Hi Neighbor!

Enjoying the fall colors and safe from Covid, it seems like everyone’s outside getting exercise with their four-legged friends. But it’s resulting in another kind of epidemic. Are you seeing what I’m seeing – poop bags littered on lawns and sidewalks? And some poop without the bags too. Help me understand how this is happening?

I saw this poop-bomb phenomenon begin to explode with Covid and it felt so rude. After all, we’re neighbors living in the same communities. These lawns belong to the same people who caringly look for our dogs when they’re lost, take in mail when we’re away and invite our children over when we’re late.

Are pet parents forgetting and inadvertently leaving it behind? Maybe they didn’t want to carry it on a walk and intended to pick it up on the way home. But the unsightly and unhealthy result is the same. Dog excrement potentially carries a ton of diseases and worms and allows harmful bacteria to wash into storm drains and water sources. Ick.

It’s easy to tie a bag to the leash as one possible solution. Personally, I keep pick-up bags near the exit door and grab one when leaving for a walk. Hands-free carriers worn on the waist or leash are a good idea too:

Thankfully we haven’t discovered any discarded plastic packages on our lawn. If we do, we’re heading to Micro-Center or Best Buy for a surveillance camera to identify the poop-ertrator.

Hope that pride in our respective communities and respect for our neighbors, results in more doggie doo being discarded considerately.

Picking up and taking home,

Jane