How very continental.

Brilliant little story in the West Wickham Residents Association Summer 2010 Newsletter entitled, quite simply, "Dog Litter Bins".

It starts off sensibly enough with a heartfelt plea from a local resident concerned about "the copious amount of dog litter on the pavements of West Wickham", requesting the council install more dog litter bins.

I love the word "copious". It really conjures up an image of streets covered in a plentiful, abundant, profuse, large in quantity and never ending amounts of dog faeces. 

Very soon the local ward councillor - Nicholas Bennett - gives his opinion and suggests that "continental style" dog areas are adopted by the council.

By adding the word "continental" to his description he has left us with a romantic, cosmopolitan, European Café image of his proposed new look dog areas.
DO NOT BE FOOLED READERS.

Having just come back from France and seen their "continental" dog areas, there is nothing nice about them.

They are basically large public cat litters but for dogs (if that makes sense). You take your dog to the sandpit and wait until it does its business. You don't need to pick up. The one I photographed below, was right outside someones front door. The smell was terrible, not to mention the flies.

Does it still look continental Mr Bennett?

The article then finishes with a quote from an anonymous resident:

"I am incensed that dog owners actually think it is OK to leave their dog's mess lying around ... I'm sure they wouldn't be happy if I let my toddler drop his trousers and do his business outside their house with no intention of clearing it up."

If we had continental style toddler areas then maybe we could let them do this and everyone would be happy.

Thank You Keith Raggett

Keith Raggett of Weald has contacted his local paper about the fact that Weald is covered in dog poo.

I really admire his observation: "On a warm day, it stinks...."

The headline in his local paper says it all: "We need decisive action on dog mess." How long have we been saying this here at Dog Fouling and Red Rubber Bands?

Keith is very clear in his view: "They are disgusting and until they are caught they will carry on letting their dogs mess." Again, this seems to me to confuse two issues. I invite Keith to explain to us how you stop your dog from fouling. Is he another advocate of using a cork until you get home or perhaps he believes all dogs should wear one of the devices previously advertised on this site.

In any event, we all have to agree with Keith that we don't want children falling into dog poo. I remember my brother falling into a cow pat when we were kids and that was bad enough!

Keith's full article can be read here.

We All Thought That Dog Fouling As A Political Issue Had Died

Well it hasn't. You will all remember the heroic effort of our hero Danny Kushlick. Perhaps Danny sowed a seed, which has spread across the nation?

In any event, the cause has been taken up by Pete Wedderburn, a vet who writes in the Telegraph.

I don't know how well anybody has been following the political scene but one of the issues raised by the coalition government is the reduction of the use of CCTV. They seem to see it as a counter terrorist tool being used to combat dog fouling.
As you are reading this post, I can guess where your sympathies lie. Would I be right to assume that your feelings are along the lines of "film them, name them, shame them?" While we don't exactly have an ally in Pete, he does support the use to CCTV to combat dog fouling but his reasons relate to Toxocara Canis. He also advertises the Poopsta, but I think we beat him to that. While we must see Pete as an ally, we cannot form a coalition as his reasons are quite different from ours. We are more concerned with thousands of ruined shoes, carpets and items of clothing than a very small number of now curable Toxocara cases.
The interesting part of the article lies in the ensuing blog. I cannot believe how many readers object to the use of CCTV to combat fouling! Already, our cause is in danger from the new government. I have to say that I agree with Pete:
"If people start to think “Big Brother might be watching”, perhaps they might just start to do what they’re meant to do anyway."

I have every confidence that this includes post deliverers scattering red rubber bands the length and breadth of our islands. I say: "follow them randomly with CCTV, let's really make it count!"

Finally, thank you, Pete, for keeping the issue "live". We are a broad group and you are welcome as a member in any capacity.

Read Pete's full observations here.

Final Election Analysis - Danny, Our Hero, Didn't Make It

You will all remember Danny Kushlick. While he has become a legend here, it has to be acknowledged that he didn't quite make it into parliament. When I say "didn't quite", I mean that he received 343 votes while the winning candidate polled 26,593. The full result can be viewed here.

It would be easy to write this off as a defeat. There is, however, always a positive. I was trying to find it when it hit me. Danny has taken the first step needed to enable us to tackle urban repeated defecation. A movement could grow from this.

Tackle Urban Repeated Defecation (TURD).

There will now be a lull before the next election. This will give Danny and any supporters the opportunity to regroup and really campaign on this topic. Already some slogans have come to me:

Put a TURD in the Town Hall (local election).

Let's see a TURD on the floor of the House (general election).

T shirts could be worn by supporters with the slogan "Are You A TURD?" Underneath could be any of the relevant pictures from this site.

There is even already a theme tune for the campaign:




My friends, it can be done! If we can get a green MP, we can get a brown MP! Let us now work towards the next coalition.

Dog shit superstitions.

The talent of a real entrepreneur is to see opportunity where others don’t see anything at all! French company Atypik are even more daring – they saw a successful business idea where others saw only shit!

Atypik sells one the most unusual gifts you can imagine – lucky dog shit. Elegantly decorated boxes, labelled "Lucky Dog Shit From France" contains real dog shit and a note saying, "Lucky dog shit from the famous streets of Paris. Brings you luck when walking in it with your left foot".

"Lucky Dog Shit" sure is a bizarre business idea but it has many advantages: it doesn't require big investments, guaranteed free advertising in blogs (such as this one!), no competition and a cheap & easy to source product. Worth trying, isn’t it?

Putting aside the obvious question - why do the French think it is OK to sell Parisian dog shit in a sealed plastic pot (!) I am confused by the "lucky when you step in it with your left foot" comment ?

My Parisian friend explained all - there is a superstition in France that it's good luck to step in a freshly laid dog faeces with your left foot. I don't normally believe in superstitions and I particularly don't buy this one since it's obviously just something they say just to make people feel better about something awful happening, like rain on your wedding.

But then my froggy friend pointed at a nearby bus stop advert showing three young, successful businessmen relaxing in the board room after making yet another "bonus yielding" deal proudly displaying the source of their business prowess - dog shit on their left feet!

It reads, "7 accounts won for 4 agencies in one year. It must be talent."

So that's why there is so much dog poo on the streets of France - it's a cunning ploy to get them out of the recession;

Lots of dog shit = more chance of stepping in it with your left foot = lots of lucky French businessmen = country out of recession.

Wonder what happens if they step in one with their right foot ??