Dog Owners, Poop & Smoking

It is easy to misplace blame. You might be disgusted with the snotty attitude of a child, but the correct place for your disappointment should be the ineffective parents. You might be disappointed with an elected official, but you should probably cast your gaze on the citizens of that jurisdiction (voter fraud not withstanding). Finally, I might immediately be annoyed with the general behavior of a dog, but really it is the dog owners who have failed in their responsibility.

This neighborhood has THREE dedicated dog parks. Not one, not two, but three. People – children as well – are not allowed to play in these dog parks; they're exclusively for dogs to run around. They are dedicated dog parks.

This neighborhood also has a park for people; for children. And you'll never guess what happens: people bring their dogs and walk them around to poop and pee. So, the same park where my kids run and play and roll in the grass is where people let their animals defecate. I don't mean that they leave the poop lying there. They grab it with a bag and toss it in the trash. But that's not clean. If my kid pooped on your carpet and I just grabbed it with a paper towel and tossed it in the trash, would that be adequate? Probably not.

It's easy to think, "I hate dogs," but it is really the dog owners who just fail entirely.

This is kind of tangent, but the topic of smoking comes to mind. There probably wouldn't be ubiquitous anti-smoking laws (restaurants, planes, most public places, basically all buildings, etc) if smokers had exercised restraint. And you can see by countless cigarette butts littering intersections, bus stops, parking lots, etc – that they didn't learn anything.