Brooklyn Heights Dog Poop Vigilante Strikes Hicks Street

By on April 30, 2011 4:00 pm in Environment

Two BHB readers sent us photos today of signs posted by a Brooklyn Heights resident outraged by dog poop left in front of 175 Hicks Street.

The Poop Vigilante framed two lumps of feces with two signs.  One reading “Pick up your sh*t or don’t have a dog.”  The other, “What kind of lazy person leaves dog sh*t?”

Yes, this does raise the question of why don’t dog owners/dog walkers clean up after their animals.  Do you think the person who wrote the note is right?  What about leaving the poop on the street and taping notes to the sidewalk?

See the signs (and the poop) after the jump.

One  of our tipsters wrote:

Hopefully this starts a new trend of poop nazis in the hood!

And the other:

We found it very poignant as it calls bold attention to the fact that the problem of dog walkers not cleaning up after their pets has reach epidemic proportions in our neighborhood.

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  • AL

    What ever happened to CURB YOUR DOG? Even when people do pick up their dog’s poop, residue remains. No excuse for letting dog pee on sidewalk for others to walk in, nor on plants and trees, which are harmed by it. When I see this happening, I ask people to curb their dog in future. The usual response, when printable, is what’s the difference whether a dog pees on the sidewalk or in the curb. I then explain that people walk on the sidewalk, not in the curb. Also explain harmful effects of dog urine on plants and trees. Am pleased to say that I have made some converts.

  • KISS

    Dog eliminations shouldn’t be deposited on the sidewalk in the first place. The law requires that you CURB your dog in addition to cleaning up after it. Every time I see a child fall down, or just playing, on the sidewalk, I cringe at the thought of the dog poop and pee residue they’re exposed to.

    Let’s grow up and take responsibility, dog owners. If it’s your dog, the poop is your problem: train your dog to deposit it in the street, bag it, and carry it back home to your trash can.

  • Damn those Dogs

    “Am pleased to say that I have made some converts.”
    Good for you, thanks for your efforts.
    However, this just exemplifies the level of ignorance that many owners have.

  • David on Middagh

    I am not a dog owner, and sympathize with the shoe-scraping crowd (I am one). But I don’t understand how people can “curb their dog” in this neighborhood. When the dog has to go, it just squats and you can only drag it so far, right? And the parked cars are lining the streets, so there is no gutter-space available, right? So…?

  • resident

    Curbing your dog is not the easiest thing in the world. First, you have to try to control where your dog does his or her business, which, good luck. Second, having your dog go in the gutter just isn’t a safe option. Cars fly down our streets all the time, and I’m not going to let my dog do her “poopy dance” in the line of fire.

    My dog likes to go in tree wells, which I know isn’t the best thing in the world for the trees, but they’ve survived for a very long time, I think they will be ok. I only let my dog enter tree wells where there is clearly no effort to make them any nicer than dirt around a tree. All in all, I think of it as an acceptable location, and I always pick up after her. So, Al, if you asked me to curb my dog, you might get a “printable” response from me, but I’d certainly be thinking of an unprintable one, as well.

    The only people I’ve seen not pick up after their dog have been elderly people, which drives me crazy. If you are physically unable to take care of a dog, don’t have one.

  • Anonymouse

    Many times, people have thrown their dog poop into my open garbage can, which is directly under my windows. When it’s warm, the stench is intolerable. I literally have to hold my nose entering and exiting the house, and must keep the windows closed. Yes, I am stupid for having an open garbage can there, and this is something I plan to rectify. Still, you would think people would know not to put STINKY CRAP right under someone’s window and next to their door.

    All that said, I still prefer this to the serial offenses last year, when they would leave logs and piles RIGHT outside my door. Once, I opened the door and narrowly missed putting my foot directly into a pile, bc left put the poop LITERALLY on foot outside my door, right in the middle of the doorway. Almost as if they were TRYING to get me to step into it. THAT, i think anyone will agree, is too much.

  • Anonymouse

    Ooops, that was meant to say:

    “Once, I opened the door and narrowly missed putting my foot directly into a pile, bc they left the poop LITERALLY one foot outside my door, right in the center of the doorway. Almost as if they were TRYING to get me to step into it. THAT, i think anyone will agree, is too much.”

  • bklyn20

    I generally agree with the posts above BUT if I cannot use the rare public can to discard my dog’s little mementos, why shouldn’t all residents have to carry their street trash home? No more of the discarded Frappucino cups in corner cans – let the sticky stuff drip all over your fancy handbag! And as for the used diaper you changed in the Pierrepont Playground bathroom? No city can for you! Tote that scentsational sachet 15 blocks to your home can.

  • gardenia

    yes, dog owners need to curb their dogs!! just because a tree is surrounded by dirt (rather than flowers or grass) doesn;t mean that consistent large doses of dog urine won;t damage it. stop being lazy-train your dog.

  • http://www.alldoghealth.com Sofia

    Dog owner must responsible for their dogs behavior and Dog owners must clean up but how do you know it is dog poop?

  • Mickey

    resident: you’re one of those who is not responsible enough to own a dog. Buy a fish; they crap in their own bowl.

  • PierrepontSkin

    @Mickey, I take offense to that. I’ve lived in this neighborhood my entire life and I have had a dog for the last 14 years. My dog is loving and trustworthy and obedient. However, curbing a dog is not exactly the easiest thing to do, EVEN if they are trained.
    Have you ever seen a dog do his business? He doesn’t sniff out a tree for 5 minutes and then move to the curb. It isn’t that simple. It’s in their nature.
    Yeah, if I see my dog starting to sniff out someone’s stoop, I’ll give him a little pull so he moves to a tree. But don’t call out someone and say they aren’t responsible enough to have a dog because it doesn’t always take a dump by the curb (pardon the expression).

