30/08/2026
😱 “I mean, I didn’t really see where it was, did you?” – and other excuses that don’t hold up…
Today I ended up walking a short part of my dog walk with another dog owner. We were chatting about the weather, as you do, and our somewhat bad timing of the dog walk. ☔️
💩 Her dog had a poo in the grass verge and she made a comment about how she was lucky because she always did it ‘off to the side’ and proceeded to walk straight past without picking it up. 😮
😜 Well, I’m not one to stray from calling something out so I asked “are you not going to pick it up?”
She replied “No” and went on to say that if it had been obvious she would have done but ‘I mean, I didn’t really see where it was, did you?’ As if it were my responsibility to keep an eye out for where her dog was having a 💩
💪🏼 Don’t worry, followers. I lectured her all the way down the lane about leaving it on a verge on a single track lane where others may have to step off the lane to avoid traffic. I mentioned that leaving her dog poo around for other dogs/animals to eat could cause illness and toxicity, that other owners of scavenging dogs wouldn’t thank her etc etc.
She said nothing, no doubt embarrassed at having been called out, but still made no effort to go back and pick it up. So I let her carry on and I went back and picked it up myself.
‼️ Let’s clear some things up here. A few years ago, the Forestry Commission made a statement to “stick and flick” poo as it was deemed a natural waste product and beneficial to the environment. They have now retracted that statement and now support bagging and binning it.
❓Why?
➡️ Well, our dogs are no longer part of the natural ecosystem and neither is their waste. Rather, it is classified as an environmental pollutant (like oil spills or insecticides) and actually kills grass and plants around it.
➡️ When it rains, it gets washed into nearby bodies of water contaminating the water and its ecosystem, harming all water wildlife. It can even cause the growth of harmful algae.
➡️ Veterinary medications like flea and wormer treatments are present in dog poo and can be extremely toxic to aquatic wildlife and insects like honey bees.
➡️ Dog poo can also contain pathogens such as Giardia, Salmonella, Campylobacter, Clostridia, Enterococcus, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, Ancylostoma and Echinococcus, all of which have zoonotic potential meaning they can cause disease in humans. Healthy dogs can shed these pathogens as these bacteria can be a normal part of a dog's intestinal flora but they are also extremely resilient and can survive in soil for years.
These pathogens can be transmitted to humans and other animals through contact with contaminated soil, water, or other surfaces and cause serious illness.
➡️ Finally, this is a direct quote from an article which I’ll link in the comments:
“dog poo could help the spread of antibiotic resistance. Studies have shown an alarming percentage of dog poo contains antibiotic resistant bacteria. If left in the environment, these bacteria can transfer this resistance to soil microbes and then to humans via contaminated crops, water or direct contact with soil. Antibiotic resistance is fast becoming the defining global health issue of our time and could mean that common infections, like UTIs, could one day become fatal if antibiotics fail to work.”
So, the bottom line is PICK UP YOUR DOG 💩
