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Parcs, if you read the blog you may want to question this urban myth that 'dog poo can cause blindness in children'. It can, I guess, in the same way any of us can get struck by lightning ie. statistically insignificant.

Thank you for the suggestions , Parcs. I will pass them on.

PS CCTV Cameras are not expensive.

amarmai A camera fitted to catch the culprits would be the most effective action--A notice informing of possible prosecution

And MOST importantly educating the culprits (perhaps a sign of some sort)..that dog poo can cause blindness in children

Good luck

A local church , situated on a hill with a road running around the base has a huge dog dirt problem. The church members found that posting the usual bylaw notices re no off leash and pick up dog dirt were ignored. So they spent the money to put up polite pleas to do this all around the circumference of their land. There are also 2 schools on the property whose children need to use the grassy areas. The type of person who ignores all of this and continues to befoul private property used by children is beyond my comprehension. Any insights into this mentality to help me understand will be welcome.

When my children were young we had 4 Guide Dog puppies in succession and then a golden retriever of our own. Guide Dogs are trained to do their business when and where they are told. Even my own dog was so trained. I didnt want poo all over the garden for a start. I trained all of them to use a particular place so that I could easily pick up the solids, put it down the manhole and disinfect the area. You never see a blind person allowing their dog to poo or pee all over the place. Poo bags festooned in trees is disgusting, other litter is bad enough. Why expect other people to clean up after you? My children used to hand me the smallest pieces of their rubbish to take home.

Thank goodness we don't live in a town any more! We never had a dog in town so didn't have this problem.
Just one point (I don't think anyone has mentioned this), if you feed your dog raw their poos are much firmer, more like sheep droppings and easier to dispose of. They don't smell so bad as those sloppy ones, and also good for the dog as it helps to avoid anal gland problems.
There might be exceptions, but heard this from a vet.
They're called crottes here.

We have a lovely path near where we live created from an ex-train track, its is known locally as Dog Sh-- Alley and is avoided by walkers and cyclists for obvious reasons.
I have just been to a lovely park with the grandchildren that has a giant tree near the entrance. A very old beautiful tree jst showing the first signs of spring with its budding leaves ready to offer shelter from the blazing sun (I believe in living in hope or more likely protection from the sudden downpowers of freezing rain...and there nestled in a large hole in the trunk 20 bags of DOG POO!!!! WHAT THE HELL??? And lets just add to this a dog poo bin 2 feet away. I search dog walkers faces as they walk past trying to identify a person who would find this an acceptable behaviour. And they all smile and nodd friendly to me. Is it someones secret vice they cannot control?? I don't know but it is sad, so sad and not very good for my blood pressure as I watch and wait for the culprit so I can run and stuff the damn bags up their coat!!

That's okay. All the gulls will have gone to roost now anyway. It will be hard to tell what colour their heads are.

Those are auras Jen you can tell from the colour what the person or animal is feeling. It sounded pretty browned off to me. But I have to leave the discussion now as I'm going out tonight on the brown town.

Sounds as though it's easier to take photos, and surprise yourself when you enlarge them!

My monocular is not as easily adjustable, and sometimes gives coloured halos round objects, so that would make it even more difficult to tell the black headed gull from the heron when it's flying away from me.

Or not'as the case may be!

I do have a monocular as well, but it's not as powerful as the binoculars. When I am out with the family it means they can use the binoculars.
Unfortunately I was on my own when I saw the heron. Otherwise my son would have been able to tell me it was not a black headed gull.

I have a friend who is blind in one eye. She has a monocular instead of binolculars- says it takes up less space in her handbag and cost less.

Do you really need binoculars then Jen ?

Not colour blind, just blind in one eye, although my husband and I used to argue about blues and greens occasionally. Never about black and brown.

Now if I'd had my binoculars, I would have been able to tell at the time, but I only had a camera.

Whitewave is that the famous tortoise crunching Cairn?

It's easy to mistake a heron for the erroneously named black- headed gull Jen especially if you are colour blind

Tell him to stop reading, whitewave.

Have you asked him what he thinks about stepping in horse manure when you take him out for a walk?

In the days when butchers and bakers delivered by horse drawn cart, my Dad used to rush out with a shovel and collect the manure for the garden.

My Cairn is getting very upset by this discussion. His toilet arrangements are really something he would rather not discuss.

Never had one as far as I know, Anya. It has been suggested that when I had an arrow in my eye which damaged the optic nerve, the olfactory nerve was damaged too. Apparently they are quite close. That was on my fifth birthday. I can taste food okay, but not smell it, which was fortunate when I had a vegetarian cafe.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a photo of what I thought was a black- headed gull flying over the sheep in the field at the back of my house. Imagine my surprise when I enlarged it and discovered it was a heron flying away from me, not the black-headed gull.

Did you lose your sense of smell or have you never had one? I can imagine that lack would be useful in some occupations.