I have something to get off my chest.
Or rather, I have something to scrape off the bottom of my shoe.
The other day I was rushing to a doctor’s appointment, holding one kid by the hand, pushchair in the other when… squelch.
I rolled into not one, not two, but FOUR steaming lumps of dog poo.
Fuming, and already late, I had no choice but to stop and clean off the mess.
As I scrubbed away furiously with baby wipes, it struck me. Why the hell was I doing somebody else’s dirty work?
I mean, what would happen if I threw a crappy nappy on the street? Better yet, what if I let my baby dump right onto the pavement and strolled on by?
What if a guerilla group of mums and dads emptied their babies nappies all over the city?
It would make the evening news. There would be national outrage.
One of the first things you learn as a parent is how to deal with the crap your little life throws at you. Becoming responsible for another being means taking care of business, even if that business stinks.
Take Care of Your Shit!
We live in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. But the poop piling up in our neighbourhoods is unsightly, unhealthy and totally unacceptable!
If we don’t act now, by 2012 hurdling doggy do could become an Olympic sport.
Babes about Town took an informal poll of locals, from cyclists and the elderly to school kids and mums on the run.
One mum’s baby crawled through so much shit that she had to stop going to the park until he learned to walk.
The word on the streets? Let’s get the turd off our streets.
For the record, we have nothing against dogs. We love our furry friends (and we’re quite fond of most of their owners). But we have everything against those who leave the poop unscooped.
It is not ok to shit and run. We repeat, it is never ok to shit and run.
Londoners of the world, unite! We are calling on all those who live or have ever lived in London, all visitors and true fans of our fair city, to join our campaign:
Londoners Against Street Shit Internet Exchange
Acronym: LASSIE
LASSIE needs your barks, or this campaign will have no bite.
If you are tired of stepping over street filth, if you are done with dodging the do, if you have had enough of this crap, if you have had to toss away one shoe too many and are hopping mad… let LASSIE hear your voice!
Sign our blog petition by leaving a comment on this post.
Pass this message on to 10 of your friends and get them to sign.
If you are on Twitter, retweet this post.
Let’s use the power of social media to make our voices heard and to declare WAR ON DOG TURD in our neighbourhoods.
With enough people on board, we can send this message straight to the top (that’s you, Mr. Johnson).
We can make this street shit STOP.
Photo credit: Rick Cummings (Flickr)
Stepping on dog poo is a nightmare. Especially when you are wearing your favorite shoes. Lets hear it for LASSIE!
Right on!
This topic is spot on. This issue is one of my bugbears at the minute. By the way it’s not just in London, it’s here in Birmingham too! Everywhere you go you find dog poo. Every morning when you come out to get into the car, you find it on the street. There were some ‘smart alecs’ who thought to use the snow as a cover up. During the snowy days, anytime the ice went, the splatter of poo will be there in all their glory. We are actually thinking about getting a CCTV for that reason alone. Thankfully my next door neighbour has bought one and my husband with his IT wizardry installed it for them and made sure our frontage will be seen in the view. So we are waiting to catch the culprits and yours truly will be sending some dog poo post through some letter boxes. Watch this space.
Woah! That’s some anti-dog poo fighting spirit right there. So I guess we need a BASSIE too?!
Purchase a foghorn and whenever you see a dog ready to foul our footpaths blow it ! Hard and strong…. But seriously i never seem to catch a culprit .I think we should put baby poo everywhere and see what happens !
i agree with you whole heartedly on this one!
Totally with you on this. I have had too many terrible moments when I think my son has got mud on his trousers only to discover it is dog poo! Love the dogs, just wish that their human companions would get their act together! LASSIE!!!
lol some real radical poo-haters on here! i had one do it right in front of me yesterday and i was in too much of a rush to give them a sounding off (they waited until i’d gone past before they abandoned the poop).
Hi Jo, ugh that is the worst! We need action urgently. Go LASSIE! Spread the word ;-)
Thanks Heather, it really is out of control. I’m sure you’re not having to dodge reindeer do-do out there. Or are you?!
I am reading this at such a timely time!!! I just spent TWO HOURS cleaning up dog poo in our back yard (all of the snow just melted!) and before my children could go outside, I needed to “de-poop” lest they all walk through it then track it all over our house. After spending two hours doing this and filling 25 plastic shopping bags full o’ poo, I had to laugh to read your post.
This completely disgusts me – I can’t imagine not picking up after my dog. Yuck. You are correct – I would have been so annoyed and yes, this is unacceptable. Love the LASSIE idea!!!
Thank you SO SO much for wishing my Meemo a happy birthday! And all the way from London? She was thrilled. It means so much to me that you took the time to do this. Thank you so very much.
LOVE your blog. I’ll be following you!
Hi Natalie, so sorry you had to spend so long cleaning up the muck. Poop is not just a parenting issue, it’s a global health hazard!
