Doggie doo don’ts

Part of the joy of running to work is the ability to explore and experience your community. Indeed, you are inherently exposed to it as you dash/trot/trudge to and from work. Bicycling gives you this freedom, too; however, at their slower pace, run commuters more intimately experience the areas in which the community needs improvement. Specifically: disposal of dogs’ movements.

My relatively brief run to the office has provided me a wealth of anecdotes, mini-adventures, and one-time-only sights. I photograph nearly all of them to later show Laura, and later share here. Yet of constant complaint and concern are the carnival-colored bamboo baggies of dog turds, tossed haphazardly by negligent dog owners beside (or on) sidewalks, in gutters, roads, semi-wooded areas, and pretty much anywhere else they feel like flinging them. I am certain roof tops and car hoods have seen their undue share of crap sacks. Here are some recent examples:

When owners opt to dispose of the canine refuse, any open, vertical cylinder will do.

Broken lamp posts

Unused or disused utility pipes

Anything goes! This is not to say all dog owners are scatalogical litterbugs; many, if not most, properly dispose of their doggies’ sundry doo. The ne’er-do-wells actions, exposed as they are, stick out. Yet in this case, too, the leavings are left too long by the city. Often I see trash cans overflowing with mounds of frozen yogurt cups and doggie-doo bags; I note them and report them later to the city, in hopes they will be cleaned up. They seldom are.

Someone in the Old 4th Ward repurposed a frozen yogurt yard sign ad, and so became my ally and a hero: