Low Stakes. Hot takes "Write about something that’s pretty insignificant overall that you have a very strong feeling about”. Here’s one for you.
I grew up with dogs. At various times we had Ying Tong, a Pekingese; Soldier, a Labrador / Lurcher cross; Bessy, a Labrador / Collie cross. I loved these dogs. Not so much Ying Tong who I recall was a bit aloof, but Soldier and Bessy were great. I was happy to do the dog walking and pay them attention at home. The dogs were never allowed upstairs or to sit on the furniture. We were discouraged from feeding them scraps from the dinner table. We treated them like dogs. In the way that they were dogs so that’s how they were treated.
We would take the dogs for walks around neglected allotments in Faversham when we lived there; around an overgrown riverside walk after we moved to Canterbury. The dogs knew where they were going. If they needed a dump on the way we’d shove them towards the curbside in the road and they would do it there. The council dog shit gang or scarab would be along soon enough to clear it up.
People that allowed their dogs to mess the pavement were frowned upon. At least in our family they were. When we got to the allotments or riverside the dog would be let off the lead. There they would run about freely and crap in the undergrowth when they needed to.
The first law that compelled dog owners to remove dog faeces from designated public land was introduced in 1996. The original law has since been repealed. New laws have been passed and overtime consolidated into what we have now. Dog walkers must clean up after their dogs by bagging and binning faeces in public places. It they do not they risk fines up to £1,000 if prosecuted, or a fixed penalty.
I’m totally okay with the law. I can still remember the gaff of treading in dog mess as a child. Scraping my shoes clean on the curb, or if there was no curb finding a stick or some other means to clean up. It was as horrid as it sounds. No fun at all. Well, there was a childhood game called “shit sticks” but I shall leave that for another time.
I’ve never owned a dog as an adult, mainly because if I did, I’d want enough land for it to run free and do its business naturally.
It’s not about being a clean freak, squeamish or anything like that. It just seems very strange to me that humans pick up and dispose dog excrement. Perhaps at odds with evolution or reasonable boundaries between species. Owners dutifully bending down and bagging up their dogs crap looks to me like we lost our way somewhere along the line. I’m sure I sometimes see dogs giving their owners a puzzled look as they do this. What the fuck do you want with my shit?! Sometimes I notice an owner self conciously waiting until I have ridden or walked by before doing what they must. I can understand that.
I’m not judging dog owners on this. I thank them. I’m pleased our environment is not littered with dog mess. I get how much you must love your pets to accept this undignified duty. It just something that seems really odd to me.