I think that this is a fantastic idea! In Derbyshire a footpath has so much dog poo on it that the council are spraying the piles with 'pink spray paint' to highlight the problem. They are warning of fines up to £1,000 too. Serves them right, what do you think?
http://inburton.co.uk/burtonontrent/index.php/burton/pink-poo-spotted-in-burton-on-trent/

surely they should spend a little more time tracking down the irresposible owners and maybe........... spraying them pink instead!!!!

edited to say this news link was posted on April Fools ..????

It may have been posted on April Fools, but where I'm from, they did have a spell of spraying dog poo pink! It highlighted to those offending maybe just how much they all were allowing their dogs to foul, mostly just where their dogs had got out of the car, and where the visitors would set up their picnics............and it also meant that the unsuspecting were forewarned before they trod in it!

> ............and it also meant that the unsuspecting were forewarned before they trod in it!

Surely it would have been better to remove it than spray it.  Perhaps put a flag in the spots where the poo was saying "for shame, someone else had to remove your dogs poo" .

I thought that Barbara - if they've got time to spray it, they surely should have time to remove it completely!!

Probably it would have been better.................but you know councils etc, you can't explain their reasons for doing so......................I have to say though.........the forest looked very pretty in pink for a while :-D

One of our local council's have decided to increase on the spot fines for people allowing their dogs to foul, from £50 to £80.  But of course they have to catch them in the first place!
It does seem to have increased in the area recently and I've been banging on to the dog warden for ages.
They also said they would be increasing patrols, etc.  Haven't seen any evidence of that, but there we go.
They also encourage people to report others who let their dogs foul.  Again, very difficult to actually get through to anyone at the council, but not only that the same people won't necessarily go back to the same spot the following day (or whenever the warden decides to go have a look!).

If I see anyone doing it, I offer a bag as I always carry spares. 

They have stepped it up around our area - a woman from our dog club was out with her two dogs, cleaned up after one when it went, didn't see the other one do it's business, so she reckons! - but anyway, next thing a police car came flying up, all lights flashing, and gave her a £75 fine.  Then she said he got out a notebook, wrote down details, and said, "right, that is my quota for today"..!  (he had a couple of pages full). 

> I think that this is a fantastic idea!

I don't think the council should be picking up lazy, irresponsible dog owners dog poop for them. Spraying it pink will highlight the problem, but unfortuantely I don't think it will make any difference to the people who happily leave the poop on the floor in the first place :(
More CCTV I think, then the culprits can be traced & fined.

I get very mad with dog poop left around, it's disgusting and it gives all dog owners a bad name. People who can't be bothered to clean up after thier dog, really shouldn't have a dog in the first place

Surely spray painting it pink would look attractive to a small child? what if they picked it up when mums back was turned? Best the council just remove it i think.

I was with a friend last week and one of his dogs went right under the CCTV camera :-D They watched him pick up, too ;-)

As to spraying it pink, why pink? Why not flourescent paint, so that you can see it in the dark? Who knows if they are allowed to pick it up, due to the health and safety of the picker-upper ;-) This world is going mad :-D

Good point.

Actually my daugher is a little Autistic and when she was 3 to 4 she stuck her finger in dog poo on walks anyway if I ever said "watch out for the dog poo".

I can't stsand dog much and it is awful playing ball with dogs or children in areas where people haven't cleaned up.

But the wardens do need to have some compassion and sensitivity. I met an elderly lady last week who was in an awful state after a dog warden had fined here she always cleans up but was walking someone elses dogs and hadn't realised ot was due to go more then once on a walk and omeone had distracted her attention at the wrong moment. Basically a one off mistake. He wouldn't evemn let her clean up the dog mess!  And so far I only know 3 people who have been fined and they are all people who do clean up!

For law respecting people who spend theor whole lives being good and supporting the community it is devistating to be criminalised.

I never ever EVER drop litter but what if a bit of litter falls out of my pocket when I get out a poo bag and I don't see it fall or the wind catches it too fast and it blows away? I would get a fine! Despite the fact I not only do I do my absolute best to make sure I don't drop litter, but I also frequeently I pick up litter I see laying on the streets and have several times collected bin bags of the stuff with local children.  To get a fine foir a one off mistake would serously piss me off.

It's those who go to the park unseen early morning or late at night and open the car doors and let the dogs walk themselves every single day deliberately noy cleaning up  who are building up the awful quantities of dog mess who need to be caught.

my friend usually takes loads of poo bags out but one day got caught short and her dog had 3 poo's and did a FOURTH.... she had run out and she was being watched!! so the only thing she could think of was her sock eek

> I can't stsand dog much

not the best forum for you then i would have thought...

That's true responsibility!!!

As for the can't stand dogs much I think it was a typo for muck :-)

> As for the can't stand dogs much I think it was a typo for muck

ahhhhh ha ha thanks was a little confusing

> she had run out and she was being watched!! so the only thing she could think of was her sock eek

Good on her!!
The one time I forgot to take poop-bags with me Buster pooped (sods-law as he very rarley 'goes' while on a walk), luckily my dad was with me and gave me a hadnkerchief to use - he said he didn't want the hanky back LOL
I'm very glad I didn't have to resort to using my sock!!

