The only time he ever caught one, he got severely scragged. Has he learned anything from this? You guessed it - no.

Snorri

I have to say that we could do with a lot more dog waste bins in our area - especially the parks and woods. Where I walk Ozzy there is one bin which is always full up with bags - the next one is a good 3miles away. Now, this poses the question that are some people not picking up as they don't want to walk so far carrying a nice smelly poo-bag all the way along a main road in front of everyone?

Also our council has stopped handing free poop-bags out - this really annoyed me as a Council Tax payer it is one of the very few benefits we get! It isn't that you cannot buy them cheaply enough, it is the principle of it - not only are there far too few bins for dog-owners to dispose of their pets waste, but now they are not even providing us with bags either! Grrr!

There was an article in our local paper regarding the whole dog poo issue - and someone had written in having a go at dog owners - so this is my reply to the paper....


I am a dog owner, living in Edinburgh, and my dog is trained not to foul on the pavement, road or pathways. I do not leave the house without more than one plastic bag to collect his toilet, and will always ensure I pick up his fouling, regardless of where it is dropped..

I agree that people who do not collect their dogs toilet should be fined and I applaud the fines collected. However, I fail to see what the Council are spending the money earned from these fines on. Its certainly not more bins or special dog bins. Neither does it appear to be improving our parks. My local park is St Margarets Park, Corstorphine and Union Park, Carricknowe - both parks are of considerable size and both have only 2 normal bins in them. Not enough in my opinion, however what concerns me more is aswell as an increase in dogs dirt there is a ridiculous amount of broken glass and other rubbish littering both parks. The broken glass especially worrying, I have to negotiate my dog round it on a daily basis - If my dog stands in it and requires Veterinary treatment - who foots my bill ( pardon the pun?) Its certainly not the council, yet I pay my council tax and expect my parks to be clean and well kept.

My experience with the dog dirt issue is that many owners who let their dogs off lead and wander around the park infront of their dogs fail to also see their dogs toileting and just continue to walk on ( In my experience it also seems to be the older generation who are pariticularly guilt of this- sorry folks !!) I have been known to approach culprits and advise them that their dog has "dropped something" and they might like to pick it up- this has been met with embarressment, aggression and downright rudeness, however I will continue to do this as they are giving the good dog owners a bad name.

However, what I would like to see are far more bins - in particular the red dog bins, not just in the parks but on our streets as I am afraid I dont agree with letting your dog foul the road either as I dont particularly want to step in it whilst I am crossing the road or stepping out of my car. There are none in my area at all and most of the side streets dont have any kind of bins at all. It is a sad fact but many people will not pocket their litter to bin when they get home they will just drop it if there is no bin to put it in. As far as the dogs dirt is concerned I honestly dont see what the big problem is - yes ok its a bit disgusting picking it up - but its not as disgusting as having to wipe it off your shoe is it ?

So dog owners who dont poop scoop - take a bit of responsibility and get your act together, for the dog owners that do - write to the council and demand more bins. For the selfish people who drop, throw, break glass bottles, juice cartons and other such litter - stop being so selfish and inconsiderate and have a little bit of pride in your surroundings and finally for the council - Dont just come and cut the grass in these parks, come and walk in them and see how much fun it is to negotiate your way round dog dirt, broken glass, plastic juice bottles, beer cans and discarded take aways and then tell me you have enough bins and that Edinburgh is a beautiful city as unfortunately thats not the case in our city parks, or our waterways.

dani

Well written Dani!

I always have bags in my pockes...I actually have 3 different sizes!

Here Here, very well written Dani.
Tracie

many thanks - the big book of moans and groans will be out later this year !! LOL

dani

Which newspaper did you write to Dani?

Aileen x

the evening news so watch out for my fame !!!! LOL
probably wont even get published !!
dani

I wouldn't be surprised if the published it... They'll probably be so excited that someone reads their paper

We get the Gorgie and Darly Gazette. I don't know if you get anything similar in Costorphine because it might be worth writing to that too?

Aileen x

PS it's a wonder the council haven't realised the potential of advertising on the red bins...