I love all critters. However, if I wanted dog poop in my yard, I'd get a dog.

I'm glad to say that I see rarely see dogs running loose in my neighborhood. The neighbors I see walking their dogs are armed with poop-retrieving materials.

To me, it's mostly a matter of being a good neighbor and the common sense of keeping dogs leashed which is a safety issue.

It's a shame that a few pet owners do not feel the need, or have the respect of their neighbors, to pick up after their pets. I had a similar situation with a neighbor who let her dog out off-leash, then stood and watched as the dog wandered off her property and onto ours to poop. We asked the homeowner, "Lisa", a few times, to pick up after her dog, but she would always blame her kids for allowing the dog out off-leash and not picking up afterwards. It was frustrating because we would see "Lisa" with the dog and knew that she was simply giving us a very lame excuse. We finally changed our landscaping to block their dog from coming onto our property. The poop was then simply left in other public places, or on others' front lawns.

Just the fact that there is now a need for "Poop-Tracking" rather than certain dog owners simply being more responsible, is sad. I'm not sure if those particular dog owners would even agree to having their dogs' DNA tested, but as a last resort, I hope it works.

This is why I live in the Country with a 8 foot Fence,
but the wild Ducks, deer, you name it, we have it. Now this gang, I will clean-up after.....We enjoy them..in the front yard, When, I pick-up, they look at me, as to say; Get a move on, can you see, We are too busy to visit today.Yep, like them more than most people....DNA Control.....get those bad poopers....LOL

I live in the second largest city in Georgia, and in the more than 7 years I've lived here with dogs (now four) I have seen only two people pick up, one of whom I spied from my car as I passed by. Plenty of people walk their dogs in the neighborhood, which is one of the nicest in the city, but our family is the only one with the motto, "No Poop Left Behind." So, you've got one rogue family? Consider yourself lucky. I pick up at least 8 poops a day, about 6 or which are off-territory, and do not understand what the big deal is. It should be AUTOMATIC. The issue of dogs roaming off-leash is a whole 'nuther story and another example of irresponsible and dangerous behavior.

I like your attitude. I have found that letting other people off the hook on a regular basis makes my life so much less stressful. But I do have my limit. DNA testing for serial poop offenders . . . ? well, maybe. But giving some neighborhood 'dog poop police' a cheek swab in advance of a problem is not something I could get behind (pun intended).

It is a cultural thing, as is illustrated by Dr. Coates. If I were the neighborhood "House and Garden" model, I would NOT appreciate dog poop one little bit, and living next door to someone of the 'pickup-truck,"leashes? we don't need no stinkin' leashes!" mindset could be a serious source of stress, certainly. I doubt that there is ever going to be common ground in this extreme culture difference. Rather than arguing, petty poop-kicking or name calling, or worse, trying to pass some kind of new law or regulation based on DNA testing of dog poop, I'd look up existing leash laws in the community, and go from there. Forget the poop, go for the loose dog thing. Most communities have leash laws, but since "Wyoming" is just going to ignore a leash law, give him a financial incentive to at least keep his dogs restrained during daylight hours. Leash laws are municipal tickets, usually, with some kind of limit at which more serious charges come into play. Big fines might change Wyoming's mind. Now to get the police to enforce . . . the PD might be happy to turn over this issue to the HOA anyway, so you are back to the original issue.

I, personally, would refuse the give a DNA sample, just on principle. Don't know how long I could hold out, though, this whole thing could get out of control, with lawyers involved. SIMPLE is better. "House and Garden" should think of the poop as free fertilizer, and send "Wyoming" a thank you card, with some cut flowers so graciously fertilized by the dogs.

This whole argument is really serious, though. I travel with my dogs often, to dog shows, SAR training seminars, hunt tests - people who don't pick up poop at hotels will shoot themselves in the foot, taking one hotel at a time off the "pet friendly" list. Same goes for dog walking areas. My blood pressure goes up when I see dog poop on my favorite walking trails, so in the interest of my own good health, I carry extra bags and pick up "whatever" on the path. I hate to have to do that, but the last thing I want is to be forced to PROVE that my dogs didn't leave poop somewhere, especially since enforcing something like this is terribly expensive, and even worse, ineffective in preventing the problem in the first place.

So, Wyoming is probably right to ignore. I don't blame him.

