Day 5: The Anti Dog Shit Campaign
posted by on August 27 at 15:48 PM
Last week a resident of Belltown sent an email to publicintern@thestranger.com asking me to do something about the mountains of dog shit stinking up the sidewalks in his neighborhood. He suggested I come up with an innovative anti-dog shit campaign that would shame people into cleaning up after their pooches.
I didn’t have to walk very far in Belltown before I found my first pile of shit (on Broad Street and 1st). I used a twig to slide the shit on to one of my posters, and left it there on the ground to shame Belltown’s dog owners.
I found more dog poop on Wall Street and 1st next to a tree.
But I only found about 5 piles of dog shit total after walking from Wall Street to Stewart Street (about 10 blocks). That averages out to 1 pile of dog shit for every two blocks. Is that excessive? I don’t know. Perhaps the streets had been cleaned recently? Regardless, the person that wrote spends more time in Belltown than I do, and if there’s a dog poop problem he would know better than I. So I continued with my anti-dog poop campaign.
I wrote out some pleasant letters and slipped them under their windshield wipers to remind Belltown residents to clean up after their dogs.
I placed flyers on all the cars I could because I didn’t want anyone to feel like they were soley responsible for Belltown’s dog shit problem. Touching other people’s cars felt vaguely criminal and my hands were trembling by the time I reached the end of the first block. I also hung flyers on light poles in Belltown….
And I taped one to the snout of a pig on parade.
I noticed some people walking dogs and followed them with my camera, hoping to document some bad behavior and stage an anti-poop intervention. One woman’s dog peed on every bush in the neighborhood but alas, her dog did not poop. Another woman looked like she was going to leave her dog’s poop on the ground but she picked it up with a plastic bag.
As a matter of fact not a single dog walker let their dog’s poop on the street while I was observing. I’m not sure if this was because the dog walkers noticed that I wasn’t actually taking pictures of the Space Needle. Despite my conspicuous behavior no one stopped to talk to me except for a homeless man who scared the shit out of me when he stuck his head out from behind a pole I was flyering. He ended up lecturing me about Sudan and I nodded my head with a mixture of fear and respect.
—Steven Blum
Public Intern
This cracks me up to no end. Keep up the good work, Public Intern!
Look at his cheeks. They're all flush with youthful vigour and hope. Awwww.
Good work, Stevie!
Can you now target the cat owners in Seattle that allow their cats to roam free to pee and poop all over their neighbor's gardens and never seem to realize they should pick up after their pets too?
The Public Intern is soooooooo adorable; i'm just afraid the jaded, vicious queens at the Stranger will eat him alive....
another thought: People has TeenPeople; maybe the Stranger could put out the TeenStranger and capture that very desirable demographic...and Dan could have a treat, getting to interview nubile young journalistas for any open positions...
That woman with the two huge dogs, who presumably lives with them in an APARTMENT, should have them taken away from her. It's animal abuse to keep dogs that large in an apartment.
Uhhhh.....Maybe you didn't observe any dogs shitting on their walks because you weren't looking at DOG shit? Everybody poops...
The size of a dog is not a good determinant of what kind of space they need -- any halfway intelligent dog-adoption agency will tell you that. Some big dogs are low-energy and sleep all day. Some tiny dogs need lots of room to run around and need lots of space (I'm looking at you, Jack Russells).
@Fnarf: Maybe she has a huge condo.
Seriously. Plus, for all you know, that woman walks her large dogs eight times a day. She was out in the middle of the day with them. Lame, fnarf.
As a longtime Belltown resident, I noted that the piles of dog shit really started increasing when the city turned the crack park at 3rd and Bell into a dog park.
Just sayin'.
I'd like an enterprising individual to start selling small paper flags (biodegradable, of course!) with W's picture on them. Civic-minded individuals could then place them on renegade piles of dog poo in order to both beautify the landscape
and raise the public spirit.
Make lemonade out of lemons I always say.
Look at the ACTUAL DOGS in the picture and tell me they are breeds that "lay around and sleep all day". Dogs don't need to be walked on leashes in alleys; they need to run. Big dogs are farm animals.
Fnarf: You are totally wrong. Not all that many large breeds need to run (or would even like to given the chance). My 100-pounder will only half-jog for a hunk of meat. When I let him off leash he walks around casually. Though he's young, his preferred M.O. is to sleep 20 hours out of 24. That's why mastiffs make excellent apartment pets.
