While our neighbour was operating a garage sale with us on Saturday, a woman from the neighbourhood walked past us with her dog. She walked right up to our neighbour's garbage can in their rear driveway (off the alleyway) and disposed of a bag of fresh dog poo into their can. Right in front of us.
Our neighbour said, "Excuse me, do you mind not throwing your dog poop in our garbage?" The woman got defensive immediately and said "We just can't do anything right!" Our neighbour stood her ground and insisted that she was sick and tired of people throwing their dog poop in their garbage and that it stinks very badly. "Why should I have to smell your dog's poop?" The other woman did not understand her position at all and started yelling "Take a pill lady!" She did retrieve her bag of poo and just went down the alley in the opposite direction and threw the bag into another home's garbage can, making a big deal about it along the way, like she was showing us who is boss. She then walked back and down the street whining and complaining about being called out for her deed.
Discuss.......
7 comments:
Have to say, I don't see what the big deal is -- the poo is garbage, the stuff inside the garbage can is garbage... is it really any different than tossing it in public garbage receptacles?
I'd rather have 'strange dog poo' in my garbage than a bag of poo left in the alley - which happens and begs the question: Why bother?
This individualistic attitude drives me nuts. Really, we are more concerned with how our garbage smells then having positive relationships with our neighbours. This is how we ended up with adversarial bylaws that put neighbour against neighbour. (that and Bill "megalomaniacal" Bruce distain for pet owners)
Don't sweat the small stuff (or smell stuff)
It sounds like this woman thinks she's kind of a hero for performing a basic responsibility of a pet owner. I'll give her credit for trying to do the right thing, but from your description it appears SHE blew things out of proportion, not your neighbour.
Here's a couple of scenarios I've personally experienced from having 'responsible' pet owners not carry the waste back to their own garbage:
A - Thin baggie of poop gets tossed in bottom of can. Heavy garbage bag goes in can on top of baggie (I'm not in the habit of inspecting my garbage cans before putting stuff in.) Baggie splits, contents squish out and adhere to bottom of can and bag. Get notice from Sanitation dept. that trash collectors won't collect my garbage until I clean out my cans, and I'm in violation of a city bylaw that says pet waste must be securely double bagged. I must scrape and scrub someone else’s mess in order to have my trash taken away.
B- Trash is collected and trash collectors fail to replace lid. Thin baggie of poop gets tossed in bottom of can. It rains an inch inches. Water soaks in to loosely secured baggie, making a yucky soup. Sun comes out for a couple days and warms the mixture, bringing out its full bouquet. I take out garbage, discover the soupy surprise, and gag and retch while I have to empty out the contents and secure the sopping baggie, wondering if I'm going to be exposed to Canine parvo, E. coli, tapeworm, toxoplasmosis, salmonella, campylobacter, cryptosporidiosis, hookworm, hydatid disease and yersiniosis.
My take is... it’s great to be a responsible pet owner and pick up after your pet, but that responsibility extends to securely disposing of YOUR pets waste in a way that it won't cause your neighbours trouble (we all want good relations with neighbours) or cause issues with the sanitation dept.
I should probably add a minor detail to the story. A public park with a public (animal proof) trash bin was within 25 steps of her path, a little further down the street in the direction she was heading.
By the way, Jonathon made a key point about the bylaw. By not throwing a properly secured bag (this was basically just poop in a tied up Safeway bag), she did in fact make my neighbour break a city bylaw that is enforced by our garbage pickup crew. But I digress.
You've been to our house and people walk their dogs alot around here. When I see someone NOT pick up their dog poop, FROM MY YARD, I call them on it. makes, me crazy
No, no, no. Trash is very....organic. We should welcome it with open arms. Much like we will welcome Oval Cafeteria....
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