You don't leave litter, why leave dog poo?
From Rachel J
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
This is a rant to all the people who walk their dogs along Palace House Road and leave their dog's mess. This is not to all the responsible dog owners who clear up after their dog.
Maybe those people don't read hebweb and I am wasting my breath, but after 8 years of steering prams, toddlers, scooters and bikes around the plentiful piles of squashed and spread dog muck that are an eye sore on my road, it's worth a try.
It's simple. If you have a dog, it defecates. Without being too disgusting, or putting anyone off their cuppa, that is poo. If there was human excrement littering the streets there would quite rightly be an outcry - the risks to health would be obvious. I would add that everybody tries very hard to ensure that we don't walk on streets littered with our own excrement. What's different about your dog? Dog muck contains parasites, worms, and hideous diseases (just google it, I did but had to stop as made myself feel ill).
Fine if you don't want to pick up dog poo - the solution is don't have a dog. Simple. Clearing up after your hound is one of the responsibilities of having a dog.
I am by no means anti-dog, I love them and we are thinking of getting one ourselves at some point in the future, this is not about the dogs. But there is no excuse for thinking it's fine to leave your dog's muck behind.
I've totally had it. This morning, after cleaning off the poo from the bottom of my daughter's shoe, our walk to school had 6 different dog poos. Yes, I have counted them, we have to keep track of where they are so that we can avoid them. Opposite my house as I type, someone has twice in one week let a really large dog leave it's mess there, both of which have now been trodden all over the surrounding area, and there is nowhere safe to walk in that side of the road for 5m.
I lost count of the number if times I arrived home with tired babies in prams only to discover that I had gone through some unseen you-know-what hiding the autumn leaves. When play dates come round, they don't have our Palace House Road mental 'poo-map' and I have to keep shrieking 'Dog Poo!'. Many times kids have come home with poo all on their trainers.
Palace House Road now sports 2 large bins if you can't cope with taking it home to your own rubbish. There is no excuse. Ironically, I would bet that the culprits would not dream of leaving litter on our streets....
Still think it's ok to not clear up after your dog?
FYI If you see anyone actively leaving behind their dog's mess, they can be reported to the council, who may enforce a fine.
From Rebecca L
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
I wholeheartedly agree with Rachel's comments. I find myself shouting at my little boy constantly so that he doesn't tread in dog poo - he's traumatised to the point where he thinks leaves on the pavement might be dog poo.
I very often find myself pushing a buggy and trying to supervise a small child on a scooter in the road to avoid dog poo. In many places there is only pavement on one side, so it's either wheel through dog poo or risk life and limb in the road.
I too like dogs, but it seems there are some very irresponsible owners in Hebden. A couple of weeks ago I was savaged by two dogs tied up outside the coop. They were attached to the trolley park and their strings (yes, strings) were long enough for them to run into the parking space I was going into.
When I challenged the owner and told her I'd felt teeth through knee high boots and jeans, she laughed. I'm very thankful I was on my own and didn't have the kids with me. And she's very lucky I didn't call the police. I think it's time for zero tolerance on irresponsible dog ownership. Campaign HQ: Palace House Road.
From Dave M
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Main problem is people walking their dog off lead in streets or worse still letting it go out alone. Off lead the dog is often out of sight of the owner and they have no idea when it is doing its business. More importantly, it's also a big danger to the dog to be off lead where traffic is about.
From Jonathan Timbers
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Believe it or not, central Hebden Bridge has much less dog poo than when I arrived twenty years ago. That's because there's a dog warden. Perhaps s/he needs to spend more time up Palace House Road.
The path along Colden water from King Street, and the connecting path to Trinity St and Stubbing Holme Road are also pretty bad, but once upon a time they were even worse.
The PDSA said recently that it thought there were 1 million dangerous dogs in Britain and the Metro ran a truly horrendous story about a couple who fought a dog in a park but couldn't prevent it from tearing their daughter's ear off. The mother had to lie across her daughter as the dog tried to grab their little girl.
