Lets argue opinions over something fun: Dog Poop!

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**DarkTraveler777**

So I was browsing Dear Prudence on Slate, and saw this question come up:

Letter Writer wrote:Dear Prudence,
So this may seem odd, but the experience I had totally dumbfounded me. It’s trash day in the neighborhood on Thursdays. I always walk my dog in the morning, and normally it is before the trucks have come through the neighborhood. After my dog did her business I tossed the bag into a full trash bin on the street as the trucks were coming up the street. The owner of the house opened her door and yelled at me for using her trash bin, and said how dare I use it, it’s not mine, and that I’m a terrible person. I apologized, and we continued home. I never toss the doggy bag into a trash can that is not mine unless it’s full and about to be picked up. Did I do wrong? I am still perplexed on the etiquette of this.

—Doggie Bags

Dear Prudence wrote:This is totally a thing! This is a huge, divisive Thing, and the internet is full of flame wars over this exact topic, which I find more than a little amazing. By the way, Dear Abby is For it and Ask Amy is Not-For it. Here are the For and Not-For arguments, as I understand them:

FOR:

The waste is bagged up and on its way to the dump rather than on the sidewalk, which is a net good.
Humans are not so virtuous that they could enjoy primly carrying a full bag for the back half of a 40-minute walk until they get home or get lucky enough to find a public trash can.
It is a trash can, the purpose of which is to hold trash.
NOT-FOR

It’s possible to mistake a recently emptied can for one awaiting pickup, in which case you’ve just given that neighbor a bag of dog waste to ferment for a week in their side yard.
It’s possible the bag isn’t tied as tightly as you thought, thus opening up the possibility of seepage.
“I don’t own a dog and therefore my trash can should not have dog poop in it; am I my brother’s keeper?”
The real question, I suppose, is whether or not trash cans should be considered a public good or private property. Generally, most cities own the garbage cans used by private citizens; you can’t move and take your garbage cans with you because you don’t actually own them, which is another argument For, I suppose. Try explaining that technicality to a screaming neighbor, though.

My ruling is this: If my trash can is out on the street and clearly full, anyone’s welcome to fling whatever they need in there, as long as there’s room for it. But I would rather carry a full bag of dog poop to the actual sun and back than get yelled at by one of my neighbors, so in the interest of my guiding principle of never getting yelled at, I generally hold out until I find a public waste bin.

Okay. So apparently there is a debate about dog poop and side-walk trash bins that is as fierce as whether or not Han shot first (he did).

So what does everyone think? Is it okay to dispose of your dog's waste in a stranger's trashcan (assume the can is on the curb awaiting pick up by the trash company) or is that crossing a social boundary?

In my neighborhood there are a lot of dog walkers, and I can only assume my cans have received some extra bags of dog poo over the years. I really don't see the problem with this as long as the waste isn't smeared along my can. We also have people who rummage through our cans for recycling materials and that honestly feels like more of an invasion than someone tossing an extra piece of litter into my waste receptacle. But even with the garbage pickers I keep quiet, so a random bag of dog poo isn't going to ruffle my feathers.

What are everyone else's thoughts on this?

Has anyone had a neighbor yell at them for doing something similar? Are YOU the yeller who wants their trash to remain free of strangers' things?

I am just fascinated that this topic is even an issue for some people, so if you are against others using your can for disposing of their dog's waste please share why. No judgement. I am really interested in learning why this would be a concern.

**feeder**

I'd have no issue with someone disposing of their dog poop in a bag in my trash can. It's trash, it's gotta go. Better my can than the sidewalk or boulevard.

I think some people have a whole lot of personal value tied up in their concept of "mine!" I pity those people.

**NinthMusketeer**

feeder wrote:
I'd have no issue with someone disposing of their dog poop in a bag in my trash can. It's trash, it's gotta go. Better my can than the sidewalk or boulevard.

