Burnley to Gawthorpe Hall.
Should have been a gentle, towpath-tastic 20 miles:

First few miles past Rowley Lake weren’t that bad really, just the usual amount of dumped plastic bags and turds littering the path.

Thomson Park, which is dog free, was a blessed relief.

Then you hit the Leeds – Liverpool canal, which turned out to be a nightmare.
Seriously, this is the worst bit of mixed use trail I’ve ever seen – it was just plastered with dogshit all the way to the Padiham Greenway, which itself was almost as bad.

The only other people we saw using the towpath and Greenway were dog walkers and I’m not surprised.
It’s genuinely disgusting, in places you just cannot avoid the stuff.
You wouldn’t want to take your kids anywhere near it.
We rode back on the road.

The Council have obviously spent a bloody fortune trying to create a safe, traffic free route for walkers and cyclists.
It could be really pleasant if the selfish minority didn’t ruin it for everyone else.

Is there anything we can do about irresponsible owners?

We’ve tried asking people to be reasonable and appealing to their better nature – but it’s obviously not working with everyone.

We’re going to have to start being a bit tougher.
A licence scheme, cost proportionate to size of dog? 🙂
It would have to be properly enforced, with unlicenced dogs removed from their owners and rehomed where possible.

More dog wardens removing strays from the streets?
Bigger fines, with stronger enforcement?
What CAN we do?
Perhaps we need to have a think about the ‘right’ of everyone to own a dog?

And before anyone starts, I love dogs.
I bloody hate irresponsible dog owners though.

Any ideas?

As a dog owner with coats full of poo bags waiting to be deployed i would report it to the council. I hate standing in another dogs crap after cleaning up after my own two, grrrrrrr 🙁

I feel your pain. Dog poo Sunday for me…

Take the kids to the park at 10am – nearly tread in a dog poo

Walk up the footpath – two dog logs

Take them cycling – just missed a poo on the pavement

It’s just disgusting. Their owners should be neutered of put down. 🙂

I feel quite strongly about it with a 4 and 3 yr old who like to run and play.

Best of all is my parish councillor in Cholsey let his dog do a shit in the park then just walked off. Shocking behaviour.

count yourself lucky, I was on a ride over the back of beyond (macclesfield) the other week, and just past a gate there lying on the ground was what I swear was a human poo.

I clean bus shelters for a living ,found a human one sans sweetcorn on a shelter bench.Sums up the Park Barn estate in Guildford a treat !

a new cyclepath in chester,man walking doggy, doggy does a pooh he picks it up in a bag, walks on,then at a dicreet distance he drops it, i cycle up a few mins later and hook it with a twig, and launch it over a house fence, a huge scream comes from the house followed by a vey angry man screaming abuse, at me, i point out im on a bike and the dog walker is just in front of me down the path.
Home owner starts shouting abuse at dog walker and says he will follow him home etc etc.

Dog walker denies launching doggy bag, and i point out yet again i dont have a dog.

Result dog walker tells freinds about angry man and angry man tells freinds about dog walker.

Shame them always works.

****ing hate it!!! ****ing clean up after your dog you ****. My lad was playing rugby this morning (Crosfields in Warrington if anyone knows it) and there were fresh clutches of dogs eggs everywhere. On a ****ing kids playing field! Make the bastard ****ing filthy ****ing dog owners eat the shite themselves. ****s!

#edit – project, I owe you a pint. 😆

Dog nappies. They did it wi the horses that pull the tourist carts in Killarney cos the roads were getting full of horse turds. Then we’ll be able to see who the irresponsible ones are that aren’t using them and can rightly give ’em a mouthful (preferably of their own animals waste).

IIRC Bury Council have actually started enforcing the fines in their dog fouling policy.

Good on ’em, the shite on the streets and footpaths was getting ridiculous.

I’ma massively pro-dog dog loving dog owner and I ****ing hate it too. It is red light jumping for the dog owning world, cos we all get tarred with the dog poo brush. These days there are dog poo bags, and bins everywhere, its not hard, its not a massive effort. Absolutely bloody hate it.

Trails I build get people walking them with their dogs early on the mornings, fine, its nice they can get an extra use than the intended one, but god help the dog owner I catch letting the **** darling snuffy poos shit on the trail and leave it… Swear I will go all out shouty pants.

Community service cleaning up dog shit for anyone caught?

Punishment fitting the crime methinks.

Ever been to Bury? Seriously depressing place.

WTF is the the deal with dog poo filled plastic bags tied to tree branches? Who ever does that has some serious issues.

