Two-Leaf Taco Or Twig Chopsticks? Manage Your Dog Waste Even After Forgetting To Bring Bags

AS councils around the country continue to plead with dog owners who allow their dogs to foul public footpaths to clean up after them, WWN explores other methods of picking up after your pooch for the benefit of your community, even if you’re caught without poop bags to do so.

1) The two-leaf taco

WWN accepts that dog owners can’t possibly be expected to bring dog bags with them every time they put on their shoes and jacket, get their dog’s lead, put in their headphones and lock the door as they set off on a walk with their dog.

Who could possibly think that such things would be necessary? So it’s quite common to be caught without bags when out with your dog. So should the need arise for scooping, try using some leaves or grass or other such foliage to pick up your dog’s mess and at least throw it into a hedge where people won’t walk on it.

‘Not having bags’ isn’t a licence to let your dog shit everywhere, any more than ‘not having brakes’ makes it okay to plough into the back of a parked car.

2) Twig Chopsticks

Again, have a look around and see what there is to hand to help scoop, brush or flick a turd off a footpath and into a hedge. No, a dog pooping on grass isn’t a licence to just walk off – kids play there, and they could get all sorts of nasty diseases because you had a look around, saw that nobody was watching your dog take a dump and just walked on without doing anything to limit the damage it could do.

Hey don’t look at us, we didn’t get a dog without checking on Wikipedia about whether or not they ever need to take a shit.

3) Just do nothing

In truth, if the idea of handling a fresh pup turd from A to B doesn’t appeal to you, then there’s not much that anyone can do to force you.

Dublin City Council admit they’ve issued a mere 27 fines for dog fouling in the last five years, with no fines handed out in 2021 at all. So sure, go ahead and let your dog foul everywhere. Remember, if nobody can stop you from doing something, it’s technically not a crime.