Apart from shoot the owners, there needs to be much stronger legislation restricting dog ownership and making it conditional imho.
From Sarah M
Tuesday, 31 January 2012
A couple of weeks ago there was a loose Staff (no collar or owner in sight) barking madly and growling at a ball in the children's play area in Calder Holmes Park. Luckily it was a cold day so no children there. I dread to think what would have happened if I had reached the gate and let the two 3 year olds I was with run off to play... I called the dog warden but they only said they were only interested if it was a stray and it had been around for a while. This dog looked dangerous.
And then there is the dog poo. If owners have no intention of cleaning up their dog mess can't they at least get their dog to do it in the gutter by the side of the road so no one has to tread in it.
We need to start catching these owners so they face the £100 fine and/or are shamed into picking up their dog's mess. But how? Catch images on phones to publish or maybe just provide more bags in public places. We need ideas to change things.
And what about the people who use dog pooh bags but then leave them dangling from trees and bushes as they can't be bothered to carry them to the nearest bin.
From Rachel J
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
There's a lot of people up in arms today about the dog poo situation on Palace House Road today, I think we need to start a name and shame campaign. I have been looking for years, and it's very hard to spot people leaving their dogs' mess. I rarely see a dog out on it's own down my road, in fact they are all walked on leads, that I see. There is no way these owners are not aware. It's always in the same places, this is a regular occurrence.
In response to someone earlier - we need to be realistic, though - you cannot train a dog to go in the gutter!
It's easy enough to get nappy bags, if possible biodegradeable ones. My friend even has a little widget on her dog's lead that carries a few of these tiny bags inside, perfect!
Poo trees are a problem. These are made the people that go to the trouble to pick up, because you're watching, then fling it as soon as you're not.
The dog warden hopefully will be patrolling our road a bit more after several complaints along our road today, and the cleansing team are coming out to clear up this occasion. However, in the current climate, it's shocking that we are employing people to clear up others' dogs' mess - it's not the best use of stretched resources and cut budgets.
There are a lot of problems in the world today, of a much greater importance than this, but they are complicated hard to solve.
This is simple. Pick it up and put it in the bin.
Done.
From Chris Greaves
Thursday, 2 February 2012
I am a dog walker and I am long passed being fed up with picking up other people's dog poo and filled dog poo bags. I just keep doing it.
I think its great that new reg's from council will make sure identified owners get fined and that dogs will be banned from fenced play areas if approved by Council in March. On the other hand the same proposals will hopefully be modified to continue allow people to walk dogs on the fields in the Calder and up at Old Town and off lead along towpaths.
I confess that I probably miss one gettable poo every year or two but I remove the poo of others on a daily basis. I hope I would be welcome walking my dogs in the Palace Rd erea and that the advice of one contributor to "shoot all dog walkers" will be roundly rejected.
From Jon Morris
Friday, 3 February 2012
You can train dogs to do it in the gutter - that's what guide dogs do. I saw one a few years ago that must have somehow let his owner know he needed to go. The owner took off his harness and the dog turned round and pooed in the road.
Perhaps some people need to be sent on a dog training course.
The council could also help by cleaning the pavements more often. It's one thing when a dog poos on the pavement, it's another when it stays there for days and days with no-one clearing it up.
From Cllr Nigel Yorke
Friday, 3 February 2012
In response to these and many previous complaints, Hebden Royd Town Council has decided to hold a responsible dog ownership event in Calder Holmes Park. The provisional date is the 12th April. This event will be held in partnership with the RSPCA and the Calderdale Council Environmental Health and Dog Wardens.
The event will cover a whole range of responsible dog ownership issues, such as health care, training and of course, picking up after your dog. We hope to be able to find answers to every excuse for not picking up.