I think some people have a whole lot of personal value tied up in their concept of "mine!" I pity those people.

Yup.

**kronk**

NinthMusketeer wrote:
feeder wrote:
I'd have no issue with someone disposing of their dog poop in a bag in my trash can. It's trash, it's gotta go. Better my can than the sidewalk or boulevard.

I think some people have a whole lot of personal value tied up in their concept of "mine!" I pity those people.
Yup.

This is the right answer because it is the best answer. At least these people are picking up their dog's gak

**feeder**

kronk wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
feeder wrote:
I'd have no issue with someone disposing of their dog poop in a bag in my trash can. It's trash, it's gotta go. Better my can than the sidewalk or boulevard.

I think some people have a whole lot of personal value tied up in their concept of "mine!" I pity those people.
Yup.

This is the right answer because it is the best answer. At least these people are picking up their dog's gak

Agreed, and I think there should be stiffer penalties for people who fail to scoop.

If I was King of Town, it would considered your civic duty to throw the leavings at those who failed to scoop their dog's poop.

**kronk**

feeder wrote:

Agreed, and I think there should be stiffer penalties for people who fail to scoop.

If I was King of Town, it would considered your civic duty to throw the leavings at those who failed to scoop their dog's poop.

You have my vote, and my pooper scooper!

**BobtheInquisitor**

I'm guilty of For behaviors. My dog takes two-bag walks, and the first bag is at capacity.

As for people using my garbage, they've put far worse things in there than poop, dog or otherwise. I feel sorry for anyone going through my garbage for recyclables, though, as I usually dump the pooper scooper directly into the bin. There's no real smell, I think because of the sun. My backyard is like the Rite of Spring scene from Fantasia, where all the dinosaurs look at the sun and bake to death.

That said, I really hate it when people dump big junk in front of our house, like sofas, mattresses, TVs and Christmas trees. Sure, someone usually takes it, but when they don't we get angry letters from the HOA.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

feeder wrote:
kronk wrote:
NinthMusketeer wrote:
feeder wrote:
I'd have no issue with someone disposing of their dog poop in a bag in my trash can. It's trash, it's gotta go. Better my can than the sidewalk or boulevard.

I think some people have a whole lot of personal value tied up in their concept of "mine!" I pity those people.
Yup.

This is the right answer because it is the best answer. At least these people are picking up their dog's gak

Agreed, and I think there should be stiffer penalties for people who fail to scoop.

If I was King of Town, it would considered your civic duty to throw the leavings at those who failed to scoop their dog's poop.

There are sometimes extenuating circumstances. We adopted our previous dog at 7 years old about, and his previous owner had apparently taught him to poop into dense foliage and thick bushes where said poop could not be retrieved without blood spill.

**LordofHats**

Next time just leave the poop on the ground. They obviously think that is the more responsible course

**Frazzled**

That said, I really hate it when people dump big junk in front of our house, like sofas, mattresses, TVs and Christmas trees. Sure, someone usually takes it, but when they don't we get angry letters from the HOA.

****Wow. People dump stuff in front of your house? I can't think of that happening to me before.

**ChainswordHeretic**

If I was King of Town, it would considered your civic duty to throw the leavings at those who failed to scoop their dog's poop.

I have actually done that, quite satisfying.

**BobtheInquisitor**

Frazzled wrote:
That said, I really hate it when people dump big junk in front of our house, like sofas, mattresses, TVs and Christmas trees. Sure, someone usually takes it, but when they don't we get angry letters from the HOA.

****Wow. People dump stuff in front of your house? I can't think of that happening to me before.

Our house is on the corner, so beside our garage has the best visibility from the street. This isn't a very well-to-do neighborhood* so people often put out items they don't need any more but still have utility for anyone who needs them. The problem is that some people just end up dumping any old bulky garbage that no one could possibly want and it sits there until we call the sanitation department. Since we only have two bulk disposal days (forget what the technical term is) per year, we are reluctant to use them up to cart away other people's garbage.