Thanks for supporting LASSIE. And your Meemo rocks!
I am all for this Uju!! We are a proud family of two beautiful dogs and would never dream of taking them out without doggie doo bags to put our shit into! I can’t stand dirty streets, as a dog owner I just don’t get people who don’t scoop their poop. Honestly. It’s gross.
So I’m all supportive of this campaign!!
CLEAN UP YER SHIT!!
♥♥
First of all, I’m still laughing after reading your post. My belly is kind of hurting by now. But…that stuff coming out the doggy butt, is no laughing matter. So to speak. It really is shit. In all ways. I’ve been known to chase after people not picking up. (I know.., but I’m not agressive..very polite..)
If you have stepped in to a warm poo with you bare feet you would too. (No, it wasn’t even nice first moment, just a cringing knowing feeling) So to all you lovely dog owners out there who might think it disappears with the rain, please just bring a doo bag. It’s not even embarrassing any more, so many people do. It just shows you care about others. And my feet will thank you for it.
Go Uju!
Fantastic Mesina, love to hear from dog owners who handle their business! The shit in the streets gives our furry chums a bad name. Let’s clean it up people!
LOL well I’m laughing now and I’m sorry it’s at your expense Hannie! Warm poo on bare feet….funny but ugggh! It must end now. Tell your friends to support LASSIE. We need your barks!
hear hear!!
GO LASSIE! It is everywhere and so gross – do dogs poo more than they used to!?! Don’t get me started on the cats that use our garden as a giant litter tray….
Woof woof! ;-)
Hi littlebird, I don’t know, it seems like it’s taking over our streets. That’s why I’m worried if we don’t speak up, we’re going to get buried under it! Thanks for adding your voice, do spread the word :-)
Hell yeh – we hate it, detest treading in it, get obsessed walking by it and irate when it’s done at our blooming gate.
We salute you!
I often shit in the street and I don’t see why my dog shouldn’t too….. Seriously, as far as I’m concerned that is pretty much what irresponsible dog owners are doing and it is just as anti-social. Great that you are raising the issue.
Hi Gigi, oh no – the gate dropper’s are the worst! Thanks for the support, Mums Rock. Come on LASSIE, we can do it!
LOL That is EXACTLY the point Sally. I mean why don’t we turn the streets into one giant toilet? It already looks like somebody forgot to flush. Thanks for the support – spread the word!
I’m an x Londoner. In the village I now live in a vigilante spray paints round all fresh poo to embarass the owners and alert the rest of us. Not very enviromentally friendly but enormously helpful to me and my girls!
Good luck LASSIE!
That is actually a great idea Holly! We need to each have our own spray alert cans. And next time I catch someone letting his dog do it, I’ll spray him too!
For the first time in my life I was incensed enough to contact the local council about this very topic only a month ago. After doing what has become a regular obstacle course on the school drop off and pick up I found the islington paper on my doorstop when I got home. There was a telephone number specific to dog fouling. I picked up the phone. Instead of getting through to someone who could help me on this matter it went to an operator who had no idea who to put me through to. After being on hold for a long time, put through to 3 different departments and been cut off I phoned back to go through the same problem again. The answer I got was that someone could come and remove the offending article but no-one was interested or empowered to deal with the problem of this being a daily occurence. In other words I got no-where so, this topic is very important and needed in giving the said council a kick up their rear ends!
That is ridiculous. It’s as if it’s nobody’s problem and yet everybody is affected by this major health hazard. Well done for giving it a go, let’s add more voices to LASSIE so hopefully somebody takes it seriously. Thanks for your comment Michaela. Pass it on!
Love, love, LOVE this campaign – brilliant idea. Nothing makes me angrier than going on a pleasant stroll through my neighbourhood… and have to dodge piles of poo from lazy pet owners along the way.
Best of luck with this!
SICK OF THE SHIT!
TIRED OF THE TURDS!
So far I have only come up with slogans but have been wracking my brain for the last few months trying to think of something empowering we can do. There must be something, power to the people and all that.
I’m sure most people know who the culprits are round their way and we need to be able to do something that shames them but doesn’t get the individual who confronts them into trouble.
I’ve thought of photos/videos of the offenders displayed somewhere but this probably contravines their ‘human rights’.
I like the spray paint idea but no doubt I would get done for graffiti.
My main idea so far is posters that could be positioned near the offending poo to alert people and to hopefully get the message accross that it’s not acceptable. Anybody got any thoughts?
Having counted 24, yes 24, lumps of it on my short walk to my daughter’s nursery I also emailed Islington council about it – also to no avail. I’m now part of an action group in my street to try to stop this disgusting practice. Unfortunately, the one time I tried to tackle someone I caught walking away from their dog’s mess I was told she ‘didn’t want to pick it up’, looked me up and down and walked off with no shame apparent. I’ve been too intimdated to tackle those with their ‘status’ dogs. It will be an uphill struggle!
