Dog owners - pick your dogs mess up

[doglover]

i have not wanted to post on here, i have watched it for ages and you are not very nice to each other but now i must post. I am fed up with the dogs mess everywhere on the island, it is not just one or 2 people it is most dog owners. come on people how much time does it tke to pick up your dogs mess. is anyone else fed up with this, write it here then, perhaps we shuld name and shame?

doglover

[canUsmellthat]

"you are not very nice to each other "

"we shuld name and shame"

Hmm...

[longshanks]

we shuld name and shame

I quite agree.

Go on then doglover, you first.

Shankers (poo vigilante by choice)

[NickB]

.
Doglover,

While I sympathise I don't think that publicly naming people on this forum is a good idea.

[Pentlandpirate]

Well, can we name the dogs then?

[Eric the Viking]

I believe there is already a vigilante dog poo repatriation scheme (Poop and Post ) in operation in certain parts of the island

I don't see what the problem is myself - it seems that half the island doesn't want the new sewerage scheme and is quite happy to pump untreated s**t into the sea - why all this fuss about a few dog turds?

[khartoumteddy]

we cant name and shame the owner but the dogs name is rover



teddy

[Maggie]

- why all this fuss about a few dog turds?

I think Eric is right. If we're going to worry about dogs having a pooh then we'd having to worry about us having one when caught short out walking, or sheep having one in the hills, or cows in the fields, or yachtspeople in Balvicar Bay, or chickens in their scratching areas, or seagulls as they fly over. Its only a natural function after all. Totally harmless; poor people in Asia spread pooh over their fields and then eat the vegetables which grow (better).

[Seil Blubber]

Maggie, your post tells me one of two things about you. You either are one of those non-scooping dog owners the post is about or you are the only person in Argyll who has never stepped in the stuff.

So do you own a dog? If so do you scoop? Are you going to come clean?

[NickB]

.
In the interests of accuracy, let's have a couple of pieces of background information:

It is against the law to allow your dog to foul a public place, with provision for fixed penalties. See the Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003

The comparison between sheep/cow faeces and dog faeces is not relevant - the former are relatively harmless to humans, while dog faeces frequently carry the worm which causes Toxocariasis . This disease causes approximately 100 cases a year of blindness in the UK and is most commonly contracted by children.

I suspect that there may be people on the island who feel strongly about this issue but who for one reason or another are reluctant to post here. If anyone would like to post on this subject - or any other - I would encourage them to sign up and have their say. I guarantee that they will not be subjected to abusive responses from any of our more agressive posters - those days are over on this forum.

[Sandy MacSeil]

Ah think yuv got tae specify where it's unacceptable to let dugs foul. Ah mean - ya surely widnae worry about them foulin' away up the forest in the hills but you maybe should be mair strict aboot it along the streets of Balvicar or on the golf course, ken? Still, overall, it seems tae me that it's a wee bit of a townie's type o' worry. Can you imagine shepherds in one man an' his dug runnin' aroon wi' plastic bags in their poakets?!

[Pentlandpirate]

Ah think yuv got tae specify where it's unacceptable to let dugs foul. Ah mean - ya surely widnae worry about them foulin' away up the forest in the hills but you maybe should be mair strict aboot it along the streets of Balvicar or on the golf course, ken? Still, overall, it seems tae me that it's a wee bit of a townie's type o' worry. Can you imagine shepherds in one man an' his dug runnin' aroon wi' plastic bags in their poakets?!

Can ye no speak normal, Spiderman?

[Maggie]

What an interesting little debate. I like Mr B's contribution. Thankyou for the legislation link; it clearly states that the law on picking up poohs does not apply to agricultural land. I would guess that 95%+ of the land here is such, so the law does not apply to most places on Seil. And the disease link tells us that it can only be contracted by eating poohs so what's the problem? If it is a problem to you then I apologise for being rude about your, or your childrens', diet. Mr Pentland, what's wrong with writing the way you speak like Sandy did? I think its quite sweet really. Mr Seil B; no I don't have a dog.

[NickB]

it clearly states that the law on picking up poohs does not apply to agricultural land

Correct but irrelevant. The law applies to all public areas including roadside verges and pavements, whether they border agricultural land or not. These are the areas I assume people are referring to here. I rather imagine it also applies to the golf course in Balvicar. In fact, it applies to most places people walk their dogs, so the agricultural land reference is a bit of a red herring.

As for the poo eating - you are technically correct but again somewhat misleading:

From the NHS website:

Humans become infected by accidentally ingesting (swallowing) worm eggs, or by eating food that is contaminated with soil containing the eggs (such as unwashed raw vegetables).

Children are most likely to develop toxocariasis, especially children between 2-7 years of age. This is because children are more likely to come into contact with soil or sand that contains dog or cat faeces, and are less likely to follow sensible hand-washing hygiene.

[Maggie]

Facts are chiels that winna ding,

Sorry but I don't understand what you're saying. Could you write it out in English please, assuming its not already.

[Pentlandpirate]

So you would definitely not put your hands in a dog turd........but you might quite happily stroke yours , or your friends, family pet?

Forgetting of course that dogs lick their behinds, and then clean themselves by licking their coat all over. Some people also let the log lick their faces and kiss them.

It's pretty rare that someone will step in dog mess, and then be unfortunate enough to get the stuff on their hands, but far, far more common for people to happily pat or stroke a dog, whether their own pet or a friends, forgetting it's the whole animal you can pick this disease up from.

If you are scared of dog poo, you need to think twice before you shake hands with somebody.

[Seil Blubber]

So there you have it Doglover. As you can see the good citizens of Seil laugh at the law, ignore medical advice and embrace dog poo with open arms. Members of the golf club might not agree, but no doubt they are all out playing golf.

[Eric the Viking]

Children are most likely to develop toxocariasis, especially children between 2-7 years of age. This is because children are more likely to come into contact with soil or sand that contains dog or cat faeces

That'll be those rare children that can drag themselves away from a Playstation for more than five mininutes? .

Thing that puzzles me is that you're still at risk of contracting toxocariasis from cat poo. Now, can anyone tell me how many people 'walk' their cats - let alone carry cat poo scoops?

I believe the risk of toxocariasis is about the same as contracting Lyme disease from ticks and Weils disease from rats - Perhaps we should all live in plastic bubbles?

On the bright side I suppose that we're lucky in that risk of contracting TB from badgers is gone?

I'm off now to walk they elk hounds

[Pentlandpirate]

….and some cats and dogs, sheep and cows, birds and bees might well be saying on Animal Seil Chat, those human beings should tidy up their plastic bags, sweet wrappers, fag buts, beer cans, bottles, rusting farm machinery and filthy air. We animals don’t like the sh*t left by humans either.

[The Crimson Vicar]

It is extremely rare for anyone to become infected by stroking a dog - direct contact with faeces or contaminated soil is overwhelmingly the most common method of transmission, so the comments about the dangers of stroking pets is a red herring.

In reality, the entire toxocariasis strand is something of a red herring. Dog faces deposits on public thoroughfares are:
illegal
antisocial
infinitely more unpleasant than agricultural faeces (except perhaps pigs, but pig droppings are somewhat rare on roadside verges)
much more common (around Balvicar in particular) than any other variety of faeces and
entirely preventable.

Failure to clear up after your dog shows not only a well-developed degree of laziness and a depressingly common level of irresponsibility, but an attitude of complete contempt for other users of the thoroughfare in question.