That's not really a surprising comment - quite a few people on this thread have said if their dog poos in the woods inside bushes or undergrowth, they wouldnt see the need to pick it up. Its not *that* likely that a child is gonna jump in the very same spot inside the bush where the poo is gonna be.
If they jumped in the bushes at all that is - or, indeed their parents let them.
They are just as likely - if not more so - to stumble across decaying corpses or rat urine.

I think it good and right that we should clean poo from all public use areas incl woodland tracks, but i dont think many would view it unreasonable to draw the line somewhere.

JMHO

kruse

We clean it up, wherever it is, unless it's a really runny one. As for them sneaking off to do it in private, I don't let the Bonger off lead until she's produced the goods which means that a) it'seasy to clean it up, and b) she gets a treat for having performed

Krusewalker - Why should I not 'allow' my children to play in the woods ??? Why should I not 'allow' them to explore ??? So my children are prohibited from playing in the woods, but your dogs are allowed ???

As for rat urine, it doesn't cause blindness. Find me evidence that rat urine has caused anything to anyone from fields, parks or woodland areas ??

As for corpses, they can be seen and therefore avoided, and again, please give me a link that shows statistics or something of people catching anything in this manner ?

Nicci L - Cats don't stray far to poo, it's a territorial thing. They usually do it in a close neighbours garden. They don't travel to parks, or beaches or woodlands, just to do their business. Besides that, they bury it, Unlike Dogs. I agree that it's difficult with cats, but just because we can't control cats, do we then say "well if cats can do it, lets allow dogs to do it too ?"

It's all about precaution, and although we cant follow cats everywhere because of their independance, we can control the amount of dog poo left about.

My Local Dog Warden gets calls each week reporting dog poo left at our local woodland, where local schools go for walks. She then has to report this and it looks bad on all us dog owners.

In reality, if people insist on refusing to poo pick, even in Woodlands (where people DO go into bushes/off the beaten track), then eventually the dog laws will just get stricter and we will all lose out

Cats travel further than you think to do their business the only property located near my house (as it's pretty remote) is a cottage the occupants don't own cats were both forever picking up Cat Poo from outside, I've watched them doing their buisness smack bang in the middle of our field, so taking into account that theres only my home and a cottage closeby, where are these cats comming from? As the village is quite a few miles away! There's definatley no neighbouring houses to mine, apart from the cottage...

I'm not saying that 'if cats do it, then its okay for dogs to do it' ALL I am trying to point out is Cat Poo is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous than Dog Poo plus as you said, Cats bury it, so I don't know what is more dangerous if its buried you can't see it!

They are probably feral cats Nicci, most likely a colony so thats why you`ll be finding a lot of it.

[QUOTE=Malady;1061873]Krusewalker - Why should I not 'allow' my children to play in the woods ??? Why should I not 'allow' them to explore ??? So my children are prohibited from playing in the woods, but your dogs are allowed ???

I didnt say children shouldnt . In the same vein, are you also saying that dogs cannot explore in the woods?
Not accusing you, just not clear on your point.

As for rat urine, it doesn't cause blindness. Find me evidence that rat urine has caused anything to anyone from fields, parks or woodland areas??

I never mentioned fields or parks, except to agree dog poo should be picked up in them.
True, rat urine doesn't cause blindness, but it does cause Wiles Disease.
I do not have "evidence" of cases of people catching Wiles disease from rat urine in woodland undergrowth or bushes.
But as it is well known and accepted that people have caught Wiles Disease from rat urine in other environments where rats prevail, such as farms and rivers, it is not beyond reasoned assumption to therefore say that the health of children playing in bushes could also have this risk.
To be honest, i wouldnt know where to start to find the research you request, but, equally, I could say can you provide evidence of instances of children whom caught a disease that resulted in blindness from specifically coming into contact with dog faeces left inside *woodland bushes or undergrowth*.

