When I was a kid, my mother used to warn me not to step in “the gold” left on the street by neighborhood dogs. It was much classier than dropping the “s” bomb I guess. Anywho, that was before the awesome Fran Lee went on a tirade back in the 1970s and got NYC to pass its famed “Pooper Scooper” law.
Well, it seems that some dog owners - close to 40 years after Ms. Lee won her battle against poo – still haven’t gotten the memo as this reader writes:
Dear Homer – On my three block walk to get a paper this morning I noticed no less than five fresh mounds of dog crap on the sidewalk. What the hell is going on around here. This non-pooper scooping business is getting way out of control. I have photographed a few of the human offenders from my window and I’m wondering if you would like to post them on your site. Let me know.
Your tired of stepping in dog crap neighbor,
AnonymousPS I have attached a photo of some fresh evidence for your use.
That “evidence” is after the jump. IT’S NOT PRETTY. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. (Oh and we won’t be publishing photos of human offenders.)
As a dog owner and urban dog run and off-leash advocate, it drives me crazy when a small percentage of dog owners don’t pick up their dogs’ poop. It reflects badly on all dog owners–unfairly.
I’ve picked up other peoples’ dogs’ poop because it’s vile to see it on the street, and I don’t want to be stepping in it myself. I’m always carrying around doggie poo bags for my own dog. But while it’s easy to pick up your own dog’s poo, it’s hard to do it for others.
How can I say with confidence is that it’s a very small percentage of dog owners who don’t pick up their dogs’ poo? Do the math. There are hundreds of dogs in the Heights–maybe even a thousand. Each poos on average 2x/day. The place would be one big manure field without a very high compliance rate from responsible dog owners toward the poop scoop law.
If you’re a dog owner and you’re reading this, and you don’t pick up your dog’s poop: not only are you breaking the law, but you’re inconsiderate, selfish, and rude to your neighbors. And you don’t deserve the privledge of owning a dog. Yes you.
I’ve run across a few irresponsible dog owners who weren’t going to pick up their dogs’ poop. I take a dog poop bag out of my pocket, hand it to them, and tell them “you must have forgotten to bring a bag”, then watch them pick it up.
not sure why you don’t want to post the pics of the offenders. public shaming is a worthy goal of a blog. are you concerned with being sued?
@skunky we’ll leave the vigilante biz to Chuck Bronson
There’s a difference between vigilantism and public shaming.
I’m all for public shaming for those who don’t pick up dog poo.
But Homer – What useful purpose is there in showing a photo of the poop? We all know what that looks like. It is the owner whose face we would like to see, because therein lies the culprit who is responsible for the pile being left on the sidewalk for us to step in. It is not the pooper’s fault. He is only answering nature’s call at the place allowed by his owner (would he/she be called the poopee??). I agree that the owner should be “outed”…and that this is not vigilantism!
You people are insane. Public shaming? Really?
That pile of “gold” must have come from a Great Dane – the owner must have forgot his shovel and wheelbarrel.
Not pick up after one’s dog is a crime punishable by a fine. What is the issue of publishing a picture of someone committing a crime?
@henry because possibly there are REAL CRIMES being committed somewhere?
The problem of dog owners’ not picking up after their dogs is particularly infuriating when it’s poop on the sidewalk, since they’ve actually now broken 2 laws, the pooper scooper law AND the CURB YOUR DOG law. The latter seems to be violated by quite a bit more than just a few dog owners (when was the last time you saw someone’s dog doing its business OFF the sidewalk?). And even the most diligently scooped poop leaves traces that our smallest children can’t help but pick up when their hands, arms, or feet touch the sidewalk. Dog owners, PLEASE walk your dogs OFF the sidewalks — in the Heights there are several streets with parking on just one side, so you have plenty of room.
My fiance and I have been tempted to write this same note to BHB for months. We have a dog! His leash has a permanently attached baggie holder. Makes things really quite easy.
It is incredibly disappointing that some people can not be responsible enough to clean up after their pets. I find their practice disrespectful and immature – so yes, shame on them. Featured log photos or not. Our community, and those that live in it, deserve much better than continuously dodging “land mines” out on Clark Street.
As an aside – I was told that a super on Hicks St went berserk last weekend and attacked a dog owner – apparently he doesn’t like people walking their dogs by his building. Anyone else know about this?
Three cheers for Matthew Parker! Publish the photos of offenders, although not everyone reads BHB. Might help to have them in the Heights Press as well. I am a dog owner and agree that we should get our dogs to poop at/off the curb. An added suggestion – take a paper towel and put it under your dog’s butt….makes it a whole lot easier to pick up waste….