*Packages are routinely stolen here, and so is mail, so we have anything important delivered to my parents' house. Late last year an police car chase ended about 8 feet outside our front door. Glad we have a big, scary dog.

**jmurph**

I am happy whenever they don't leave the crap in front of my house/ in my yard.

When we walk the dogs, we bag and carry the poo back to a receptacle in our yard, unless there at a park or something with public trash facilities..

**CptJake**

I see both sides here. Yes, bagging your dog's poo and dumping it in someone else's trash bin is better than leaving the poo.

BUT some folks do try to take care of even their trash bins, hosing them out and stuff, making sure they don't stink up their garage or the area near the door they keep them by when not at the curb for pick up. A poo filled bag can pop when stuff is thrown in on top of it or otherwise spill, negating the efforts of the bin owner to keep their area clean and non-stinky.

Why not just pick up and bag the poo and carry it back to your place?

**DarkTraveler777**

CptJake wrote:
Why not just pick up and bag the poo and carry it back to your place?

I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Which makes me wonder what the duration of these dogs walks are. If it is a walk around the block, bringing the poo back home seems more than reasonable to me. If it is a multi-mile haul, though, I could understand why someone wouldn't want to make the entire journey with a sack of gak.

**CptJake**

DarkTraveler777 wrote:
CptJake wrote:
Why not just pick up and bag the poo and carry it back to your place?

I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Which makes me wonder what the duration of these dogs walks are. If it is a walk around the block, bringing the poo back home seems more than reasonable to me. If it is a multi-mile haul, though, I could understand why someone wouldn't want to make the entire journey with a sack of gak.

You just bag the poo bag... Not a big deal really. If 'ick' is the issue, you probably don't need to be a dog owner. We have 5 dogs right now (we put down the sixth about a month ago). Between yakking up whatever they managed to eat in the yard, getting diarrhea in the middle of the night or while you are out running errands, and worse, 'ick' comes with ownership.

**DarkTraveler777**

CptJake wrote:
DarkTraveler777 wrote:
CptJake wrote:
Why not just pick up and bag the poo and carry it back to your place?

I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Which makes me wonder what the duration of these dogs walks are. If it is a walk around the block, bringing the poo back home seems more than reasonable to me. If it is a multi-mile haul, though, I could understand why someone wouldn't want to make the entire journey with a sack of gak.

You just bag the poo bag... Not a big deal really. If 'ick' is the issue, you probably don't need to be a dog owner. We have 5 dogs right now (we put down the sixth about a month ago). Between yakking up whatever they managed to eat in the yard, getting diarrhea in the middle of the night or while you are out running errands, and worse, 'ick' comes with ownership.

Yeah pets are gross a lot of the time. I've lost track of the number of times I have walked barefoot through cold cat puke in the middle of the night.

But people have different thresholds for what they will tolerate and poop crosses the line for a lot of people. Not saying its a great reason, just that it seems to be one of the commonly cited reasons from the article.

**ChainswordHeretic**

I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Most places it is a law. My town it's $208.50 if you don't pick it up, or I throw it at you

.

P.S. I am a dog owner, one being a Mastiff, and I've had to carry around that ten pound bag of Gack! Like some one else said, if you don't want to do it don't have a dog.

**timetowaste85**

I don't have a dog currently, and I was a kid when I last had one and my parents did the walk-scooping, not me (or dog pooped in woods, in which case...not picking it up; not on a trail). However, I'd actually feel pretty bad about using somebody's personal garbage bin. A public one? Sure. But one that is the responsibility of a single person? What if the bag breaks? What if the garbage man gets it on him and retaliates against the responsible party? What if they realize they threw something out and have to go running out to the bin, knowing only kitchen waste and paper is out there, then SURPRISE!! Dog poop, coming right at ya!! Yeah, I'd feel a bit guilty about it, and I'd rather just carry it with me. Or carry a mini catapult with me and launch it onto a jerk's porch.

