My dog ownership career has been relatively short. I’ve had Cocoa, Brownie, and Lucky under my “wings” for about 2 years now. Every day with them is like a journey. Never know what they’ll do or how they’ll react to certain situations. So far, it’s been a blast and I hope to be with them for a very long time.
One thing that always bugged me was how other dog owners would not pick up their dog poop, some by mistake and some blatantly intentional.
Sure sometimes I miss a poop here and there, especially when I’m walking my 3 dogs at night. It’s dark and these tiny dogs’ poop in darkness are close to invisible. So sometimes, I just leave them and next morning I would come and pick it up. But usually I pick it up.
I made it a habit of picking up not only my dogs’ poop, but other dog poop I see along the usual daily walk route. No matter how big or nasty, I pick them up. Why?
For one, neither I nor my dogs wish to step in other dog’s poop. Very simple. Sanitary reasons.
Second, it’s not because others might see me walk past by, then assume it’s MY dog’s poop. Not all. I pick them up because I feel like I have a responsibility to this collective of fellow dog owners. We all (well, mostly) love our dogs. Having a dog is a privilege and with that comes privilege comes responsibility. I choose to be accountable for my and my dogs’ actions, no matter how gross. Even more so, i feel this civic sense of duty in making the neighborbhood cleaner because, quite frankly, no one gives a damn. So I give a damn. I pick up other dog’s poop. It’s the little things I do that can make a world of difference. So I choose to do it.
As “inspirational” as that intent sounds, the acutal duty is actually quite disgusting. Especially the big dog poop after he/she’s had some bad food that gives them diarrhea. Yes, gross. If you think reading about it is gross, try picking it up in person and see how much worse it is. And imagine the gross ness times 12 … or even 20. Because that’s how many times I have to bend over to pick them up. Especially at dog parks.
I don’t know if people notice, but usually when my dog are at the dog park playing and having fun, I don’t watch over them 24×7. Instead, I like to go around and pick up dog poop that other owners’ have “conveniently” forgotten to remove. On weekends, I would get 10+ lbs of dog poop in one dog poop bag. Yes, lovely. I can probably start my own fertilizer business just by visiting the local dog parks.
So this has been going on for months.. never once have I been noticed for doing it. It doesn’t matter, because I wasn’t doing it for recognition. Instead of recognition, I would prefer that people pick up after their damn dog.
A couple of days ago…. a bright light shined on my face: a lady said “thank you for taking the initiative to pick up the dog poop.”
Wow. Thanks lady. I feel like my work hasn’t been in vain.
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