Thanks Marsha, I’m glad LASSIE is stirring people up. Do spread the word and let’s do it for London! Enough of the shit.
Hi Jo, great ideas, keep ’em coming. I’m imagining a sort of ‘frame and shame’ where we snap pics of anyone we catch and put them on a web site, but yeah we’d have to look into privacy etc. Posters might work. LASSIE needs all our ideas and our voices and somebody will have to take action or we’ll take it to the streets!
24? Now that’s some scary shit! And this whole ‘don’t want to pick it up’ attitude is why parents especially need to get behind LASSIE. What if we decided not to clean up after our kids? But I know what you mean about some of those owners. But with enough of us anti-poo out there we CAN make a change. Believe it!
I have a friend who was so infuriated, he scooped up a dog pooh as it’s owner was about to walk off and leave it, and smeared it on the dog’s back. Unfortunate for the poor mut, but I think it taught her a lesson… Not that I’m condoning this sort of behaviour, but it really does get me so riled up, I can almost sympathise!
That is hardcore. But it just shows how infuriated people are getting, we’re losing our patience and our manners. At least those of us who still have manners! Thanks for your support, tell your friend to add his voice to LASSIE!
My toddler is a dog poo magnet. He steps on it EVERYWHERE. It makes me feel physically sick so am totally with you on this one. Also, cats are just as bad and keep pooing in my garden. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Hey there…thanks for stopping by the Panty Pyramid.blogspot.com yesterday! I love this post!! I used to live on a farm and fell in a pile…it wasn’t glamorous or anything but I think it really helped me grow 2 inches..I would have forever been 5’2 if this didn’t happen!!!
anyhow, Im gonna send you an email about how the pyramid works!!
Danon
LOL well I’m about your height then but thankfully no such ‘growth spurt’. and yours is the zaniest pyramid scheme I’ve ever heard… but I like it. Thanks for supporting LASSIE!
Hi Hot Cross Mum and yes, our kids are totally vulnerable out there. I’ve trained mine to keep his head down and dodge the do like a pro, but there’s always one out there with his name on it. And LASSIE is against all street shit, including cat poos…and those smelly horse dumps. Ugh!
When we first moved to DC, stepping in the dog doo was a regular part of my day. Now, we have pooper-scooper laws, and things are much more pleasant. SITS sent me by, and I’m glad they did!
1 Day, 2 Day, Birthday, Seuss Day!
Hi Melissa, we’re meant to have some kind of penalties too I believe but they’re just not enforced. What laws worked for you in DC? We need ideas!
Do we live on the same road? I recently wrote about poo too.
Great idea! it is so maddening – i wonder if the people who let their dogs go wherever don’t care just as long as it’s not their front stoop.
Ah I must check out your piece, A Modern Mother. And it’s turning out to be not just a city-wide but a nationwide scandal!
Hi Jennifer, I suspect many of these owners just let their dogs out at night to go wherever. They must be stopped! Thanks for your support.
About time someone spoke up! I am so sick of trying to wash the buggy wheels in puddles because some lazy dog owner hasn’t cleaned up after their dog! But saying that there should be more dog litter bins around too.
Hi Faye, thanks for adding your voice to the campaign. There should be more litter bins but I don’t think that alone will cure the problem of littering owners!
Hi Uju! Thanks for stopping by at my blog… Sorry to hear about your Shit and Run incident. Every owner should be responsible for their pet. Unless its a stray dog, which I doubt if it was….
Great Post, dogs and poo are no, no for me. :) I like well behaved dogs like Lassie.
Thanks Mhe-Lhanee, it really is turning into a ridiculous issue around where I live (and apparently in other parts too). We need action!
LOL Ms BabyPlan, well our LASSIE will be well-behaved unless we don’t see some change. And then we’ll show our teeth! ;-)
Stopping in from SITS – It’s definitely irksome – as a responsible dog owner I hate when someone else’s inconsiderate actions (or lack thereof) make us all look bad. I’m sure that you feel the same wa when someone else chooses to let their child throw food in a restaurant, draw on the office walls (no more take you kid to work day), or throw a diaper in the toilet… There are bad apples in every barrel
OH my sentiments exactly!! My husband prides himself on having taken the best photograph ever. It is a photo he took whilst out for a morning stroll with our sweet girl. He rolled on by a steaming doggy deuce on the street and paused when he saw a note lying next to it. It was written in wildly furious strokes and terrible spelling. But it got the message across. It read:
Hey asshole, cleen up your dog shit or I’m going to bet your ass. I know were you live.
Waaahhhaaaaahhaaa!!! But, seriously. PICK UP THE SHIT.
