe that's why folk avoid each other?

Where we live there are bins everywhere ...literally ALL along all the favourite dog walks and yet there are STILL heaps along the whole of the riverbank , at the Castle fields , round by the allotments ...

I feel so ashamed when out with Hudson and we meet some non-doggy people ....why can't people just PICK IT UP?

Melody

I always feel that people are looking at me as if its my dog thats just done it. Which it isn't - cos Willis won't go outside his own garden, and if he did, I'd pick it up.

Chloe.

Same here! You can imagine when I see a pile and someone walks past me wiyh my four on lead, that they think it is one of mine that did it. Makes me wild.

If I see someone who obviously isn't going to pick up, I rush up and offer them a bag, oh have you run out????

I must admit though I was absolutely gobsmacked when I was asked on several occasions, 'I hope your going to pick that up' when my girls have just done a beautiful curtsey low to ground to do a pee that won't splash! With their curly tails it is quite obvious they aren't pooing!

I did have one strange man down one of the roads I walk down who had a go at me for allowing my girls to pee on some rough grass around a telephone pole, rather than let the pee trickle along the pavement on a dry day. I thought I was being extra considerate :(

The problem is that its a catch22. They won't let their dogs play so their dogs don't socialise with others. I can't let my puppy play because they don't want him to, so it becomes more and more appealing to him to play, until, I guess he gets bored with it/and/or is too unsocialised anyway.

Its no wonder its appeaing to go walk him somewhere remote where I don't have to worry!

Chloe

OK I'm showing my age now......
When I was a 'young Bramble', people took responsibility for the behaviour of their dogs (poo aside), and their children, (but don't get me going on that one).

Nowadays they seem to me like 'designer accessories', just get one (the current trendy mutt of course), and walk around with it on a 'bit of string'. Training huh! I'm sure we never had that many 'snappy dogs' then.
Those that are taught to behave..... have no need for muzzles.
I'm sure those people cannot 'trust' their dogs.....hence to 'standoff-ish' attitude.

There seems to have become a big void.........Those that really want to be proud of their animals............and put the effort in.
And those 'designer' owners..........all upfront, but no REAL interest...

Well thats me off me soap box.

For those interested last evening/night products 8 singles, 21 pairs of twins, 3 sets of triplets.............2 prolapses (messy), 1 still born.

BB

Just out of interest do the triplets stay on their Mums, or are one of them removed for hand rearing or fostering.

A friend used to kepp a pair of ewes to keep her grass down, and when one had triplets she had to supplemnt them, so I wondered what happend in a flock siuation? Just being nosey really!

Not a bad tally for one night BB. One of my friends was presented with quins by one of his ewes - he wasn't best pleased! He's muttering that it must be my influence, with all my talk of 'good-sized litters' etc! :D

What do you use with the prolapses? He's tried the 'spoon' with one particular ewe who decided to empty herself with great regularity, but in the end had to resort to a large safety-pin

thank god i'm not a sheep