There's a sign in Fremont along N 34th about two blocks east of the Fremont Public Library where the person living there asks people not to poop in his front yard and even has plastic bags.
Doesn't seem to work.
You figured out that people from all over town drive to Belltown and park on-street just to let their dogs relieve themselves?
Clever! You'd be surprised how many enterprising journalists overlook this possibility.
Is the intern on J-date? He's super cute and I'd love to take him out to dinner!
@14,
I understand his frustration. I am also fiercely opposed to people pooping on private property, well, unless it's their own I guess.
I heart the Public Intern.
I'm a dog owner and I totally support signs like these - I've chased after people who leave their dog's shit in Volunteer Park with a sweet "oh, are you out of a bag?". People who won't scoop the poop make all dog owners look bad.
I'll disagree with fnarf about the size of the dog/apartment issue, though. My 70 lb dog is a great apartment dog! She likes to run sometimes, but mostly she likes to lie around.
Way back in '94, I lived in a building of studio apartments - my place must have been about 400 square feet, max. My next door neighbor was a guy with 2 HUGE dogs. I used to wonder how he could live in such a small place with them, but it didn't seem to bother any of them. I never heard the dogs make any noise, I think they were happy.
Great job again Public Intern! You really showed some enterprising abilities with the wiping of the poop on the actual sign where it said shit! I can't say that I would have thought of that one myself! Sorry you were scared by the homeless guy. I think for your next assignment you should try to round up mentally ill homeless people (or at least one) and get them into the hospital! Now THAT would be a real challenge! Just say "Hi! I'm an intern for the Stranger and I'd like to offer you some antipsychotic medication!" See how they respond...You probably won't get attacked.
As the owner of Jack Russells I have to totally disagree with fnarf. We have had big dogs that have the run of our property and just lay back and hang out all day quite happily. The little Jack Russells take off, chase everything and are totally high voltage. A dog's personality and breed are better indicators of their optimal activity levels, not size.
On the subject of discarded poop: I had the problem of poop on my lawn twice before leaving a pleasant note to my dear neighbor informing them of how their unsanitary habits would force me to call animal control. They haven't been back :)
Cat Poop and Piss Sucks Too @3:
Are you fucking kidding me?? Have you ever owned a cat...? I'm guessing not, seeing as any cat owner can tell you a cat sure as fuck isn't going on any lease, and no one in their right mind follows the thing around on the off chance it decides to take a crap.
But hey, if you're down with having your neighbors trounce through your rose bushes so you don't have to see unsightly dookie, be my guest. Less fertilizer for you.
Better yet, just buy yourself a pack of coyotes. Problem solved.
Fnarf, I'm a tiny bit disappointed in you. But I will let it pass, because of all the good you do.
Picking up after your dog is the only civilized thing to do.
As a Belltown resident who regularly almost steps in some lazy ignorant fuck's mess, I just have to say THANK YOU.
Hey Steven, do you think you could come to West Seattle and hand out some of those flyers?
Fnarf: I have 2 great danes and you don't need a huge house when all they want to do is sit on your lap, and follow you around.
A noble effort indeed.
Given the Stranger's anti-viaduct bias, perhaps the Public Intern should be given the job of pulling it down?
He'd probably have to apply for a demolition permit from the DPD, first...
If you really wanted to address the problem you should hang those signs on the necks of all the skater punks and homeless teens with their pit bulls. They are the only ones I ever see not picking up their shit. Say what you will about the yuppies, but they don't want their expensive shoes soiled either.
The people who leave their dog's poop on the streets in Belltown (not the human poop which is quite easily distinguished) are not dog park denizens; so please don't blame the park's existence for their piles. Their dogs do not come to the park because they are either not socialized or are evil. I remain convinced that evil owners spawn evil dogs. My dog will only poop in the dog park, which causes problems when we go out of town! At the park I always make sure to pick up after my dog plus 3 other piles: good for the park, good karma for me. We at the dog park are trying to make it a safe clean place, despite virtually no support from the powers that be. Support your local dog park! If we give up on it it will again be a crack park, illuminated at night with the strobe of lighter flames shining off the syringes littering the ground. Every time the dogs dig a new hole, we expect it to be the one where we find the body.
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