DOG POOP – BRING ME LUCK (04-June-2021)
Traditions, and
customs are colours of a country, superstition its rainbow. In France there is a superstition that an
accidental left foot stepped into dog poop can bring good luck, quirk-of-fate the
right foot the opposite! A huge
frustration to get the mess off!
Year was 1992 during
my short trip to New York. The
impeccably dressed people, the otherwise clean streets, large and flashy display
signboards, zest for life, impressed me on the streets of Manhattan; the grandiose
civic sense acted as an icing on the cake.
A well-dressed gentleman in an expensive suit walked his big dog on a
shiny leather leash.
Dogs are blessed
in that they ‘go’ under the blue sky or a starry night in the precincts of nature! The Armani-like suit-clad gentleman looked in
the other direction when the dog found its ‘sweet spot’ on the cobbled
pavement. I stood stupefied as I watched
his hand slip out of his pant trousers, his palm covered with a disposable
plastic-like glove. In one swift move,
he picked up the mound with his gloved hand and the next instant pulled the
glove off with the other hand, so it engulfed the subject matter 100% as he nonchalantly
deposited in a designated bin. A happy
end to the story - a blessed dog, a gentleman, and a poop that found its destination
- America’s commitment to cleanliness.
Environmental
Protection Agency EPA, the umbrella organization in USA stated, “The reluctance
of many residents to handle dog waste is the biggest limitation to controlling
pet waste,” and it presents a hurdle. Juxtapose
this with here in India where some walk out of their home with water in a container
for they ‘go’ in the full glory of Mother Nature! We have made significant progress with
respect to reduction in open defecation with toilets built in every rural home,
which offers a new ray of hope.
Back to the story,
dog waste is an environmental pollutant and a major source of water pollution. Mongrels
both domesticated and otherwise mark-off their boundaries to find the
‘sweet-spot.’ Contrary to the thought
that body waste is a good fertilizer, dog poop stands out, literally, with a host
of worms that leads to infection and the visual spectacle is akin to a minefield. Our dog ‘walkers’ have left it to us to
extricate ourselves from these heaps.
Where does that
leave us the non-pet owners who can be animal lovers too? High and dry, with civic authorities in total
apathy and common people intensely in display of uncommon civic sense. Or is it a plot by the dog owners’
association to bring more (good) luck to us like in the French tradition?!
My hope rests in
safe waters; recently I witnessed a transformational scene where a couple who walked
a Siberian Husky in our Bangalore neighbourhood enacted the New York
scene. The male partner picked up the
dog’s excretion with a disposable glove, but I lost sight to follow path to the
endpoint. I was keen to express my
gratitude with a firm handshake; the fact that I did not I presume your
imagination resonates with my rationale!
Où est mon pied
gauche ….as they say in French (Where is my left foot?)! Or could it be the
right foot?!
Having a pet from past 25 years constantly,I have my pleasant and unpleasant memories.Sometimes the Sweet spot varies and they shit bang on the middle of the road😀
ReplyDeleteTrue Anil and even though we don't own one, we are like a foster home for our neighbour's cute dog Myra a Golden Retriever, and so understand your situation. Thank your stars that it is not right middle of your home ;-)
DeleteAppreciate your read and comments
UK is reminiscent of the New York way, dog parents seem to care for their pets more than their own... back home, dog owners want people to get lucky... very rare sight when i saw try the New York trick, only it ended in a nearby bush on NICE road 😀
ReplyDeleteAnanth
Yes Ananth...absolutely right...I drag my left foot to hit an accidental mound. I may have done that but never proved lucky given the mess and the cleaning process ;-(
DeleteAnd you know I walk a lot on the roads...
Thanks for the read and comments...
With our Indian way of always leaving the house or entering a temple with our 'right' foot first, we might not always have a lot of luck on our side 😁🙈
ReplyDeleteGood one pops!
- Pranathi Harihar
Right foot here is a mess and that in itself is bad luck...
DeleteThanks girl... you being a great lover of dogs it's the poop that annoys one and all
Thanks for your read and comments...
I have seen videos of people in the West walking their dogs and carrying a dust pan with garbage bag to clean up their dog's poop. But in India, even in posh Koramangala 3rd Block where a Rajya Sabha MP, Nandan Nilekani and other eminent persons stay, we can't walk on the footpath as there's dog poop waiting to mess your shoes. Difference of culture? Obviously, but more than that, in the West they respect others and the law, even when others aren't looking, shame on us Indians who lack this basic etiquette. Problems like this begin with the hypocritical culture that Indians are brought up in their 🏡, this is where the change must begin and modern-day parents must inculcate a culture in their homes to respect the law and others.
ReplyDeleteTotally in agreement with your comments. There are actually 2 problems: 1 from teh stray dogs and the 2nd one from the dog owners who own big and sometimes exotic breeds. I have nothing against them owning dogs and I too love dogs. But the problem is about pure apathy when the dogs go right in front of neighbours gate and they turn their heads the other way. They can carry sawdust and cover the mess, or at the next level use gloves to pick them up and dispose in designated places.
DeleteWalking on the roads is already hazardous and this adds to our woes....
Thanks for your concern and comments
Real problem explained with a tinge of humour :) typical Prasanna way... I have been on both sides and can vouch for your feelings... We had trained our dog to poop in our compound in a designated place.. it takes some time and effort, but worth it.. walks with the dog would be more of a recreational activity :)
ReplyDeleteMy dog's shit is not for me to clean...it is on the public road and you worry about it.....is what dog owners seem to be conveying. And that is precisely what I set out to say here...
