Dear Inconsiderate Dog Owner *rant alert*

On the way to my daughter’s primary school there is only one route that has a pavement all the way there. For obvious reasons the majority of parents take their children this way to keep them safe from passing cars. This pavement is only on one side of the road and runs alongside the churchyard.

There has been an ongoing saga with dog walkers leaving their dogs’ offerings on this pavement and signs all the way along the wall politely request that people clean up after their pets. What has been nice is that during the really cold and snowy weather the instances of dog poop leavings have almost disappeared….

However, this morning in after a milder 24 hours its was noticeable that the dog walkers were back out in force and unfortunately it appears that their dogs have got an excess of poop. On almost the entire stretch of pavement, some 100 yards, there were dog poos left lying in the melting snow. This was forcing all the parents and children to walk down the middle of the road and into the path of vehicles on the road.

A very gallant older gentleman who lives opposite the school went to his house and got some suitable equipment to clear it all up. He shouldn’t have had to do this especially in temperatures that were just above freezing. Responsible dog owners come prepared and it doesn’t take that much effort to scoop the poop and dispose of it hygienically.

I have personal experience of why it is so dangerous to leave dog poo lying around for people to get on themselves. The first was when a boyfriend was playing rugby and got a cut on his eye. The pitch had dog poo on it, which got into the wound. He ended up in isolation at Stoke Mandeville hospital with a potentially life threatening infection that luckily responded to antibiotics.

The second one has had lifelong implications for my daughter. She failed her eye test when she started primary school and when examined at the hospital it turned out her right eye was scarred. This was caused either when I was pregnant or when she was younger by infection from toxiplasmosis. She will have to live with this damage for the rest of her life and cannot see properly from this eye. Because of this she will be prevented from a full choice of jobs as she won’t pass health checks.

So my message to all dog owners is please scoop that poop and stop other children having to live with the consequences of irresponsible people. It doesn’t take long and then you can sleep easy at night.