I don't really don't know how people can say they didn't notice the dog pooping. My last dog was very sneaky and would drop them out as he was walking but I knew he would do that and always checked behind him. Same with Buster, even though he very rarely 'goes' whilst on a walk, if he slows down/stops I check to make sure he isn't leaving a 'mess'.

There is no art or skill to spotting your dog pooping, it's just plain, simple vigilance and being aware that living beings need to excrete at some point during the day!

I have a little plastic bone shaped poop-bag dispenser that holds a roll of 30 bags, it's clipped to a little bag that holds Busters training rewards/'bait' and a slobber-cloth. Now I never leave the house with Buster without that bag and all the bits. So I know I always can clean up mess from his back end, mess from his front end (slobber) and lure him into behaving if he's having a 'kevin' moment - easy-peasy :-)

Burton is in staffordshire not derbyshire

******runs away**********

I think it was an April fools joke seeing as it was posted on the 1st.
I hate it when I clean up after my dog and then step in another dogs poo. urrr

I have heard that they are doing this in other parts of the country- and I heard this months ago so it couldnt be an april fool.

My mistake, Burton is indeed in Staffordshire, the report was on Radio Derby & no it wasn't an April Fool, hadn't even realised what the date was. I think dog wardens should get out  'in force' in problem areas to name, shame & fine. Someone did ring the radio station & suggest that the paint is fluorescent, so that you can see it in the dark. I don't think empolying someone to pick it up will work at all, I think it will just encourage people that don't pick up to leave it!

> I don't really don't know how people can say they didn't notice the dog pooping

This can be a problem when your busy picking up after one and trying to pinpoint exactly where the other goes when they feel the need to run away from what exits their bots ;)

> This can be a problem when your busy picking up after one and trying to pinpoint exactly where the other goes when they feel the need to run away from what exits their bots ;-)

LOL, good point! I only have the one dog now & he stays on a long-line, I forget it's a different story with more than the one dog to contend with.

Can be a nightmare iwth several off lead at once..

Does anyone else have a sort of mental code about picking up though?

On the pavement or path, always pick up. If its dark and i think one of mine has gone but i cant find it, then ill pick up the nearest poo i see (and grimace when its a cold one thats evidently not my dogs) as i figure if i pick up *a* poo.. ive done my best if i think im responsible for one and cant find it.

If they go in the undergrowth well off the path where no one goes (not like in the bushes in places where kids play around and build dens!!!) or its full of nettles and brambles, i tend not to pick up there (i dont take the wee though.. and claim its too far in to get when its 3ft out nowhere near the nettles or brambles), but this really is rare as most places we go the undergrowth is full of kids building dens and things..

Out in the countryside.... in fields etc...... i always pick up! Because theres nothing worse than scraping dogmuck out of a horses hoof!

I do think sometimes that some people dont pick up because they are weirdly embarrassed to be seen picking up sh*t... and I wonder actually if alongside the 'stick' of a fine for not picking up... if there was a randomly allocated 'carrot' FOR picking up it might encourage some more people to do it.

It is odd, ive had countless people without dogs saying 'ewww how can you do that' or generally grumble at me when i AM picking it up - ive only ever ONCE had someone thank me for picking it up (of course they had no need to do so, but it REALLY was appreciated).

> This can be a problem when your busy picking up after one and trying to pinpoint exactly where the other goes when they feel the need to run away from what exits their bots ;-)

Round here we're told "Lead before need, freed after deed." to combat this problem of people not noticing where their dogs do their business.
The only problem I have is that Oscar doesn't like to do his business while he's on the lead and will hang on for hours if necessary!

As for pink dog poo....it does seem to be a bit of a waste of money and time, but I suppose it highlights the problem, literally. Unfortunately, the sort of people who habitually never clear up after their dogs, aren't going to be moved to do so by a bit of pink dog poo.

> If its dark and i think one of mine has gone but i cant find it, then ill pick up the nearest poo i see (and grimace when its a cold one thats evidently not my dogs)

Oh yes, I too have had the pleasure of the cold dog poo experience. Bleeuurrrghhhhhhhh!

I've been thanked before too. He thought I wasn't going to clear up (I was getting a bag from under the pushchair) and came marching over just as I got the bag out....so quickly said thank you instead. :-D

I like walking at Farley Mount and my children love to go up to the monument - the only problem is that the footpath is absolutely covered in dog poo most of the time. In the summer the smell along the path is awful! It really does spoil a lovely walk :-(

> Out in the countryside.... in fields etc...... i always pick up! Because theres nothing worse than scraping dogmuck out of a horses hoof!
>

lol, how often do horse riders do the same though?

You would need a big poo bag :-o . Anyway horse poo isnt as horrible as dog poo cos they don't eat meat, veggie poo is less disgusting IMHO :-D

true but it still gets left everywhere!! and tis still grotty, also a temptations (not for myself you understand :)) to roll in

We were at a dog show a while back at a hall very near the town centre, there was some sort of parade going on through the town and along the seafront lead by a horse & cart. When we came out of the show hall the horse had been boxed in the car park near us and the owners were out with a spade and large feed bag picking up the horse's poo!!

Maybe spraying the dog poo pink will make the folk who don't pick up realise how much is left around, lets face it poo isn't clearly noticeable the colour that it is!

A gentleman recently approached by two of my colleagues for allowing his dog to foul and failing to pick it up...went back and picked it up with his bare hand and put the faeces in his pocket!!!..it makes a change from the usual threats and abuse :)