As a visitor was out walking for exercise, watching the ground as she went, a subconscious thought formed, “This a crappy place.” What prompted the notion was how much dog poop she was having to step around. She knows this community is really a great place and would still say so. But a subconscious play on words registered a different impression. She can’t help it; that is just the way the mind works.
I walk my dog twice a day and recently began taking extra poop bags so I could pick up deposits left by others. Previously when we walked we just tried to avoid the piles. Seeing something that bothers me and not fixing it reaches a limit. When that limit arrived, I started picking up and counting the stuff. In 13 days I collected 175 clumps of doggy doo. Often we walk the same route, but each week cover one side of about six miles of the streets near my home. What I find is much less than the actual volume left behind. I am not the only one picking up after others. I often overlook some hidden in the leaves, unless my dog sniffs it out. And often I run out of bags before I get home.
Occasionally seeing a pet movement in process I will offer, “If you need a bag, I’ve got extras.” The pet owner seems grateful, takes the bag, and fulfills their civic duty. Clearly most people take responsibility for their pet’s byproducts. The proof is in the number of tied-off bags in the waste receptacles in the parks and at the boat landing. Thank you! A special thanks is deserved by those who’s profession is to deal with other people’s mess—pastors, law enforcement, therapist and those who manage our garbage including our Association’s overloaded trash cans.
If you take care of a pet, please take care of their poop too.
Thank you,
Robert Allen
Seven Lakes South Resident