Also a dog owner and this stuff makes me angry too. Its part and parcel of looking after your dog in my opinion, I would imagine these owners who don’t clean up don’t care for their animals properly either. I wonder if licensing would have an effect or end up being another tax that does nothing?
I particularly hate people who bag it then tie it to a tree? I just don’t get the point…

hora – Member

Ever been to Bury? Seriously depressing place.

Yes.
Have you, apart from avoiding all the imaginary muggers in Philips Park?

It’s one of the friendliest places in the North West – excellent trails and a thoroughly decent place to live.
Unlike Stretford – which is a shithole.

I took my little girl for a walk over Kinver this morning. As we left the car a guy was trekking off up the hill while his dog dropped a steamy load right near the entry point from the car park. He looked around sheepishly and I tried to catch the fellow up to offer a few choice words but he made a hasty disappearing act into the trees. Around the top and back down the steps toward the rock houses I noticed a neatly placed pile of about 5 small, identical black plastic bags against a tree. I can only guess the contents. Unbelievable!
In fact, everywhere you look over there are the remnants of such bags kicking about.
These places aren’t visited for the pleasure of the environment by this type of person. They see only a personal right to use public spaces as a convenient location for a hassle free shit drop.

hora – Member
Ever been to Bury? Seriously depressing place.

It’s one of the friendliest places in the North West – excellent trails and a thoroughly decent place to live.
Unlike Stretford – which is a shithole.

Lived in both places. Spent 30yrs in Bury and the last 15 in Stretford. Bury is a far nicer place hora but both are perfectly reasonable places to live. Unlike Huddersfield, which really is a shithole.

In my family ‘dog walking’ has never been referred to as ‘taking the dog for a walk’. No, it’s ‘taking the dog for a shit’. Once you’ve admitted that, it’s also time to be a decent human being and clear it up. It’s bad enough that there will still be remnants on the ground even after picking it up. If you really do what you ought, you would spray some disinfectant on the site as well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2269800/Xfor-Litter-squads-make-millions-Fines-soar-councils-enlist-ex-soldiers-patrol-streets.html

Reel it in.

Two facts. I wasnt the one who said Philips Park had a mugger. I replied to a post 4 posts earlier asking for clarification as I’d seen a Bury/security watch van in the carpark myself.

Didnt say Bury was bad. I said its depressing.

Only parts of Huddersfield are a shit hole. Other parts are of a way-higher standard. I know more than you on this subject.

Stretford has some very well kept parks. Got a problem with Stretford? Move further out but Trafford really cares for its parks.

Edit: The lad on the quadbike in Philips park is <16yrs old and lives very local IMO.

what I dont understand is when people take fido for a walk, it has a crap, they bag it up, then just leave the bag on the side of the trail or even more anoying hanging from a tree. Now Im a country boy, most wildlife will eat dog crap in time. so why not left hook( not in a bag) it into the undergrowth. (Note, Im also a dog owner) 😕

Difficult one, in the local woods kids often like running about off the path, and people will often go and look at things of interest, which makes for a strong argument to clean it up, so often I will follow hound off to his spot and get it, but sometimes hound does choose a spot so in the middle of undergrowth that its so difficult to get to I reason may as well leave it, its virtually inconceivable anyone will stumble across it.

I am wearing my fire retardant pants so ready for what follows from the collective, but there, I said it.

I would Never leave poo in a path, or in a place i think people might mill about about off the path (pretty blue bell patch, by the pond, near an old ice house etc.) – such places IMO require a pick where ever Angus has drops his trousers (which given my hound is always a bugger to get to – he is a poo out of the way dog, my sisters dog is a poo where you have to pick it up every single time sort of a dog, so if I’m walking her, then the question doesn’t arise).

EDIT – I take the bags home, or to a bin, I do not subscribe to the idea that the bag makes poo somehow OK.

I’ve been in the Lakes this week and everywhere you walk there are bags full of shite dropped next to paths plus all the poo that is not picked up at all. Who do these people think is going to clear the bags up?

Our local council do enforce fines but are reliant on catching people or people reporting dog owners. I spotted someone not picking up on our village green and knew where he lives. He got a visit the following day from a warden with a £50 fine and a threat of court action. He also got his name and address printed in the local rag.

Clent hills in the west mids wether your walking or on your bike a lot of dog shite but a lot of owners do clean up then must get fed up of carrying it so there are 100s off small plastic bags chucked every where on the paths some prats hang them from the trees and bushes so jd boy I know how annoying it is as going of trail on the bike an nearly gettin a face full.of shite. I’m sure that these people wouldn’t find it funny if we collected all the placcy bags followed them home then dumped them on there doorstep

Even around Loch an Eilean at Rothiemurchus last week. Seriously, seriously depressing.

what I dont understand is when people take fido for a walk, it has a crap, they bag it up, then just leave the bag on the side of the trail or even more anoying hanging from a tree. Now Im a country boy, most wildlife will eat dog crap in time. so why not left hook( not in a bag) it into the undergrowth. (Note, Im also a dog owner)

this + lots

do these people think the rangers job is to go round collecting bags of shit from the trees? Pentlands is full of it.