Sorry, but still think this is funny. Fence your yards. If you have rules you can, go to the Court-House have rules changed......I have Family, that had it done. It will take some work, but cheaper than DNA checking for Dog-Poo....LOL

This would seem funny to me, except I'm on a community association board and the question of "whose poo?" is taken very seriously by our residents - at least the residents who don't have dogs.

DNA testing is expensive, so our lawyers suggest we take pictures of the guilty pooping dog - while it is pooping.
They have told us it does no good to just take pictures of the poop. I wish I owned a house with a fence!

Me too, a fence is a wonderful thing. But many subdivisions won't allow fences, and if they do, there are usually specific rules about placement and design. You can bet that the fence with the maximum cost per foot will be 'suggested'.

A community near me experienced a neighborhood dispute similar to this Wyoming vs Garden Railroad - it was between Neighbor A, long time resident who had been re-habbing greyhounds from the track for many years, short term 'foster' situations, many, many greyhounds. Neighbor B got a little white dog, a Bichon-type, turned it loose every day for 'exercise', but without any training or company, the little dog found the greyhounds next door very willing to chase him along the chain link fence. As you can imagine, this was setting the rehab process back to zero for the greyhounds every day. They were TRAINED to chase a fuzzy white moving 'bunny', pretty good substitute in this little dog, with high pitched barking to up the prey drive through the roof. So Neighbor B put up a wooden privacy fence, spent several thousands of dollars. Neighbor A didn't like the way it looked. She claimed it was 'ugly' and lowered her property value, went to the town council and demanded that Neighbor A take down the fence, that was the only thing she would accept.

The town board of five members had only two members who owned dogs, and guess what type of dog each had . . . yep, Bichon-type fuzzy white ones.

The board decided that the fence could stand, but one of the board members - a dogless one - said "who needs FIVE greyhounds?! FIVE greyhounds in a house is 'animal cruelty'!" So what started out as a fence dispute ended up in a Pet Limit. Skipped right past the 'cruelty' idea, thank goodness, but apparently the number was just beyond the board's comprehension, even without a single complaint for at least 10 years of greyhound re-hab. It took our dog federation a ton of work to rally the dog owners, groomers, vets, pet supply stores, boarding kennels, training clubs, dog day care places to protest the limit with it's hidden restrictions, excemptions. Oh, don't worry, if you want four Chihuahuas you 'only' need to get a fancier's permit: a multi-million-dollar insurance bond, have 2+ acres of land, impervious floors, zero complaints for the past 100 years . . . well, I exaggerate on that last one. But really, this is how animal activists chip away at our ability to own pets, particularly dogs, the 'crisis du jour' being preventing 'hoarding'.

Eventually this town made their decision, based on actual facts from law enforcement and dog experts, and there is no Pet Limit. Animal issues fall under existing laws relating to noise, roaming, general nuisance complaints, smell, dangerous behavior, and so forth. The town ADVERTISES itself as Dog Friendly, to contrast with the neighboring town, which is 80% rural, yet has a 3-pet limit for dogs/cats. Three total, so you can have two cats, one dog, or three cats, and so forth.

So, the moral of the story is, be careful what you wish for. By complaining about someone else's behavior, you could easily call attention to yourself in a way you might wish you hadn't. Trying to punish someone else because their behavior frustrates you is rarely a good idea. Leave it to the proper authorities. If the PD or HOA suggests you get photos of the dogs 'in flagrante', do it, but don't go to the authorities right away, take the photos to the dog owner, show them, and politely ask if they would agree to keep their dog on their own property, please. If they ignore you, then go further.

This is in response to Mariele and others who are maintaining that DNA registration and testing is expensive. It is not. It is quite cheap actually (less than the cost of an annual canine vaccination), and will become cheaper as it becomes more widespread. Such an approach is far, far less burdensome or costly than installing CCTVs (the "solution" that I most often hear people suggest as an answer to the problem) or of hiring extra grounds-staff/cleaners to pick it up. Also, DNA-registering and Poop-analysis puts the costs where they rightly belong: on the dog owners and on the offending dog-owners who don't pick up. Non dog owners derive all of the benefits with no costs.

I live in a neighborhood which I consider to be "sub"-suburbia, and some others consider it "rural."

There's one guy who has a German Shorthair Pointer which he routinely lets run around the neighborhood.

In addition to pooping wherever it wants to, its progress around the neighborhood, with collar tags jingling, also sets off dogs in every home along the way.

I have two GSDs and an Akita mix, and the barking is deafening!