I’m all for posting photos of anyone not picking up after their dog. That said, in 10 months of walking my dog here and 10 years of living here, I’ve never noticed anyone leaving anything behind.
Has anyone else seen people leaving it behind?
@aar NO ONE reads the Heights Press although I hear it’s popular in God’s Waiting Room.
Hmm. Perhaps some warning should be given to these offenders before posting their photos? Like “Hey, stop doing that or you’re going to end up on the Internet?”
That should be enough to dissuade most of these folks.
If that doesn’t work than I see no ethical or legal problem in posting their photos. They are A) doing something in public B) committing a crime and C) being disrespectful to their community.
Last time I recall someone was singled out on the web the article with pictures was pulled. That was the dog walker using a scooter going against a one way street.
If you want to ashame people publicly lets include people who are using placards to park illegally, people who run screaming and drunk through the Heights in the middle of the night, parents who dont have their kids under control, the shop lifter at Keyfood, the price gauger of Christede’s. Any other suggestions?
What’s the point of publishing the photo’s on this website??
These people are doing this in broad daylight on public streets.
Why would they care anymore or less because photos of them are surfacing on the internet?
The biggest deterrent is if the laws are actually enforced and hefty fines are assessed to these selfish dog-owners.
Have to agree with a previous poster. There are likely hundreds if not 1,000+ dogs in the neighborhood, the amount of inconsiderate people who don’t pick up after thier dogs is probably a minor data set of the entire dog-owning population in the ‘hood.
But alas, the actions of the few ruin it for the many….
I’ll vote for the public outing, too. This winter someone let what must have been a huge dog drop a load in front of my building, right where parents pick up kids after school. It turned into multiple smears on the sidewalk that lasted for days.
And that wasn’t the first time Middagh St. has suffered from what we suspect is the same dog.
I’ve been thinking for months that the vast quantities of dog excrement that litter every block in the Heights on a dialy basis has become an epidemic. It’s downright medieval at this point. Public shaming is a fine idea, but we shouldn’t limit ourselves to this.
Public Shaming? Over dog doo? Or should we get a public shaming poll together to prioritize the order of offenses that are worth of the ‘shame?’ A Scarlet Letter P for poop perhaps?
How about people look after their dogs?
Even when you pick it up, there are disgusting “skidmarks” all over every damn sidewalk in the Heights. Dog people should be forced to lick it up.
And then imprisoned.
You don’t have to be Dr. Freud to see that people have a rather fraught relationship to their and other animals’ waste products. In which shame plays a large part.
If you want to do public shaming, start your own blog. I’m all for it but BHB serves a different purpose.
Public shaming? Lick it up? Prison?
Just knowing that I live amongst people like you, scares the crap out of me.
… just another indication that the Social Contract is, in a word: BROKEN. I have often picked up dog poo left by inconsiderate miscreants… just like I pick up trash left by same each and every time I walk my dog. Sometimes I can collect an entire grocery bag of personal trash left behind from a single walk around the block! Funny, litter in Manhattan never seems to bother me, but offends me greatly in Brooklyn Heights. The reason? Heights residents seem rather proprietary, which may be inconvenient for some, but I think is a great thing. I mean how can you live in such a beautiful place and trash it, with either litter or dog shit??? I say: FINE the irresponsible among us. Fine them for BOTH offenses, then blame their mothers for not doing a better job.
Yes, please understand, to us dog-owners who do pick up our dog’s s— (which I hate doing), nothing bothers me more than when other dog owners escape this responsibility. And while humans can typically navigate through the dog s— on the streets, often our dogs don’t so easily. Picking someone else’s dog’s s— out of my dog’s paws makes me want find the person and stuff it down his throat.
Maybe we need to leave the pitchforks at home guys… Most dog-owners are very responsible, and pets that are responsibly cared for make the neighborhood a much nicer place to live.
The few bad apples should be educated, not be “forced to lick it up.”
Ugh.
@heather I live in a building whose residents frequently let their dogs urinate right outside the door. The stench is awful. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that a doorman is trying to prevent the same from happening in front of his building.
Yes, AEB, wanting to live in a neighborhood that’s not s$#t-stained over every square inch of sidewalk is a sure sign of deep-seated mental disorder.
And Quinn, how does a dog make life nicer for the “neighborhood”? Maybe for the individual who love his or her little turd-dropper. But for the rest of us it’s a lot of barking and other… well, we’ve exhausted that topic, haven’t we?