But i wouldnt really expect you to provide this, as dog faeces, rats urine, animal corpses inside bushes or undergrowth are an equal risk to children.
But as I said, it is not unreasonable to say where do you draw the line?
You could take every perfect precaution and practice very detailed hygiene practice to the nth degree, but children (and indeed, adults) could still be at risk from any number of things. You may as well stay indoors.

As for corpses, they can be seen and therefore avoided, and again, please give me a link that shows statistics or something of people catching anything in this manner ?

Decaying or squashed or buried corpses or poo could be seen or not seen equally inside undergrowth or bushes.

If I'm walking in a public place eg, Beach, playing field, park, pavement etc then yes I pick it up. When I walk round the Village I always pick up!

But, once I get outside of the Village and onto the local estate (open land, not housing) I often don't. The lane is above the legal speed limit of which you should clean up after your dog and the land is private. The majority of the time I don't see anyone and even then, like it's already been said, you're trying to dodge the cow poo!

What annoys me is places like Hamsterly Forrest. They insist you clean up after your dog, but don't provide 1 dog bin! I've started buying the eco friendly nappy bags and picking up, then popping the bag behind a hedge.

But here's a scenario. Today I took Isla and Pickles to South Park in Darlington and (as per bl**dy usual!) they decide to poo at exactly the same time! Isla was no problem as she was right next to me, but Pickles is always quite far away and I have to try and "mark" where he's pooed. Not normally a problem, I usually find it eventually! But on this occasion, the grass had just been cut and with the recent rain, had been quite a length beforehand. Once Pickles has pooed, he does the usual "scrat" and of course on this occasion up goes the grass cuttings and bye, bye goes my "mark"! I walked over to the approximate spot where I thought he'd done it, but I didn't have a hope of finding it, so had to leave it. Now, would I get fined for that? How is it my fault that it's rained none stop for a month so the grass is cut long covering my dogs poo????

We just got our first dog and every one of us picks up after her no matter what or where. We all strongly believe it is our responsibility.

Infact the first night we brought her home she did one while my 14 year son was walking her and he discovered to his horror he hadn't picked up the poop bag ~ so he came all the way home and then went back again to pick up as he felt so bad about leaving it.

Where we live there is a shore/coastline plus lots of open green fields and the amount of dog poo not picked up, even on the pavements is unreal. It's a real problem here and it does make for alot of anti-dog feeling amongst the residents of this area, which is sad as it's the owners at fault, not the dogs.

Krusewalker - My issue is not with dogs roaming the woods, my issue is with so-called responsible owners who think that going into the woods means their dog **** is out of the way and therefore leaving it (see above )

Children and dogs explore, when my children explore the woods, I make sure they have nothing in their pockets, that can fall out and either a) cause a nuisance, like rubbish, or b) endanger wildlife.

Many people DON'T have dogs, so in order for us doggy people to gain respect from those non doggy people in higher places, we must respect them, by showing we can be responsible. Rats, dead squirrels etc, that's nature, we cannot control that. We CAN control leaving dog poo wherever that may be, and in my personal opinion, wherever you are, you have a responsibility to pick it up. Regardless of what people say about it being 'out of the way', it DOES get found and it makes us ALL look bad. I'm fed up of being tarred with the same bloody brush to be honest

MALADY:

I'm not going to bother trying to quote your post. Please in future when you're replying directly to me use the multiquote button properly, rather than just sticking your thoughts in my previous quotes!

For your first point:

Because I legally don't have to and for the reason I've already stated. Did you even bother to read the rest of my post?????

Second point:
This is regards to Hamsterly Forrest (who as I've stated DO NOT PROVIDE ANY POO BINS WHATSOEVER!!!!!!). Would you rather I left the poo outside of the childrens play area????? I'm certainly not going to carry dog poo in my pocket for 10+ miles. If they want me to clean up after my dog I will, but they need to provide bins to allow me to deposit it!

And please tell me how eco nappy bags are a danger to wildlife?!?! I've yet to discover a species that seeks out dog poo as a form of food!