Dog shit smells foul because they eat mainly meat; and this also accounts for its superglue-like consistency.

In the wild they would poo away happily and it would all dry up and go back to nature. The problem is that we have so many domesticated dogs that live in areas where it builds up on concrete pavements etc. Too many dogs in the wrong place.

Children are at risk from toxicara - I know a child who lost her sight in one eye from this; then lost the other eye in a conker accident. The children do not have to eat the poo; they just have to put their fingers in their mouths (as toddlers do) after touching grass where a dog has been relieving itself or scudding its bottom along.

I think that dog excrement in parks is quite revolting and a menace to children.

I am no more enamoured of cat poo I have to say!

The argument that good owners do not allow their dogs to foul inappropriately gets us nowhere as not all owners are good owners sadly. We are still left with crappy streets and parks.

Tegan there will be a notice if we have our way. Unfortunately the wheels of LG grind very slowly!

Villem Saks your dog Rocky looks very sweet and very much like one of our late dogs. Unfortunately, I don't suppose his faeces smells as sweet, so a campaign to bag it and dispose of it appropriately would be more in order imo.

I didn't realise there was a £1,000 fine so perhaps our local culprit should be informed of that

Good post, janea Thu 19-Feb-15 16:40:03

There should be a notice rose . To my shame I have to admit that, as a new dog owner living I did exercise my dog on the field where children played. This was a long time ago and I was very naive; a notice would have educated me.

It is an ongoing issue in the village as dog owners take their dogs on to the children's play park to defecate and do not clear it up. There is no fence and no notices. We were told by the Council that even if notices were put there the type of people who took their dogs on to the play area would be the type of people who would ignore the notices.

It is the risk of toxicara canis that worries me as well as the revolting mess and smell.

I am not anti-dog - having been a dog owner in the past - but anti the owners who have no social conscience.

Dogs are carnivores and so their poo is no use for gardens, even if it is eventually absorbed into the soil. You never see people selling dog poo for gardens in the way that they sell horse manure, do you? Horses, cows, rabbits and sheep are vegetarians and even if you step in their poo (not a pleasant experience, of course) you don't get the foul smell and you can wipe it off into the flower bed or the compost heap and it will do some good. I agree with janeainsworth that the problem of dog poo (in my case the picking up of warm heaps rather than the smell alone) is enough to stop me wanting to have a dog. It's nothing like changing a dirty nappy, no matter what some dog lovers say.

I, too, do the same Eloethan but didn't realise I could be fined for it.If I'm in a field or walking down our local lane I will shovel it under a hedge or into a ditch etc and would probably do the same if I was walking in a wood.Anywhere else and it's bagged and binned. What I don't understand is people using dog poo bags and then leaving the bags in the hedgerow . I can't see a problem with the fine being £1,000 though, as it needs to be high to deter people. I used to be our village litter picker for many years and the dog poo problem did decrease, so can only assume the threat of being fined worked. Even as a dog owner and lover I find dog poo absolutely vile.

I would double the fine for people who clear up the mess and then hang it from a convenient tree "to pick up on the way back"knowing full well that they will not return that way. And I would double again for this happening on National Trust land as the dog owners seem to like the Christmas tree vibe of trees festooned with coloured bags of poo left for the volunteers to gather. Or throw them out of reach but still in view. Ugh!

Dog poo doesn't smell at all like human poo.
Personally I find it worse than the smell of vomit, and it's one of the reasons I wouldn't have a dog.
The last paragraph about the comparison between fines for speeding and fines for failing to pick up dog mess is irrelevant, and the reference to the cost of traffic calming measures a non-sequitur. What local parish councils choose to spend their residents' money on is nothing to do with the thoughtlessness of people who don't clean up after their dogs.

I tend to agree with Villem Saks.

I always clear up after our dog if he goes on pavements, grassy footpaths and grassed areas on which people are likely to walk because it is very unpleasant to have to clean dog muck off shoes. In woods and on rough, uncultivated land I don't usually bother.

I do think there is a certain amount of hysteria about the subject and, as the writer points out, it seems ridiculous that a dog owner can theoretically be fined £1,000, which is also the maximum fine for speeding - I think, a far more serious offence.

When I take our dog for a walk in the morning, as well as taking poo bags with me I take a carrier bag to pick up the cigarette packets, lager cans and plastic bottles that people discard on the flowerbeds at the end of our road. I think this general litter is in many ways a much bigger problem because at least dog mess is eventually absorbed into the soil.

If I were Mayor of London I would make it a law that dogs should be on a lead when in the park and only allowed to sh*t on the gravelly paths. There would be a large fenced-off area for them to have a run around.

It's crazy that dogs are allowed to roam and do their business anywhere e.g. in the flower beds and on the lawns where young children toddle and sit.

Even if the owner clears up after the dog, there must still be some residue left on the grass.