With the amount of dog poop lining almost every street in our neighborhood, you are foolish to believe there are only a “few bad apples”. In walks around, from the promenade to side streets, we’ve stopped dog owners who don’t pick up and see us watching them not pick… the response to “are you not going to clean up after your dog?” has always been extremely defensive. In fact, two dog owners, just walked on, leaving their poop, while scowling at us. It’s sad and it’s pathetic and it’s beyond disrepectful.
I know someone who I used to work with invented a pooper scooper (the Sooper Scooper, http://www.SooperScooper.com) for his neighbor when he takes his dog for a walk. Looks like this is perfect timing.
weird… my post was removed… i’ll try it again:
So a “A shocked BHB tipster” sends in a photo of a man in strange attire sunbathing in Brooklyn Bridge Park and it makes it into the blog as a full post (http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/18079#comments), but “members of our community” breaking the law, contributing to an unhygienic environment, and displaying extreme levels of disrespect for their neighbors and our neighborhood have their images censored? The man sunbathing didn’t ask to be photographed. He wasn’t doing anything illegal. Maybe he was doing something strange by our community standards, but he didn’t ask to be made into a blog post, and then ridiculed and flamed via the comment section. People that leave waste on our streets and show complete disregard for everyone around them do not deserve a higher level of respect…
The dog has an excuse, the owner doesn’t.
What the dog leaves behind is exactly what some of the people are.
Living in BH for a decade I can tell you the fecal-on-the-floor situation has gotten much worse. Maybe it is just an increase in dog ownership in the neighborhood. Maybe it is an increase in dog walkers (including nannies) that may not feel obligated, to do the pick-up, since they may not live in the neighborhood. Or maybe more people just don’t care about “s#iting on their neighbors”.
I thoroughly enjoy the dogs in the neighborhood and the majority of dog owners (except the few that also let their dogs walk around without a leash as other dogs that pass go absolutely nuts because of it). Kids get excited about them, people point and smile at the extra cute ones, and many visitors to our neighborhood get an enhanced vibe of the environment. But… numerous times I have approached dog owners/walkers that have left their dog’s little prize in the middle of the street or on the promenade (particularly reprehensible). It has almost always been met with very abrasive posturing no matter how I’ve broached the subject. You have the other phenomenon of the “pretending-to-look-at-the-phone-while-quickly-glancing-around-using-my-peripheral-vision-to-check-whether-anyone-is-watching-me-and-then-walk-away”. This has been met almost every time with a lackluster and over-dramatic performance of “I didn’t notice” or “oh, she/he went?!” Pretty sad to watch adults put on a performance instead of acting appropriately. Even more sad when those doing bad to a community get special treatment. Let’s make fun of a strange guy, or someone walking a dog while biking/scootering, but not those that are doing something extra “crappy” (and illegal) to all of us.
What’s wrong with giving these people the option to do the right thing or be shamed by having their pictures posted online? I feel uncomfortable speaking up in many situations with strangers, but this weekend I watched a dog owner walk away from a disturbingly large pile of ‘gold’ and was moved to say something which, not surprisingly, was met with only a blank look as the owner strode off. It occurred to me (too late) that I should have pulled out my cell phone and said something like “Please pick up your poop so I don’t have to take your picture” (or something like that that carried at least a whiff of consequence). Maybe it would have made a difference.
I’m pretty sure that photos of people caught in the act of committing a crime are one thing, but how do you take a photo of someone who is not doing something? Any photo of a dog depositing excrement on a street can’t show whether or not the owner later did or did not pick it up.
Also, any photos of owners would likely violate the law. Go Google “libel” and, if you’re mentioning names, Google “slander”. Homer doesn’t need any lawsuits, thank you very much.
Mr. Porter, if photographs won’t do, perhaps short vids (including the walk-away) would be acceptable? Truth defends against libel.
I’d think Homer just doesn’t want to be a jackass like many of the commenters here.
If only people would get this upset about that awful last episode of LOST.
I guess this matter is getting we Americans (at least we Brooklyn Heights folks) to become a bit more concerned about how “dis’ nation of ours is goin’ down hill.” If only a larger percentage of we citizens and taxpayers would care that much about Washington goings-on.
Too bad Divine is no longer around to handle this problem. As both a dog owner, and a home owner, I do happen to find it infuriating that some people just blatently violate the law. And please don’t tell me that you didn’t know there was such a law on the books…do you think your fellow dog-walkers are simply doing it as a courtesy? And whle peeing is not illegal, it would also be nice if you’d not let your dog water my flower bed with uric acid. It doesn;t do much for my daffodils.
Ultimately, there is no excuse for the behavior. But if you just can’t muster the energy, responsibility and common courtesy to keep your dog pooping off the sidewalk and pick up after, then PLEASE just do it on the sidewalk in front of your own home. That would work for me.