Crottes de chien.

I have written about this before and make no apology for doing so again. France has a serious dog problem. Remember poor old Toulouse?

Well now its the turn of its capital for my attention. Paris has, proportionally, more dogs - 300,000, or one for every seven humans - than any other city and they don't do a thing to clear up after them.

I have just come back from a visit to Paris and in one 10 minute walk I counted 18 dog deposits - the French phrase is "crottes de chien".

The French don't seem that worried, but they should be. An official French Government report on the problem states that their dogs leave 20 tons of mess on the streets of Paris daily and that an average of 650 people a year are hurt so badly after slipping on dog-poo in Paris that they have to be taken to hospital! (Bloody hell!) 

This works out at nearly two victims each day; broken collar bones are the most frequent injury.

Complaints about dog-dirt are the third most frequent reason for letter- writing to the Paris town hall (ahead of fear of crime). And yet convictions of dog owners for "uncivic behaviour" are running at less than two a week.

The city pays €6million a year to a private company, Trottoirs Nets, to cleanse the streets of dog-poo. The company operates a fleet of more than 100 bright-green machines, like motor-cycles with carpet-cleaners bolted to the back, called "caninettes" or "motocrottes", although most Parisians refer to them as "Chieraclettes" - from the words chier (to shit) and raclette (scraper). We Brits copied the idea - remember The Poover from Islington Council?

Most experts believe that the real problem is that the city "legitimises" the offenders by spending so much money on cleaning up.

I witnessed this first hand when I saw a Parisian lady allow her dog to defecate on a busy pavement and walk off leaving the poo where it was. My French friend (& guide to all things Parisian) congratulated the lady saying, "at least it gives work to the young people who work the Chieraclettes!".

So readers, my advice to you is this:

When visiting Paris - walk like a Parisian, not like a tourist. Don't look at the sights, look down and look ahead or you will stand in the crottes de chien!

Dog Fouling And Risk Assessments

As you will be aware, everything now has to be risk assessed.

You will appreciate that this is necessary to ensure that potentially dangerous events have that risk minimised, e.g. firing weapons on a rifle range or abseiling down a cliff face.

I was, therefore, relieved to read that "Schoolchildren from Workington have been banned from visiting a nature reserve – because there is too much dog mess there". This followed a "school risk assessment". Much regret has been expressed at the decision.

We have repeatedly emphasised that dog fouling is a crime. This is endorsed by Ian Payne, Allerdale council’s strategic manager for places, who said: “We are not saying that dog walkers should not enjoy the nature reserve, but not cleaning up after your dog has fouled is a criminal offence and there is no excuse for it.”

Here at Dog Fouling and Red Rubber Bands, we applaud this decision making process. The risk assessment clearly included an option that the children might remove their clothes and roll on the ground in dog mess then, having done that, they might dip their sandwiches in it. We need to protect our children from these risks!

The News & Star carries the full story here.

Danny Kushlick's first victim.

Danny Kushlick has nailed his colours to the mast early on in this years election and released a picture of the first dog fouling offender that has seen the style of justice he is proposing.

If you want to see more of this, then vote for Danny Kushlick on May 6th. You know it makes sense :-)

Dog Fouling Becomes An Election Issue

Danny Kushlick

At last, dog fouling has made the election campaigns. I have heard a great deal about the economy, law and order and the health service but nothing about that issue, which affects us all.

The "People's Manifesto" has changed all of that. Danny (pictured above) is standing in Bristol West. A key aspect of his manifesto is as follows: "Dog owners who do not clean up after their dogs should be forced to wear the offending turd as a moustache for the rest of the day". Here at Dog Fouling and Red Rubber Bands we think laterally but we have never hit on this brilliant idea.

We need to ensure that the voters of Bristol West get out and make a statement. Let's see them trailing dog excrement into the polling stations and then putting their cross where it counts!

Let's really let the candidates smell the mood of the people and the state of this country!

Full report here.

Cornwall Strikes Again!

On an Easter trip to Cornwall, I saw this sign:


It made me sad to think that Carrick District Council has ceased to exist as it clearly had a vision as regards the fouling issue.

I was mainly concerned at the instruction "Do Not Allow Your Dog To Foul Footpaths or Grass Verges". What is this actually saying? Does it mean that if my dog goes to foul the grass verge I should pull it onto the pavement? If it goes to foul the footpath, should I quickly drag it to a road?

Above all, how do I stop it from fouling? Is this a case of insert a cork until you get home?

Cornwall is a strange land as we have discussed before. Fouling is a long standing issue. I often wonder what the tin miners did for toilets and I wonder if the Knockers were simply making a point about sanitation.

Oh Cornwall, let it flow!