Tuesday, May 6, 2008

poop!

morning started out beautifully- nice and quiet, sun coming up, birds singing. passed a few runners, one group with well behaved off leash dog. ran into some walkers with a off leash dog on red fox- mine were on, but i let go & they all ran around. no harm.

mostly i keep echo back because he scares people with his big blackness and cropped ears. he also plays rough and doesn't tolerate bad dog manners, which other owners don't always appreciate (hint: if your dog's back hair is up when they approach another dog, don't expect a warm fuzzy greeting)

on down red fox, we find this- right on the trail, hard to miss. picked it up.





up across chickadee ridge and back down onto red fox and suddenly i am seeing poop all over. all of these piles were either right on or within 2 feet of the trail. i was not hunting high & low for poop. and yes it looked like dog poop, not coyote or anything.

come on people! this is the single biggest problem we have with dogs in the reserves and one of the main reasons there is discussion about taking away off leash access. this is ridiculous. 2 piles were within 4 feet of a trash can (guess the owner didn't have bags).

4 piles were in the currently on leash area. maybe we should enforce on leash in the on leash area and see if it reduces the amount of poop there before assuming that is the answer for most of the trails system.

as for the poop is icky to carry issue- i take a big freezer ziplock and put the individual poop bags in that. it reduces the smell and makes it easier to carry multiple bags (they never go just once). i put it in a back pocket (when we get going with the dog packs, they can carry it). ziplock can be reused.


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rather than place poorly worded(but colorful) fliers urging others to become part of the wrongfully oppressed the money should be spent to resolve the root cause of the issue(folks not cleaning up). Educate the people at the trails as your post did today.

All the voice mails to the mayor(see at Boiseguardian.com) speak to being victimized by the the government. The truth is actually that your fellow dog owners are the ones that have caused this. Acknowledge the problem and provide some leadership towards a resolution. Urging the Mayor to help maintain the status quo is not a solution.

Cheers,

TGWSIYDC

marianne said...

thanks for your input.

i appreciate the blog being mentioned on the flyers, but did not make up or distribute them. r2r dog's intention is to let people know how to be part of the process. we also want to organize dog owners who acknowledge that there are issues that need to be addressed so that we can work toward equitable solutions within the system. but the current proposal is not the answer.

Anonymous said...

Fair enough, thanks for the clarification. As always, it is a minority that ruins it for everyone. Good luck.

Cheers,

Anonymous said...

I appreciate the dialog and ideas. I want to see the trails remain off-leash. Education is key for dog owners...so many people believe that the poop will disintegrate and become soil, or that the trails are so remote 'out of site, no problem'...they've no idea about the potential to contaminate water resources, or realize their impact. I have a question: do city workers literally clean up dog poop on the trails each week? Is that what I read?? I have never seen them in action.

marianne said...

the parks employees empty the trash cans, but don't pick up the poop left laying around- that part is up to all of us.

marianne said...

as for the poopin' thing- i'm amazed at how much of it i see left on sidewalks, in my yard, etc, etc.....it's not good anywhere

Anonymous said...

I would really like to see more trash cans on the trails. I realize that there are additional costs and burdens to the city with this regard, but I am sure people would more inclined to pick up their dogs poop if they didn't have to carry or the next couple of miles or so. I wonder why this hasn't been more carefully considered as a solution?

marianne said...

i get kind of discouraged when i see piles within 4 feet of current trash cans, and i think that we need to do certain things to maintain access- like carry poop, or put it somewhere to pick up & carry back out. that being said, if there are specific places that it would help to have cans, let us know & we'll ask.