I believe the Peak National Park and Forestry Commission ask you to flick poo out of the way. One of my local FC woods does not provide a single bin for either litter or dog poo. They provide a "dog loop" where dogs can poo freely in the hope they'll get it out of their system before they enter the main wood.

Yeaah a friend of mine who is a trainer for the KCGDCS said the same to me - it saves council's having to go out and clean the bins apparently

But this wasn't for the countryside - Why is there a fine for not picking up poo then? And isn't that one of the jobs council's get paid to do - empty bins?

Yes I do, case of having to, I live slap bang in the middle of them, in what is termed as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (apart from the dog c*ap of course ), and it would just be nice that people respected the fact that people like to take their kids up there too, they run around all over the place, into the long grass, they fall over, and what do they fall into??!!! Everybody who lives and walks here is getting totally fed up with it, but why should I drive 20 miles to get OFF the South Downs just to walk the dogs twice a day! We don't do "parks" when we've got miles of countryside to walk through. No matter where I go off the beaten track it appears I will always be surrounded by it, bain of my life! There is no other offensive c*ap quite like dog sh*t imo! I can pick up horse poo with bare hands, but dog sh*t, never in a million years thanks!

If it's so biodegradable, we'll be having the mum's emptying their nappies up there next then won't we??!! Afterall, it's soooooo much better than stuffing it in a bag and putting it in the bin to save the planet!

I for one, will continue to bag it and bin it along with everyone else I know who has to walk through it all every day who actually lives in the vicinity! One day, they might actually get somebody to uphold these laws they've taken the trouble to instil, i.e. that everybody has to pick it up ON PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY wherever that may be! Those are what I use, I don't walk off them nor do my dogs, it's called trespassing.

It is actually illegal - but who's going to enforce it? It is a fair old time ago, and I cannot remember what i did about it, but knowing me I wouldn't have taken it lying down!

Poo on command? Hmm, my 2 would never be that co-operative! It seems to be a wolfy thing though that they are very clean - all the ones I've had anything to do with have always backed their bums into the hedge, although occasionally we have a slap bang in the middle of the path accident, when I then flick it away into the canal or the hedge.

Where do you live that takes you 20 miles to get off the Downs? I live slap bang at the bottom of them and have plenty of places to walk that don't involve the South Downs Way.

Enforcing laws about picking up dog mess rurally won't ever happen, simply because it is unenforceable.

Plastic bags take hundreds of years to biodegrade. Dog poo left rurally in a place where it is highly unlikely to be trod on will break down in a couple of weeks. Use of less plastic bags can surely be a good thing.

As for children straying off paths/trails and into long grass & consequently treading in sh*t, to put it bluntly, that is their problem. If you are off the beaten track, in long grass where you can't see were you are treading, odds are you might tread in something nasty - isn't that just common sense? when I was a kid, I would be the one getting a slap if I trod in dog sh*t for not looking where I was going.

I live at the foot of Cissbury Hill in a village, and if I head South, I'm into a Town, hardly want to walk there, but I have the beach of course. Anywhere, north, east or West is still the South Downs for me, plenty of lovely places to walk, such as Storrington but again, everywhere you go because Joe Public goes there, you tread in something!

The people who bag it and drop it is getting worse than those people who kick it to the kerb or just leave it where it is quite honestly. I'd much rather see it lying there for the animals to get at, than see a dirty old bag full of c*ap chucked to the side of the path, it doesn't make sense to me

I also have a National Trust area on the top of High Salvington Hill, and they couldn't have a BIGGER notice up there to ask people to pick it up, but do they??? Nah!

I've kind of solved the situation by wearing a glove on my right hand, so that when I pick Zena's ball up and it's covered in c*ap, at least I can wipe it!

I don't quite know why, but i have just fallen about in stitches at your post Helena! I have this lovely image of you with a latex glove on your hand, wiping Zena's ball clean Hyacinth Bouquet style!!

You are funny!!

In the case of the Forestry Commision they have never provided bins, it would be impossible to reach them on most of the trails I walk on at Hamsterley Forest. So I don't think it's a case of saving money in every instance, in some cases it's common sense. In large expanses of countryside it makes far more sense to let it break down naturally as there'll be less of it about due to it being spread over a wider area, unlike in town and city parks where it would be more concentrated due to the larger population, smaller area and more common usage.

I was so angry the other day when I was walking on a footpath through an RSPB reserve and saw full poo bags just chucked into the hedge!!

Why the hell are people so stupid, do they really think it's better to do this, than to just leave it to biodegrade, or heaven forbid find a bin to put it in!!