So, pooping is not the only problem with others letting their dogs roam.

This guy with the GSP is quite elderly, and is said to have congestive heart failure ... so why did he get one of the top 3 most energetic dogs known to humankind?? Can't understand it from any angle!

I spoke to him once, and didn't see the dog for a while, but it has resumed again. :-(

It's a sorry state of affairs in our society when it has to resort to DNAing dog poop. But I do sadly understand the need for it if the "guilty parties" are not changing their ways. As a multi-dog owner, their poop is my responsibility, and anyway, my dogs don't belong uninvited in our neighbor's yards. I respect my neighbor's property and I expect them to respect mine.

I'm more concerned about the inevitable results of not picking up after one's dog. No one likes to walk in (or even look at) dog poop. If non-dog people are forced to, pretty soon they will fix it so our dogs won't be welcome anywhere.

I live in a rural area but I have a mega-sized pooper scooper. If I lived in a residential area, I'm sure I'd have to have a decorative fence around my property to avoid unnecessary aggravation. BTW, I live in California.

I think the real issue here is getting at why dog owners are not picking up after their pets, and what we can do to encourage change. Is it that they don't care? Want to spite their neighbors? Or just that they don't see the harm in doing so? There are a lot of environmental implications in pet waste, as run-off into nearby drains can lead to increased pollution in local waterways. Maybe what really needs to be done is 1. talking to those pet owners to get an idea of what they really think, and what might motivate them to change their behaviors, and then 2. creating a program that doesn't punish those who aren't "following the rules," but rather encouraging people to clean up after their pets because they care about the health of their environment, their community, the appearance of their neighborhood...of whatever their interests might be.

At 1st it was, after reading your Blogs...When Rescues, Lose thier chance, for a Life....Now this make me mad..if we are not careful, We will be told how many Pet-Kids we can have...or..Like China they will
tell us how many Kids we can have....This is America, seem like there is too many of our Rights , taken away. This has to stop.....Vote !!!

They sound terribly anal (no pun intended!) I purposely avoid any neighborhood where HOA's exist. However, Neighbor A sounds like a real rear end.....

The DNA requirement is far too intrusive. I agree - would never live in an area with an HOA. Their powers are very great - and far too great in my opinion. Have always thought that if I paid my own mortgage no one could tell me what color to paint my house!

I live next door to a condo with both a management company and an HOA. They don't take care of their landscaping which results in my yard being a mess. HOA's pick and choose their battles; dog poop should be far down on the list of priorities. Yes, people should pick up after their dog; but doing a DNA test? Big brother is watching under the guise of property value concerns.

I live in a complex where all of us who have a dog were mandated to provide our animal's DNA to be obtained by the Complex Mgr. I complied. A week later I witnessed a dog (habitual non cleaning owner) making a "deposit" the Mgr. was notified. The soonest she could get there was the following Monday. She said that the sample had to be "fresh", thus it was unusable! I want my DNA fee back!

Sorry, but I just couldn't stop laughing after reading this.

Oh, the possibilities. Just think, we could catch that human office slob who refuses to flush the john.

Actually, I don't like community beasts pooing in my front yard either. A dog owns me but she won't let me walk her onto other yards to poo.

I designed my own landscape with some of the most wicked cacti you ever saw. If any creature dares crouch, they are in mortal danger of being stabbed to death. Yet, some flagrant fool of a beast squated and did the nasty, right there - an inch from a cactus with 4 inch spikes! Oh well, the best laid plans... how does that go?

I am the Property Manager of Twin Ponds at Nashua. I have been in property management for 20+ years. I invite you to look at our website, www.twinpondsnashua.com. We currently have over 300 dogs on our property and we are virtually clean!!! I have used PooPrints for 2 years now and I believe in it so much that I became a distributor. Residents benefit from the program for SO many reasons. Here are the obvious reasons: My residents enjoy a poo-free environment for their families, no disgusting messes to step in, all for a one time low pet fee. Here are some reasons you may NOT know about: My residents are no longer threatened by the health issues that dog waste causes. Dog owners benefit from being registered in the World Pet Registry which is another way to identify their dog if it were lost or stolen. Eliminating dog waste promotes marketability. Property Owners/HOA's do not pay a DIME for maintaining a clean property or hiring pooper scooper companies. All costs, MINIMAL COSTS, are paid for by the dog owner. I wish everyone reading this could see my property for themselves. Your property could have all the above benefits just by swabbing your dog's cheek with a cotton swab. Seems like a small price to pay for all of those benefits. Sincerely, Deb Logan AKA PROUD PROPERTY MANAGER AND POOPRINTS DISTRIBUTOR

Excellent program! Kudos to you for using this system in a way that makes a positive out of a negative. It also discourages conflict, dispenses with the name calling, the ultimate use of peer pressure, and makes me think of a quote from - was it Ronald Reagan? - "Trust, but verify."