**Ensis Ferrae**

CptJake wrote:

BUT some folks do try to take care of even their trash bins, hosing them out and stuff, making sure they don't stink up their garage or the area near the door they keep them by when not at the curb for pick up. A poo filled bag can pop when stuff is thrown in on top of it or otherwise spill, negating the efforts of the bin owner to keep their area clean and non-stinky.

I can see where you're coming from, but the OP did explicitly state that this was done on trash day, as the trucks were coming... so I wouldn't think that much/anything would be thrown on top of it.

I could see it being an issue where, if your lid isn't fully closed, you get a bill for an extra charge that month for "over filling" your can (it's listed on our contract, but I've had floppy lids and never gotten charged... the wife is still anal-retentive about it though)... but a bag of dog poo big enough to cause that would be.... impressive to say the least.

**CptJake**

Yeah, I wasn't responding specifically to the article, but more in general terms after reading some of the other posts here.

Having said that, even in the circumstances of the article, the poo bag could get popped/smeared during the dumping process...

Bottom line, it wasn't his bin, he should keep his booger hooks off it.

**DarkTraveler777**

ChainswordHeretic wrote:
I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Most places it is a law. My town it's $208.50 if you don't pick it up, or I throw it at you .

P.S. I am a dog owner, one being a Mastiff, and I've had to carry around that ten pound bag of Gack! Like some one else said, if you don't want to do it don't have a dog.

This thread isn't about whether or not to pick up your dog's poo, its about what you do with it after.

**CptJake**

DarkTraveler777 wrote:
ChainswordHeretic wrote:
I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Most places it is a law. My town it's $208.50 if you don't pick it up, or I throw it at you .

P.S. I am a dog owner, one being a Mastiff, and I've had to carry around that ten pound bag of Gack! Like some one else said, if you don't want to do it don't have a dog.

This thread isn't about whether or not to pick up your dog's poo, its about what you do with it after.

Is it still acceptable to put it in brown paper bags, put it on the neighborhood grouch's porch, light the bag ring the doorbell and run?

**DarkTraveler777**

CptJake wrote:

Is it still acceptable to put it in brown paper bags, put it on the neighborhood grouch's porch, light the bag ring the doorbell and run?

Absolutely!

**kronk**

CptJake wrote:
I see both sides here. Yes, bagging your dog's poo and dumping it in someone else's trash bin is better than leaving the poo.

BUT some folks do try to take care of even their trash bins, hosing them out and stuff, making sure they don't stink up their garage or the area near the door they keep them by when not at the curb for pick up. A poo filled bag can pop when stuff is thrown in on top of it or otherwise spill, negating the efforts of the bin owner to keep their area clean and non-stinky.

Why not just pick up and bag the poo and carry it back to your place?

Sometimes it's a mile or more back home when we walk our dog. There are a few parks with public trash bins that we use. If we are further away and someone's bins are out, we just toss in there.

**Ensis Ferrae**

CptJake wrote:
DarkTraveler777 wrote:
ChainswordHeretic wrote:
I don't have a dog but based on the article I guess the reason is the "ick" factor. People don't want to trek along with a bag of hot feces in their hand.

Most places it is a law. My town it's $208.50 if you don't pick it up, or I throw it at you .

P.S. I am a dog owner, one being a Mastiff, and I've had to carry around that ten pound bag of Gack! Like some one else said, if you don't want to do it don't have a dog.

This thread isn't about whether or not to pick up your dog's poo, its about what you do with it after.

Is it still acceptable to put it in brown paper bags, put it on the neighborhood grouch's porch, light the bag ring the doorbell and run?

Scout to make sure they don't have one of those doorbell webcam things

**sebster**

I've put doggie bags in other people's bins. I've put other stuff in there as well from time to time, if I happen to be holding a piece of rubbish like an empty drink can. It never even occurred to me that people could be bothered by it.

