This image was shared by Stittsville resident Kristin Harcoff. It shows a pair of concrete barriers at the end of Maple Grove Road near Alon Street, at the edge of the Jackson Trails and Bryanston Gate.
Harcoff writes:
“Dear neighbours of Bryanston Gate and Jackson Trails. This is not a garbage can, and especially not one for your dog’s shit. Take it home with you. Not only am I embarrassed, being a dog owner myself, I am completely disgusted that I had to move your dog’s shit bags so I could just barely squeeze my stroller between these cement blocks. You can’t possibly live far if you are waking here, and since you have been so kind to bag your poop, perhaps you could be so kind not to leave it on a path I regularly use.”
Improperly disposed dog waste is a big stinking problem in Stittsville and across Ottawa — this is just one example. Not only is it unpleasant to look at, but it’s also a health issue too.
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Cheryl Dewar via email:
“I was in the UK recently and noticed they have containers for bagged dog waste. They are a dog friendly nation. This is an interesting site.
A few comments so far from Facebook and Twitter:
- Tim Harcoff: People just need to be more responsible for their own mess. Put your own dog’s crap in your own garbage like I do.
- Melissa Paterson: Having waste disposal receptacles at popular dog walking spots around Stittsville would at least ensure that dog waste is contained and not left around.
- Sandy Reely: NOT putting “no dog waste” on already available garbage cans in parks would help.
- Suzanne Bird: There is an awesome company that puts up stations with biodegradable bags and trash cans. Would love to see the city work with them at dog parks more.
- Wendy Killeen: I am also embarrassed by this since I have two dogs. What is also disgusting is when people bag the poop and hang it in a tree, I see this a lot along the trails. What’s the point of that?
I know this is not the case, but whenever I see dog owners letting their dogs crap wherever they want and not pick it up and/or actually to go the trouble to pick it up in a bag then do something as stupid as this I start to assume all dog owners are idiots
I’m in Fairwinds. The other day, while I was working in my home office, some dude stood on my front lawn while his dog pooped. I was on a conference call while it was happening, and he saw me through the window the whole time. When I was able to break away, he was already leaving the scene of the crime (looking back often to get my reaction of course.) After work, I had to deal with the mess. Bylaw said there was nothing they can do – and I guess the guy knew it.
You know what ,I was looking through my window and a guy with two dogs he didn’t pick it up after his dog, he left it on someone’s driveway, so I went outside, followed him and asked him do you have any poo bags ? He said no, “I forgot them”. He was shocked I caught him . It looks bad for us responsible dog owners.
At least part of the problem is that the garbage cans that are in parks clearly say not to put the poop in them.
I don’t own a dog, but have baby-sat one a few times, and found that there is nowhere to put the bag of poop. Yes, I can take it home and put it in my garbage, but then why not just allow it in the park bins? If there’s a good reason not to allow it, then put in bins where it is allowed.
I suspect that they really want people to take it home and put the poop in the toilet, but realistically, who is going to bring the bag home, into the house, open it up and extract the poop and drop it into the toilet. Then what do you do with the “poopy” bag?
While I do think it is disgusting that some idiots just drop their bags somewhere like this – or worse, hang it in a tree, I do think that the city should have receptacles for this.
I can certainly explain some of the reasoning behind a bag of dog poop in a tree; it’s not as crazy or unthoughtful as you might think.
Lots of conscientious dog walkers take their dogs for a “loop” on the trails. They bring poop bags and are prepared to pick up their dog’s droppings and bring them home. However, sometimes the dog does his business upon arriving at the park. The owner stoops and scoops, and now thinks “I have a 30 minute walk ahead of me and I’m going to be returning to this spot. Not sure I want to carry this with me.”
So they “park” it and pick it up on the way out. Leaving it on the ground is a bad idea since some dogs have a bad habit of discovering and chewing such treasures. So the owner puts the probate up out of reach and in a location that they will see it on the way out.
So I don’t worry about such items unless they are still there 24 hours later, in which case I assume the owner has simply forgotten to grab it on the way out, in which case I’ll take it out of the tree and throw it out with my own dog’s loot bag.
Smart man!