I am so goddamn sick and tired of dog owners not picking up their dog’s shit in the commons. How many more times do i have to walk in those time bombs? I’m talking about you, you long-boarding curly haired nose ringed hippy. I saw your golden dog take a shit right in front of me and you didn’t even pay a moment’s attention to it. There’s something for the poop log.
—Oregano
This article appears in Apr 2-8, 2009.
So you watched this happen and did not speak up? Say anything to the so called long hair hippy…well your just gut-less. I agree everyone should pick up after their dog but you should grow a back bone and stand up for what you believe in instead of complaining on a website.
Snap a picture of the person next time and post it online. If they approach you, offer to sell them a copy.
Many years ago up the Eastern Shore there was a guy who had a tombstone on his front lawn, I was curious and read the inscription:
“Here he lies all cold and hard
The last damned dog to shit in my front yard”.
Its being put to better use on the commons as fertilizer than in the harbour or garbage dumps.
On that note… do people compost their dog’s shit?
So, you would prefer to have dogshit all over the city “fertilizing” the place rather than expect people to pick it up? That’s fine with me if you can guarantee that I don’t accidentally fertilize my shoes.
The only guarantee is to look where your walking. lol It is everywhere but I would rather see dog poop on the ground then a tim hortons cup or plastic bags.
I wasn’t saying its a good solution but according to natural order a “natural” space is where shit would end up… altough the commons is very far from that. Just saying that a place for it to decompose is better than in the harbour and in dumps.
With that said, a large amount of shit in one spot is bad no matter what. Should we build a water treatment facility for dog shit? or is this becoming redundant?
get some big ugly prescription glasses so you can see the shit before you step in it
Dog shit doesn’t fertilize as much as you would think, AK. For it to be effective as a fertilizer, it has to be full of nitrogen and broken up. Dog shit doesn’t meet either one of these criteria, so all it does is burn the grass and as it washes away into the sewer or into the ground it pollutes the groundwater. There’s a reason why we throw it out. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s the best we’ve got.
This is a problem in my neighbourhood too, especially this time of year. Hello people, just because the snow covers it up doesn’t mean that it takes it away forever… It’s shit, it’s smelly and dirty and a health hazard, be a responsible pet owner and pick it up. The HRM should hire someone to patrol the commons and issue tickets to everyone that doesn’t clean up after their dog, after a few weeks I’m sure the problem will be much improved.
Dr.Fever For The Win…and also why it is a municipal By-Law that can be enforced through copious picture taking of the offenders. If you can get close enough…see if the dog has it’s registration tags…if not, put that cell phone to use and provide the lazy offender a memorable (and pricey) lesson in CIVIC DUTY. Some people are idiots until they know better, some people are just simply idiots…but you never know until you help them see the World outside of their bubble.
Dog shit should be used as fertilizer, but not in public spaces. pick it up and put it in the bushes if you dont want it in the sewer or garbage.
Dr fever. your full of… err…. Contrary to your explaation Dog shit is quite high in both carbon and nitrogen. but this is not relevent to fertilization.
Most shit, dog bear or human is high in ammonia. Ammonia is toxic and cannot be used by plants or animals, but nitrite bacteria, already present in the soil can take ammonia and turn it into The nitrite ion NO2−. Although nitrite is also unusable by most plants and animals, nitrate bacteria changes nitrites back into nitrates, usable by plants and animals which is why it does in fact make a good fertilizer.
(refer to grade 12 Organic chemistry for explanation)
I refer you to the journal of animal science for the exact chemical composition of dog shit. http://jas.fass.org/cgi/content/full/82/6/…
@Rafiki: “The nitrite ion NO2−. Although nitrite is also unusable by most plants and animals, nitrate bacteria changes nitrites back into nitrates, usable by plants and animals which is why it does in fact make a good fertilizer.”
By the time this process has occurred…the plants in direct contact to your so-called “fertilizer” have been chemically burned and damaged. Kind of contrary to the whole point is it not?
“(refer to grade 12 Organic chemistry for explanation)”
I refer you back to grade 12 entirely…or earlier.
It’s funny to debate the fertilizer qualities of dog shit when even if it was the best fertilizer on the planet, the fact remains that nobody wants mounds of dog shit on the common or sidewalk or their front lawn. It’s disgusting and smelly and unsightly and sticks to your shoes.
Dog owners: Pick up your dog’s shit!
Miles quite a good point; I certainly wouldn’t want it on my lawn, same goes for eating food fertilized with “Bio-Sludge”…you know the fertilizer processed from human waste? MMMM taste that medical runoff…it’s Prozac delicious!
Miles:
By the time this process has occurred…the plants in direct contact to your so-called “fertilizer” have been chemically burned and damaged. Kind of contrary to the whole point is it not?
Miles. The poit was to correct your erroneous statment that dog shit does not contain nitrogen, which was you talking out of your ass. dogs eat, they shit. shit decomposes, grass grows. seems to work… take it up with mother nature not me.
sorry miles meant it for DER.
no problem 🙂
Actually I never mentioned that it did or did not contain NO or NO2…it seems you will continue to talk our or YOUR ass regardless of how clearly someone point it out to you…good job ignoramus.
Oh and another part of the cycle you missed? Your mouth shits as well…or is that your ass that you are talking out of?
Assuse me?
Haha look what I started!
My point was that shit is natural. As Forest Gump put it, “It Happens” Get over it!
i was out for lots of beer and suicide wings the night. the next morning morning, shit was decidedly unnatural!
heehehehe nice word play Raf! No offense taken I hope, all in good fun.
you should have stabbed the animal/ owner.
Well, this is amusing to read as well as inspiring toward critical thinking about lucrative, local issues such as the waste management of the HRM, civil justice, fertilizer…
I am the “nose-ringed hippy”.
My room-mates posted this bitch to crack an ironic joke regarding my poop-scooping policies.
Unless my dog is crapping like the hulk, I always have enough bags on me and religiously pick up his deposits. Heck, I’ll pull bags out of my own ass just to feel my pup’s warm secretions cushioned in my responsible palm on the walk to the trash-can. I am a crap magician.
I would like to say however that I never used to take bags from the grocery store until I got a dog, and I do resent this a bit.
My concern is that biodegradable fecal matter, regardless of its particular fertilizing properties, surely must be more eco-friendly than landfills of pastic bags preventing excrement from returning to the earth through organic processes.
Regardless, public space is public space. I hate getting poop on my shoe as much as the next person.
I choose to respect the right of the innocent pedestrian. According to this “ninjasalad” fellow, the public is potentially pyschopathic and irrationally willing to stab dog-owners as vigilantes for this particularly fetid cause. I propose that he take up a more worthy cause, such as mediating word use in order to convey a point. “You should have crapped on the animal/owner” would have been far more candid.
As for you, Andall and Jerry, wait for yours!
I’m thinking, “I saw you drop that bloodied coat-hanger into the dumpster behind the church…”.
–Basil
A hippy named Basil. Who would have thought eh? I was going for “Moon Beam”. Enjoy your tofu Basil!