Why doesn’t some develop a biodegradable dog shit bag that actually helps degrade said log.

Maybe they do but I don’t have a dog. Would seem like a good seller to me.

google Biodegradable dog poop bags and you will lots.

Problem is getting hold them them and for a decent price. We normally use nappy bags as they are A LOT cheaper and easier to find. If I see biodegradable bags I buy them.

All nappy and poop bags should be biodegradable. In fact any waste that is not intended to be recyclable should be biodegradable.

after a quick evidence gathering…

biodegradable poop bags: http://www.dgrade.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50 £7 for 100

Biodegradable nappy bags: http://www.boots.com/en/Naty-Nature-Babycare-Eco-Disposable-Nappy-Bags-1-x-50-Pack_17426/ £1.85 for 50

Same price relationship goes for normal ones and for some reason you can never find the damn biodegradable ones.

PS you can get the dog ones for a reasonable price and biodegradable but there just seems to be a complete lack of willingness to supply them in shops, around here anyway.

We went for a walk yesterday and discovered a whole pile of bags of dog muck assembled on top of a stone stile with a note saying “lost property!” You could smell it a mile off!, urghh!”
I guess just one or two berks taking their dog down the same footpaths every day and not taking their dog muck bags with them could soon cause a big problem.

You’re making the mistake of assuming that the dog owners GAF, rob2.

Ok I own a dog, it shots and I pick it up. The parks I frequent have bins. Not picking it up is a piss take. But what is it with people who pick it up and hang the bag in a tree!

too many morons own dogs and we are all tarred with the same brush.

Councils should hit key areas really hard and just blitz it, fine people and purge the area. The message will soon get out.

As a dog owner who does GAF I am all in favour of enforcement of the fines. People let their dogs shit in public and leave it (bagged or not) because no one ever gets hit with the fines.

I think the one practical way to do it is to have some sort of enforcement officer out there. We do it for parking FFS so why not dog mess (and all litter in actual fact). Plain clothes litter enforcement officers – retrain one parking enforcement officer in every town to be a litter enforcement officer ( undercover turd monitor, of you will). Spend a few weeks doling out the fines and watch the public start to take notice.

I think generally, the type of people who do leave the dogs crap where it drops are unapproachable on the subject. There’s never going to be a time when you could have a rational conversation and sway their opinion on the matter.
I tried once and was promptly told to. Quote: “fxxk off and mind your own business.” Like its not my business. Or rather their business and that’s the problem.
There are the ones who just don’t do it because they are filthy, and the ones who just won’t do it because someone else should pick it up. They are to good to do it themselves.
There’s no solution. People love dogs and dogs have to crap. People don’t like to handle crap. Crap will be left behind.
We will spread it around and make room for more crap.
It’s the great circle of crap.

I’ve trained my dog to sh!t in an old inner tube that I can eventually chuck over a tree at the bottom of Hully Gully

Suits us both fine

I thought the daily mail article was a made up title, but I’m afraid to say that having ex soldiers chasing people around enforcing fines and making them pick up poo is a bloody fantastic idea. They won’t take any shizz – but the dog owners certainly will.

Has any dog owner EVER admitted to dropping shit bags / not cleaning up after their dog’s had a dump?

No.

Now Im a country boy, most wildlife will eat dog crap in time. so why not left hook( not in a bag) it into the undergrowth. (Note, Im also a dog owner

the “don’t stray from the path solution” brilliant 🙄

it’s only a matter of time before walking dogs in public parks/ playing fields gets banned. It’s simply unbelievable that spreading a dangerous persistent biohazard in play areas for families/children can continue.

Then you hit the Leeds – Liverpool canal, which turned out to be a nightmare.
Seriously, this is the worst bit of mixed use trail I’ve ever seen – it was just plastered with dogshit all the way to the Padiham Greenway, which itself was almost as bad.

thanks for the warning, I was planning to take no1 there for a ride, no longer

rob2 – Member

Why doesn’t some develop a biodegradable dog shit bag that actually helps degrade said log.

Maybe they do but I don’t have a dog. Would seem like a good seller to me.

biodegradable bags encourage people to dump the sh1t where there they think it will be “OK” or hang it from tree’s

just put it in a bin

A group of us spent the morning clearing rubbish from the north edinburgh paths. Bugger me there was a good crop of jobbies in bags. There was even more though, and a staggering amount too, of non bagged shit.

Seriously not acceptable. However. It is what it is.