Who are these people that don’t pick up their dog’s poop?  Yeah, I said “poop” and I’ll say it again.  Poop. 

Okay, it’s kind of gross, but I have to ask my fellow dog owners…do you find yourselves talking about poop a lot??  Before we had a dog, I can’t remember talking about poop at all.  But now, I don’t think a day goes by that Anya & I don’t have at least a brief exchange regarding Oscar’s poop - frequency, size, consistency.  Is that weird???  I mean we’re just trying to keep tabs on whether he’s sick, going on enough walks and trying to make sure that his diet is agreeing with him.  That’s normal, right?

Anyway, every day there is fresh poop on my block, and on most of the surrounding blocks we walk on.  Anya and I have a long standing joke (since way before we had a dog) about poop we’d see on the sidewalk.  Anya said that she heard somewhere that the owners of guide dogs didn’t have to pick up their dog’s poop.  Now, I’m not sure if this is true, but it makes sense - I certainly wouldn’t expect a blind person to feel around on the groud for it.  So, every time we’d see poop on the sidewalk, we’d just say with a smile, ”Must be a seeing eye dog!” 

However, now that we’re dog owners, we’re taking the poop a little more seriously.  After all, if someone doesn’t pick up their dog’s poop, it’s a reflection on all dog owners. 

I pick up Oscar’s poop for another very simple reason (other than the fact that it’s required by law):  The Golden Rule.  I don’t like to step in poop!  And forensic poop evidence (CSI: Poop Police)  suggests that many of these droppings are definitely too small to be from a guide dog. 

Oh, and while we’re on the stinky subject - there should be a class in poop picking also.  You don’t need to mash the poop into the sidewalk like you’re making some sort of abstract finger painting -  don’t attack the poop - it’s not your enemy.  A delicate cradle & flip movement will usually extract even more stubborn poops from the sidewalk without leaving a trail of sidewalk devastaion in their wake.