We expect that a number of responsible dog owners will attend and we will be asking for their help in setting up a Poo Watch, working with Calderdale Council to report persistent foulers in the hope that some prosecutions can be made.
Although there is an argument that it will be the responsible owners who come to the event, it is hoped that this will raise the profile of this issue and hopefully reduce the problem.
In addition, dog fouling can be reported online at www.calderdale.gov.uk. once reported street cleansing will come out and clear up the area.
If you want any more information please contact either Emma Housman or myself Nigel Yorke.
From`Jonathan Timbers
Friday, 3 February 2012
Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that all dog walkers should be shot, only those with anti-social dogs!
I'm not prejudiced, some of my best friends own dogs! Lol!
From Dave J
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Rachel's thread seems to suggest that Hebden Bridge residents don't drop litter. Clearly this isn't the case as a walk through Calderholmes Park most mornings from April through to October will demonstrate.
In the afternoons and evenings, groups of adults and kids alike, as well as families, pass the time sunning, eating, drinking, smoking and generally having fun. All well and good, and what our park is for.
The trouble is a significant number decide to up-sticks and leave all their litter . . . cans, bottles (broken or otherwise), chip-papers etc. behind. I've even seen a used nappy and a portable bbq, all for the poor chap who patrols the park in the morning to clean up at, no doubt, considerable cost.
I used to pick up the bottles on weekend mornings whilst out walking my dog but since the expansion of the skate park it's a full time job and I just can't face it any more. I find it depressing to see how so many people care so little about their own environment and the impact it has on others.
So, if we must have naming-and-shaming, taking photos, reporting and shooting errant dog owners (all a bit Daily Mail for me but if we must adopt this approach so be it), can we please add the litterbugs to the list.
From Rachel J
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
In response to a few points raised:
Yes, guide dogs / all dogs can be trained to poop in a particular place, however, in the case of guide dogs, there are relatively few of them and the reasons why their owner can't pick after them are obvious. It is not ok to get everybody with a dog to train it to do it's business in the gutter - we all have to cross the road with our prams/toddlers etc, and no one wants this stuff all over our bike and car wheels. Not a good solution for the masses!
Brilliant news about the dog awareness event! I agree, probably the offenders won't attend, but the general collection on mass of dog lovers and responsible owners sends out a clear message, and it's great to hear that something is being taken on board.
In response to PHR, a community officer came up with the unenviable task of taking photos of our large patches of poop . . . last week . . . and we have had no cleansing team appear as yet . . .
Regarding the litter question - that is a whole other inexcusable but related issue! I do not disagree at all but my point was more subtle . . . I see many middle aged 'respectable' dog walkers, I hardly see any teenagers and younger people walking dogs who may in some cases be the people who hang around the park. My point is that these 'respectable' people would probably be the first to complain about litter, but will leave their dogs' mess if no one is looking.
I'm not saying that all dog walkers leave dog mess or that all teenagers/ young people leave litter! The vast majority of people, of all ages are very considerate :)
From Lesley Jones
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
I am writing as Chair of the Friends of Calder Holmes Park group. We care about our park, talk regularly about issues that affect it, including litter and lack of toilets. We work very closely with both the Town Council and Calderdale as we strive to ensure it continues to provide what its users want and need. Continued as a news item
From Jane O'Hara
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
As a member of the Friends of Calder Holmes Park I fully support Lelsley's view and hope that we can generate more interest and members via this forum.
Also on the dog poo issue, we had a similar problem on Fountain St and after this was raised with the town clerk Jason Boom, we now have a poo bag dispenser fitted on the street which has helped with the issue to some degree, if only by directing the offenders towards it.
From Abi L
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Victoria Road is pretty disgusting too. Often it's easier just walk in the road- not what you want for kids though.
From S Myers
Friday, 10 February 2012
I think the park meeting is a great idea.
Also Otley started a campaign. They marked the dog dirt with blue chalk dust to make it easier to avoid and highlight the extent of the problem: