"Doggie Parenting 101"

Tips and Tricks on Loving and Living with Dogs!

 

Yucky Caca Poo-Poo!

 

Last week I took Jetta to the Minto Brown Island dog park here in Salem. I HATE going out there! It’s packed with feces and is absolutely disgusting. But… I have been trying to stay more legal on the leash law and it’s the only park in town where it is legal to let your dog chase a ball.

I threw the ball… Jetta ran after it, pounced on it, then recoiled. She ducked her head, crouching, and slouched back without the ball. Clearly she was very upset. As she drew nearer, I could see a big, fat blob of – please excuse my language – DOG CRAP - smashed on to the end of her nose.

You know what? This sickens me. Isn’t it just common decency to pick up one’s canine droppings? This dog park, particularly the front 1/3rd of it, is practically covered with dog manure. I can’t tell you how many times, while walking out to pick up a fresh pile Jetta had just deposited, I stepped in another pile abandoned earlier by someone else.

One time I stepped in some with a brand new pair of expensive Birkenstocks. The mess oozed in and around the lettering and crevices on the bottom of my left shoe. I had to drive home in my socks. By the time I got to clean it, it was dried on hard and fast; taking me 3 days to soak and scrub it all off.

Some may think that staying on the bark dust path is safe. It’s not. Look at the photo below. Can you see the land mine waiting for the next walker? Look closely… it’s right there in the center of the photo. It can barely be seen.

It’s bad enough dogs are traipsing thru these piles of filth (then entering their owners’ cars and homes), but if a dog had a cut or scrape on his pad, then ran thru excrement, he could get an infection worthy of veterinary care. And… when dogs sniff other dogs’ “calling cards,” they run the risk of contracting disease.

Many people – maybe most - do pick up after their dogs, but the number who DON’T is high enough that… well… it piles up. Some people sit in their cars while their dogs relieve themselves. The owners never get out of their vehicles. Some turn and walk away as their dogs start the ritual… out of sight, out of mind. Many people are on one end of the park while their dogs romp (and poop) on the other. They couldn’t pick it up if they wanted to. The biggest problem is, there just are too many people who don’t WANT to.

Add to this the fact that few people at the dog park can control their dogs. I personally have had dogs jump on me, practically maul me when I have treats, chew my clothing to get to treats in my pocket, jump on my car – twice – both times resulting in scratches to my door – and jump INSIDE my car with muddy paws. You’re lucky if the owner even notices, luckier still if they offer an apology, and you can completely forget about any compensation for damages or cleaning.

The schools are not immune to the dirtying of their property either. There are a few where I run Jetta and I often see piles in the schoolyards, to the point that they’ve begun installing poop bag dispensers and signage imploring dog owners to pick up after their dogs as there are “Children Playing.” Still… poop persists. About a week ago I was at Salem High School playing ball with Jetta and I counted FIVE poop piles within a 100-foot stretch, within 5 feet of the track.

NO WONDER EVERYONE WANTS TO BAN DOGS!

I remember last summer, I chatted with a woman at the dog park who, on one of the warmest days we’d had, was wearing knee-high rubber rain boots. I asked her why. She said it was because these were the easiest of all her shoes from which to scrape and wash off the unavoidable dog poop. She said, “These are my best shoes for trudging around in feces.”

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