    For the record, I always pick up after my dog. Also, if anyone remembers, I was the one who went vigilante during this past winter when I saw numerous dog walkers look at me with disgust when I called them out on not picking up after their dogs (because they thought that dog poop melts with snow).

  • Hicks St Guy

    general problem in society, unless there’s a cop or authority figure
    around to stop you, the lowlife scum will do whatever they want.
    happens with dog owners, car drivers, mostly everyone.

  • AmyinBH

    Hicks St Guy that is how the saying came about and I paraphrase “True good behvior is not what you do just while people are watching. It is what you do when no one is watching.”

    And, to all the people with excuses about not being able to pick up the poo: My ex used to be able to put a newspaper under a golden retriever in time to catch the falling waste. The dog was very large and as you can imagine so was the poo. Dogs are not as fast as Superman. You can see the signals if you pay attention.

  • resident

    Well, Mickey, I’m sure you NEVER do anything that others would call rude or irresponsible. Glass houses people.

  • nabeguy

    Gotta say, some of these arguments don’t rise above the level of the subject at hand. As a homeowner, I find this particular one especially sanctimonious:
    “My dog likes to go in tree wells, which I know isn’t the best thing in the world for the trees, but they’ve survived for a very long time, I think they will be ok. I only let my dog enter tree wells where there is clearly no effort to make them any nicer than dirt around a tree’

    Now. I’m not exactly a tree-hugger or anything, but given that they’re living organisms, I think they deserve a bit more respect than that, especially since they are less able to express their discomfort than the dogs that are pissing on them .

  • nabeguy

    Gotta say, some of these arguments don’t rise above the level of the subject at hand. As a homeowner, I find this particular one especially sanctimonious:
    “My dog likes to go in tree wells, which I know isn’t the best thing in the world for the trees, but they’ve survived for a very long time, I think they will be ok. I only let my dog enter tree wells where there is clearly no effort to make them any nicer than dirt around a tree’

    Now. I’m not exactly a tree-hugger or anything, but given that they’re living organisms, I think they deserve a bit more respect than that, especially since they are less able to express their discomfort than the dogs that are pissing on them .

  • PierrepontSkin

    I wish I could “like” comments on here.

  • Damn those Dogs

    Me, too. I would “like” Mickey’s post.

  • pooper

    Reading all the comments above I am realizing that I can’t please anyone with walking my dog and will be hated for most of the readers on the blog anyway.

    When I walked my dog this morning I didnt pick up the poop that was left in the middle of the sidewalk. I hid around the corner and watched someone step in it.

    It felt so great. No more biodegradable poop bags to buy. I felt so relieved and free. I imagine this is how it must have felt in the 60’s, rebelling, disobeying the law.

  • carmen

    cute pooper, i’ll start leaving my baby’s poopy diapers on the sidewalk. i guess that’s what neighbors do for eachother.

  • Crapper

    I’m going to move into the dorms on Clark St. and crap out of my window.

  • pooper

    Carmen: And how is that news? Its not as if I havent seen diapers lying around here on the streets. Maybe its time to convert Brooklyn Heights to a Sandals resort, no kids allowed.

  • David on Middagh

    @pooper: Really? I haven’t seen any free diapers lying around, and I’m quite the scavenger.

  • Dog Owner on Henry

    I’m a dog owner, and I agree — if you can’t be bothered to clean up after your dog, don’t bother owning a dog. It’s not just that I hate stepping in your dog’s crap —- but… on a couple occasions, I’ve had to clean MY DOG’S feet because you were too lazy to clean up after your dog. NOT FUN. Stop being a**h*les about it, and clean up after your dog, or don’t own one.

    As for the tree thing….

    I kinda feel like dogs & trees have co-existed in the city… In the country… In this world for a lot longer than you’ve been around. If you are so concerned about the well-being of the trees — why aren’t you advocating for their pruning and upkeep? You wanna talk about stress on the trees — look up. I see all kinds of branches growing every which way, with no care or upkeep, which is what REALLY weakens them.

    You want my dog away from the trees? Make an ACTUAL garden, instead of tacking up a whiny sign and calling it a day. And while I’m on the subject — what’s up with the lame daffodil thing up & down Montague? It is like some weird school science exhibit sponsored by the world daffodil society. It looks like ZERO thought went into planning and combining the daffodils to make an actual garden of different heights and bloom time. Like someone just randomly plopped various daffodil bulbs (all the same variety) in the beds around the trees up and down Montague. And then there’s nothing going on after the daffodils bloom. It looks lazy and thoughtless. But… At least someone is trying, I suppose.

    And, yeah, I do keep my dog out of those beds — because I feel like someone is at least pretending there is a garden there. And if someone is working around in there, I don’t expect that they shold have to deal with my dog’s pee & poop. But I’m not gonna keep my dog away from the trees that don’t have gardens. Sorry.

    I think the trees might actually be a little tougher than some of you give them credit. They’ll survive the dog (and human) urine. They even survive when no one can be bothered to prune and care for them. So…. Instead of wasting time & resources on hanging ugly signs around trees, why not focus your efforts on ACTUALLY gardening? And I mean, really putting some thought into learning about the plant characteristics so you can plan beautiful garden beds that are interesting for a long season.

    Ok. End of sermon. :-)

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