An Open Letter To My Fellow Dog Owners

I know that most dog owner are responsible when they take their dogs for a walk and do exactly what they are supposed to when their dog goes to the washroom on someone's lawn or in the park.

But the minority that just let their dogs poop and then dash wreck it for everyone else because every home owner has had that unpleasant experience of discovering dog crap on their lawn or worse, stepping in it and when someone who actually acts responsibly comes along, they are tarred with the same brush.

I know it isn't the most fun thing to do, but picking up after your dog is what you are supposed to do. I don't like carrying the bag around, but that is just part of the responsibility of sharing your life with an animal.

And with the proliferation of dollar stores, you can get tons of specially designed bags to do that for virtually no money, that isn't really an excuse either.

Granted, my views on this matter may have been shaped by the fact that the fall before last, I was walking my dog through the park and she rolled around in some leaves and we went on our way, but I kept smelling something odd. I checked my shoes and I couldn't see anything on them. It wasn't until I was almost home that I realized where the smell was coming from... my dog's neck. She had rolled into another dog's crap. I also realized that when that little kid pet her and she jumped up near his face, he got a lot more than he bargained for. I was mortified.

I've had dogs for a decade and a half and I can count on the fingers of one hand how many times I've left something extra on someone else's lawn. And in all those cases, I did come back and pick it up within an hour. And I still felt bad for doing that, but the circumstances meant I couldn't pick it up when it happened.

And the people who drag their dogs while they are trying to poop and leave a trail of poop down the sidewalk are just assholes. That's right: assholes! If that was happening to a human being, they would literally be shitting their pants, and you are leaving a mine field for blocks at times that people have to avoid and home owners have to clean up.

Leaving crap on one person's lawn is a dick move. Dragging your dog down the street while they are crapping takes that dick move to the next level.

So don't do either.