I guess part of it is that the only time there is a bin there to drop something in is when bin collection is the next day. I guess if I was walking along and there were empty bins out I might think twice about dropping a poo bag in there. I certainly will now that it was pointed out about the risk of the bag breaking and smearing poo.

CptJake wrote:
Bottom line, it wasn't his bin, he should keep his booger hooks off it.

Unless things are wildly different where you live, the bin doesn't belong to the homeowner, it belongs to the local government. The local government buys the bin, and it is responsible for replacing a bin if it gets trashed, and of course it is council that comes and collects all that rubbish out of the bin. There actually isn't an absolute argument that can be made in terms of property ownership.

I'm not saying people should be free to put rubbish in any bin they please, just saying that 'my bin stay out' isn't fairly weak ground.

**Ouze**

sebster wrote:
CptJake wrote:
Bottom line, it wasn't his bin, he should keep his booger hooks off it.

Unless things are wildly different where you live, the bin doesn't belong to the homeowner, it belongs to the local government. The local government buys the bin, and it is responsible for replacing a bin if it gets trashed, and of course it is council that comes and collects all that rubbish out of the bin. There actually isn't an absolute argument that can be made in terms of property ownership..

Obviously your mileage varies depending on locality, but where I live, there is no municipal trash pickup. I bought every trash can we have, I pay to replace them when they get damaged, and I pay $90USD every 4 months for a private company to come collect my trash. This would apply to everyone who lives in my township.

We also have no water hookups (we have a well, which we paid to re-dig and replace the pump when it got hit by lightning), no sewage hookups (we have a septic tank which has constant expensive issues), no plowing in the winter, we have to maintain our own road (by paying a guy to spread gravel), and we have no local police department (only the country sheriff). It's a real libertarian paradise out here.

**CptJake**

sebster wrote:

CptJake wrote:
Bottom line, it wasn't his bin, he should keep his booger hooks off it.

Unless things are wildly different where you live, the bin doesn't belong to the homeowner, it belongs to the local government. The local government buys the bin, and it is responsible for replacing a bin if it gets trashed, and of course it is council that comes and collects all that rubbish out of the bin. There actually isn't an absolute argument that can be made in terms of property ownership.

I'm not saying people should be free to put rubbish in any bin they please, just saying that 'my bin stay out' isn't fairly weak ground.

I paid for my garbage bin and recycle bin, and pay a company each month to pick up. So, yeah, it can be wildly different.

Yet even if in the case where the city or someone else provides the bin, it is yours to maintain, and a stinky gak smeared bin parked in your garage or next to your kitchen door isn't too desirable. Sure as hell the dog owner isn't cleaning out those bins nor is he paying for the service at the house he us dumping his dogs poo.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Ouze wrote:

We also have no water hookups (we have a well, which we paid to re-dig and replace the pump when it got hit by lightning), no sewage hookups (we have a septic tank which has constant expensive issues), no plowing in the winter, we have to maintain our own road (by paying a guy to spread gravel), and we have no local police department (only the country sheriff). It's a real libertarian paradise out here.

We did the 'replace well due to lightning strike' thing a few years ago. Old well had a metal sheaf pipe that shattered so they could not even pull the pump. Took 4 days to get a crew out there with a drilling rig. Had to take water cans to the local gas station twice a day to keep water in the horse troughs. Not fun. Horses drink a lot in the summer...

**KingCracker**

Ive had people toss things in mine as well as go through my trash looking for scrap and the like. I personally dont care and have only said something to those people when they try to leave a mess. Its only happened twice where I shouted at them to not leave my trash area in a mess and they quickly cleaned up both times.

**Frazzled**

Our trash can is in the back yard unless its waiting to be picked up. I wouldn't notice if its in the front. If its in the back and you're back there you're going to have a whole lot more to worry about then just me yelling at you, but you don't have to worry for long.