Hi Shayna, I’m pleased to hear from responsible dog owners, we especially need your support on this. And trust me, if there were as many diapers thrown in the toilet as there are doggy don’ts on the street here, we’d have some serious toilet rage going on nationwide!
LOL that’s pretty funny, Momsicle Vibe, I’m sensing more people might resort to guerilla tactics soon. Thanks for adding your voice!
I can’t agree enough with this campaign…. You know I am tempted to keep a weeks worth of nappies and dump them on Islington Council every week until someone in the council starts to get themselves into gear on this… I’m sure the Evening Standard would happily photograph. I used to live in Brent (Queens Park), and the streets there were spotless in comparison to the Islington area. It is disgusting and thoughtless and as much as I love dogs (I grew up with 4!), I do think that if people can’t be responsible then their animals should be removed from them. As you rightly say, Uju, if we let our toddlers poo on the streets we’d have people yelling left, right and centre. Perhaps we need to campaign dear old Boris with this one… If he wants the Conservatives in then, as far as I’m concerned this would be one election promise I’d vote for! …. Rant over. X
Hi Esther, very glad to have you on board and thanks so much for weighing in on this campaign. I do think we can take this all the way to the Mayor’s office since local councils can’t seem to get their acts together and clean up!
I totally agree with this campaign, and whatever you intent to do, I’ ll support you. Nothing has a greater capacity to ruin your day than getting dog poo on your shoes. For me it is unpleasant and anti-social. I think clearing up after your dog shows how much you care for your environnement. It is not hard to be a good citizen and a nice human being.
Hi Nadj, thanks for your support, I’m so very glad you left this comment. You’re right, dog poo is totally anti-social and those owners should get ASBOs for a start! Please spread the word about the campaign!
Hello from SITS!
I agree with this post. I think it’s selfish of dog owners not to clean up after their pet. If see someone letting their pet take a dump without cleaning it up, throw a dirty diaper their way! ;)
Hooray!!!!
“It is never okay to shit and run!”
I have two dogs, and even with a toddler in tow, I still find the time (and the extra hand) to pull that plastic bag out of my back pocket and scoop the shit!
The worst is when my son picks up “rocks” to play with… yuck.
I totally support this campaign. Irresponsible dog owners should get an ASBO, they know the anger and filth they are causing that is why they walk their dogs away from their own door step. Worse still some allow their dogs to Sh*t in Childrens play grounds and just leave it there or worse still cover it up. My friend was playing with her child in Crystal Palace park sand pit and stepped in Dog Sh*t. UnBelievable!!
I say “PICK UP YOUR SH*IT!!” it’s onl fair!
Hi there,
Totally agree with this but what about horse poo. Why is it acceptable for horses to poo all over the streets?
Cheers
Hi Frankie, you are absolutely right! The horse filth is even worse when it happens as it takes up so much room. This is a campaign against all street doo doo. Thanks for adding your voice!
I am SO with you. A great idea. We live on a Peabody Estate and the level of dog shit is unacceptable. The estate is full of children but nothing is done to clear it up. However, if a car gets slightly dented by a children’s ball we all get rude letters. It seems completely out of line with the reality. I made A4 posters, doctoring an article in The Sun, which writes about the damage dog shit can do to children. Do you want a copy of it? I’m sure I can dig it out. Do I sound obsessed? I am a bit. Wish I was obsessed with something a bit more glamorous.
Hey Claire, great to hear from you, sorry about what’s going on in your area. You sound like a fine person to have on board the LASSIE campaign. I’ve been noticing more and more of it in the neighbourhood recently -probably the warmer weather, more dogs out longer – and some local mums and I have been thinking up more striking ways to draw attention to this problem. I’d love a copy of your poster and any other ideas you have. Think I’ll write another post soon. A luta continua! ;-)
Hi Uju…
Did you have any success with this campaign? My no.1 son has reached the age where it has become a real problem for us at this end of town… have tried Hackney Council with very little success . Our local park is disgusting and can’t even let him out for a run around!
Hi I was chatting with another mum about how we need to revitalise the campaign and get more active members on board pushing for maybe tougher fines, definitely more action. It’s out of control! Let’s discuss more and make a plan!
Hi! I cannot believe that Ive only noticed this campaign now. I love it and I am with you all the way. My toddler has stepped in and sat in doggy doo. So let me know when we are going to start lining the parks with nappies.
Hi Laurelle, I think once school starts back in September we might have to step up this campaign. It’s on the school run that I really notice it these days and yes I’m still ready for some direct nappy action!
i know I’m late but in all fairness i was onto this in 1997 when I lived in London. it’s unbelievable how out of control the dog poop is on the streets of london. hope your campaign is making headway.
outraged on your behalf in DC
I need to resuscitate this campaign, because the mess on our streets is very far from over. We need to take back our pavements! x