Are You a Fair Weather Poop Cleaner?

From Mike Kohn. Have an urban etiquette wrong that needs to be righted? Drop Mike a line at mike[AT]borderstan.com or find him on Twitter @mike_kohn.

Logan Mom, a frequent Borderstan reader and commenter, wrote to me and said this:

I LOVE dogs. They are the best companions in the universe. I saw a pillow somewhere that said, “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” Truly words to live by. My dog also happens to be the best napping partner in the entire family. Everyone knows I love dogs in general and mine in particular.

Is there an unwritten rule that if the temperature falls below 40 degrees, dog walkers are automatically released from their civic and moral obligation to clean up after their pet? Really???? You can’t be bothered to take off your glove to scoop your dog’s poop?  As predictable as the sunrise, there are piles for miles on top of the new fallen snow, on the glistening ice. Everywhere.

To make matters worse, rats eat dog poop. That’s right. So every time someone fails to clean up after their pet, they leave rats a big yummy meal. I just heard at the LCCA [Logan Circle Community Association] meeting last week that rats are looking for new homes in legions too because all the construction in the neighborhood disrupts their tunnel systems and nests.

Now, I’ve been out on a walk and discovered I was out of bags — what dog walker amongst us hasn’t experienced this horror? I’ve picked up plastic or paper from the street to use and scrounged in trash cans. Maple leaves are actually pretty good in a real pinch. Then there’s the radical notion that you could come back later and pick up your dog’s poop. This is a separate issue, however, of fair weather commitment to scooping poop.

As for the winter weather dog walkers who have become bad actors with the change of the weather, I’m just interested in the psychology.

Honestly, I think this reader hit the nail on the end and that’s that.

So Borderstanis, I ask you, have you experienced this? Are you a fair weather poop cleaner?

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