My Second Gripe

Dog shit. It’s EVERYWHERE. I can’t believe that in this very upscale town, with multi-million dollar homes, I have to be careful of dog poop.

I have a dog and she poops. Big surprise. But I clean it up. If we are in our own home and she poops in the yard, we still picked it up. Poop is nasty and it’s full of bacteria. It is so easy to scoop it up in a baggy and then dispose of it, but God no, not an Italian.

For fuck’s sake, if I see 5 dog walkers I can guarantee only one will pick up after their dog. We are in a really nice apartment while we wait to move into our house and I have to take our dog out several times a day. On the property, yet outside the wall, there is a decorative area covered in small stones. It also currently has 6 large turds, in a 2x10ft area. If this property was mine I would block it so people can’t walk their dogs on it.

Yesterday i went for a run and found an abandoned factory. I was pretty cool, though I didn’t go in. I found an open window to peek into so I could see the inside, and what did I find?

Here’s the factory:

And here’s what I saw inside a broken window:

So “responsible” dog walkers are bagging their little turds’ turds, and then throwing the bags into this building!

I met an old farmer walking with his large dog, an Italian Spinone, the other day, and he told me he saw a woman with her dog in the weekly outdoor market that day, who let her dog shit in the middle of the market, and then she walked away. He was upset, and said dogs don’t belong at the market, and if people can’t clean up after them, they shouldn’t have dogs. And he is right.

And yesterday, in an Italian FB group, I actually got into a fight with stupid people about how a raincoat on a dog isn’t going to protect them from viruses or bacteria. I was called an idiot, was told that the rain causes arthritis, and that viruses have nothing to do with people or animals getting sick. When I pointed out that these people are making their dogs sick by letting them walk in other dogs’ shit, they said I didn’t know what I was talking about. Well, their dogs will contract all sorts of stuff, and probably die, and these geniuses will blame it on the cold.

“Dog waste is toxic. It contains bacteria, viruses, parasites and plenty of other components that pollute water systems. Whenever it storms, those nasty things can travel into surrounding bodies of water, which in turn pollute swimming areas, increase the amount algae and weed growth that makes water murky and green, and alter the amount of oxygen and ammonia, thereby killing aquatic wildlife. The EPA even estimates that two days worth of dog poop from about 100 dogs would contribute enough pollution to close a beach and all watershed areas within 20 miles of it. So, do you need to pick up dog poop? Yes.” And use compostable bags that won’t stick around like plastic!

https://www.familyhandyman.com/landscaping/should-you-pick-up-your-dogs-poop/

This leads me to my next rant: abject stupidity.