Thank you. I'm very proud of what we do and the community we have created including 300 of our furry friends! People laugh at this program and think it's too expensive just because DNA is involved. From a pet owner's perspective, they are thrilled I only charge $50 for their dog, no monthly fees, no additional security deposit. You're right about the name calling! It takes all the guess work out of everything. I don't have to guess it's Joe Shmoe's dog, I can PROVE it's Joe's dog. For the few residents that don't have pets in my community, they love that they never have to worry about piles left behind. Dog mess infuriates everyone, dog owners, non-dog owners...everyone but the guilty party. Well, now I make the guilty party pay.

It doesn't seem to matter what you do, irresponsible pet owners will always be a problem. We have them walk by the house on leash and stand and wait while the dog poops on our lawn. And then walk away. At the last place we lived our neighbors dog would come over and poop in our yard. One day while both the neighbor and my wife were both out tending to their flower beds, the dog came over and did its thing. My wife calmly picks up a shovel, scoops up the poop and walks across the street to the offending neighbors house and tosses her dogs poop on her yard with the comment, your dog left this at our place so I'm returning it. I still laugh about that. But we didn't have any more problems after that.

It happens in my yard at home too! It's infuriating. I ALWAYS clean up after my girl and take a pride in my lawn. What your wife did is funny! Especially what she said. HAHAHA. The system I use only works in supervised settings such as apartments, HOA's, mobile home parks, etc. I would like nothing more than to see a City use this system. Afterall, they require you have rabies shots, why not require the pet's DNA be on file. Imagine that? You could call it in and the Animal Control officer could actually fine the violator. Technically speaking, this program could generate money for a City. In my community where we use PooPrints, we do make money while keeping the property clean and keeing the pet fees minimal. The extra money goes into buying the "dookie" bags we supply to our tenants. It's a win win win situation.

I am surprised that nobody has brought up the health risks caused by not picking up poop.

Many parasites (hook worm, round worm, heart worm....) spread through eggs/worms eliminated in feces. If an animal is dog with a parasite and their poop is not picked up they are putting other neighborhood dogs at risk. Some worm parasites will live in the soil and are nearly impossible to get rid of. Even dogs on parasite prevention can become infected and reinfected.

It is not always easy to diagnose the symptoms of a parasite. One of my puppy clients was recently diagnosed with a horrible case of round worms. She had been dewormed as a puppy but as she only had one round of dewormer the infection was still present. Her symptoms did not appear until 4/12 months of age... 3 months after she was originally dewormed. Luckily her parents and I are responsible poop scoopers and her poop wasn't left around the neighborhood to infect other dogs.

This is as much of a health issues as a cultural issue. If you live in a dog friendly neighborhood poop scooping needs to be reinforced for the health of all animals (and humans - some parasites can be caught by humans as well as dogs).

Lauren Wojcik
laurensleash.com

I have to correct this... Heartworm is not passed in poop!

Thanks for mentioning this, Lauren.

Dog waste that is left on the ground is not just dangerous for other dogs, but for people as well. One of the wonderful things about being a child is the opportunity to roll around in the grass and get dirty, which means that a lot of dirt ends up on the fingers - which lead to the mouth, nose eyes ... you get the idea. Those same worms that make dogs sick can make their way through a human system, landing in the eye, where it makes its home. The result is blindness and entire loss of the eye. I have personal experience with this in my family.

Fecal matter is toxic. We would not tolerate our human neighbors - or their children - leaving their fecal waste in our yards, and it just as intolerable to have animal waste left in shared areas. Feces is not fertilizer, it is waste. People who are repeat offenders of this, if they can be proven guilty, should be charged under toxic waste and community endangerment laws.

If I catch a neighbor letting his dog poop on my lawn (hard to do), I run right outside and hand him a bag to pick it up. I ALWAYS pick up after my dog, and would have no problem at all having her DNA swabbed at someone else's expense. WE have nothing to hide!