blairvanhorn

Ah, a well-reasoned argument! By all means, stay home - and don't come visit until the U.S. has taken another look at the Kyoto Protocol!

Seriously, dog poop is a problem in Paris, but it's getting better. People ARE picking up after their dogs, slowly but surely. The city has installed green trash bags on nearly every corner and people are using them - and not just for the dog poop. The first time I visited France I was amazed at how people littered: they would unwrap something and just drop the wrapper on the ground and keep walking. Dogs were simply an extension of that attitude, in my opinion.

But it's getting better - I notice more and more people making comments about other people littering or letting their dogs mess up the sidewalks, and I have seen TWO dog owners in my neighborhood ticketed for not cleaning up after Fifi (not a pretty sight for those of you who think the French are cowards! ).

I've owned a dog for six and one-half years and, being a good American, I have always cleaned up his mess. At first, many people looked at me rather strangely, some gasped, some applauded, but now I notice many more dog owners out on their walks with paper towels and plastic bags.

I remember growing up in the U.S. and the "Keep America Beautiful" campaigns ... things are not always the same here, so yes, I guess we can chalk that up to "cultural differences" - thank goodness they exist, for better or for worse.

For the nitty-gritty on the crottes de chiens:

http://www.paris.fr/fr/environnement...ete/chiens.htm


http://www.paris.fr/fr/Environnement/proprete/Chien.pdf

monahos

I forget how the hapless riders of the vaccuum cleaner equipped motorcycles were called, but that service (subcontracted to a private company) was abolished by the current mayor as not cost-effective.

Fond memory: a former and unliked colleague's first step in Paris was from a taxicab onto a piece of poop

monahos

We expect no less from you, Blair

It certainly feels more natural for the dog than being forced to directly 'use' the plastic bag, as I have seen a number of Japanese city dogs do.

dctorres

canine pollution.....

reason 341 why I love the French language

goldmedallionflyer

The thread exposes the exact reason I carry my rollerboard between the office and hotel whenever I'm working in Paris. The first time I was 'suprised by a notty dog' (well, actually it was my rollerboard that caught the suprise) taught me a lesson I shall not soon forget.

GMF

Spiff

Forget the fine - dog owners who fail to clean up after their friend should have their friend's mess returned to them - air mail.

blairvanhorn

Don't laugh! I live a block away from a Michelin two-star restaurant called the Louis XIII. The owner/chef (formerly the chef at La Tour d'Argent) is well-known in the neighborhood for his bad temper. One morning I was out early walking my dog when I heard loud screaming: one screamer was the chef, who had just thrown some recently deposited dog poo into the face of the second screamer, a hysterical woman whose dog was the culprit. Le plat du jour was not to Madam's satisfaction ...

I kid you not.

Vive la différence!

Redhead

When I used to live in Geneva I did lots of my grocery shopping in France. The border was clearly marked - by dog poo!

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Great music!

YVR Cockroach

I wonder if that 10 tonnes daily figure is just recycled or do the authorities measure it?

ScottC

And knowing the French with an attitude like yours they won't be missing you either

wideman

The figure certainly doesn't seem to be inflated, as it were.

10 tonnes from 200k doggies (and sorry in advance for the US-based weights) is an output of merely 1.7 ounces per dog per day. That's ok, I suppose, for those little creatures that the old ladies carry around in their shopping bags, but no way José for the ones (all too often living in the smallest places on the Ile St-Louis) who look more like Shetland ponies.

Analise

It's not just Paris. Since Michael Bloomberg became the new mayor, there has been less emphasis on quality of life issues like picking up after your dog and thus the police no longer fine those caught leaving without cleaning. So it's just gotten quite disgusting but at least restaurants are now smoke-free.

I miss Rudy.

lisamcgu

HB used to be only one of three beaches in CA to allow a leash-free beach (SD and SF are the other two - there may be more now?)

Anyway, years ago, somebody tried to use the poop on the beach as a political platform (dog owners as evil and needing to be double taxed or ticketed or something) until two days later when the City immediately installed dog bag stands. That was all it took to clean up 90% of the poop and prove that the dog owners weren't evil after all. For the other 10%, self-installed volunteers - and I'm not kidding here - still perch themselves up on a cliff, acting as spotters.

Basically, the unwritten rule goes if your dog poops below the waterline, like so it gets washed away with the next wave, you don't have to pick it up, but if you leave it anywhere else, like you're too good to pick it up, forget the spotters, others will come over and firmly say, "if you need a bag, I have an extra."

Obviously, the key is to train your dog to poop in the waterline. This is not only very nice, but it brings impressive ravs and comments from other dog owners who wish they could be like you.

[This message has been edited by lisamcgu (edited 04-04-2003).]

Sweet Willie

How is the action demeaning?

kcvt750

Quit calling it dog poo. They're Iraqi breath mints.

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