DeleteOf course like you rightly said the humour of left-right foot is to bring a sensitive subject to everyone's attention through this blog.....many friends here who read and comment are owning dogs...and some may like and some may not
Thanks for your read and comments
A very relevant problem of Indian Metros. Only a civic education of pet owners can actually solve this problem. It is also connected with the overall civic sense in the society. With every other corner in the metros used as dustbins, it would be very difficult to ensure picking up poop by pet owners by legal means. Thanks for bringing it out in the blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you guru. But you know everything has to start with the self. We externalize our issues and ask the govt to solve all our problems. And with some previous comments you can tell that this is a real pain on our roads today. Stray is on one side and good breed dogs owned by people walking them on the road and not caring for the hygiene or the upkeep is the other problem.
DeleteThank you friend
Very apt ..civic sense is lacking in many .i always carry couple of small bags when I take my Mutt out
ReplyDeleteGreat thought....civic sense is with us and not an external one....thanks for your read and comments
DeleteMy neighbour's dog got into our home and found the sweet spot in our garden....I was cursing myself for leaving open the gate for a minute. I stll can't get over it...it's 48 hrs now past the incident😂
ReplyDeleteSaviths
Oh you bet....our neighbour's cat does it all the time in our lawn. It is very annoying and irritating too. Decide which foot to take first though ;-)
DeleteThanks for your time....
Its really a good efforts to bringing out such a issue in blog.
ReplyDeleteThanks again...the superstition got me going and that's how this article took shape.
DeleteVery apt. Most of the pet owners lack civic sense. Many in our neighborhood have pets who lack civic sense. They take their dogs for walk early morning and search for the closed door houses and let their dogs shit. Many a times I have fired them.
ReplyDeleteLike I have said in another comment, it is both annoying and irritating. All that person has to do is exercise some common sense....the next time you see that happening you may want to politely ask them to remove it from teh front of the house....
DeleteThanks for your read
Though we are slowly coming out of superstitions, still right foot goes first.
ReplyDeleteRight foot will get us into trouble with dog excretion.....so we have to watch out.....that is if we believe in superstitions and a French one here
DeleteThanks again
True. This happens in Bombay also. Right in front our building gate by stray dogs. We have no control :(.
ReplyDeleteStray dogs is one aspect.....owner owned ones are the worst ones....civic sense is all we ask for so no one is hurt in the process....
DeleteThanks for stopping by
Nice lines - food for thought on Environment Day !!
ReplyDeletePadmashree
We keep celebrating this DAY every year but we have not learnt anything.....the simple things that we can actually follow to the T. Thanks a lot for your note....
DeletePrassi, it is too much to ask for new York behaviour here😬 the same ppl coming Bk to blor will forget what they used to do back in NY😅 nevertheless , locals here also suffering fm what u hv expressed. Not owning the pets but end up cleaning the poop of neighbours pets😅 I’m only happy it is not human’s😬 any comment on this Wil irk the so called per activists😀 also stray dogs fed in front of others house than their own to avoid discomfort ? Learnt to live with this. Blor has upgraded itself but not in thinking & caring for others 😔
ReplyDeleteAll of your comments are very valid dost. Stray dogs is another problem and the activists create hungama as long as they are not disturbed. Right now we have some 12-15 stray dogs on our streets and it is scary since they attack old people and young kids.
DeleteBut I tried to address the dog owners apathy by linking with a French superstition to get teh message across....
Thanks for your read adn comments
Here my neighbours bring there dogs early in the morning for walk. If the dog wants to poop, they will leave there dog outside of our compound where we have little flower plants grown and they will keep there phone on ears as though they were on some call. I fought with many neighbours on this matter.
ReplyDeleteAnother point, when I visited California, USA first time during 2012, I found people were very honest and used to remove their dog poop in plastic bag and dispensing the same in a designated bin. But when I visited again in 2017, lot of things have changed. There also some people used to leave their dogs to do poop on grass grown adjacent to pavement.
Looking the other way....is a common trait among owners as if these dogs don't belong to them. They can carry sawdust to sprinkle or plastic bags to pick up for safe and effective disposal. And dog shit being infested with worms / bacteria that can be harmful is another aspect. And last but not the least when it gets on to the shoes/slippers, we are done ;-(
DeleteThank you and let us continue to tell the owners that what they're doing is wrong...I keep doing teh same....
Funny but nice one
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot
DeletePicking up dogs poop probably must be the least favourite thing for the owners...🙄what if it is runny😝
ReplyDeleteTrue but if the dogs go in front of other houses it has to be the dog owners responsibility. A runny one can be covered with saw dust which they can carry in a small bag.
DeleteThe problem is they dont want to address the problem.....but they are typical hypocrites who will say they keep their house and surroundings clean and hygienic.
Thanks again
Prasanna, Aren't you being too self-centred here? You have chosen to talk only about open defecation by humans and by human's best friends, dogs. What about open defecation by count-less other species that inhabit this planet? Also think of birds, which have the freedom to let themselves go in the majesty of the open skies and spray on unsuspecting poor souls bound to mother earth. Regards - KSM
ReplyDeleteYou may have a point....but what I'm talking about is people who live in houses and the pets they own, As such it is not the dogs that I'm blaming here, but the owners who are filled with apathy. They have to maintain a civic sense when it comes to keeping our roads clean and tidy, instead they are creating hazards....remember the excreta is also hazardous....
DeleteSo to touch on this sensitive topic I used the French superstition...bcos you know as well as others that shit stuck to slippers or shoes is an annoyance and a huge mess to get off...
I dont think self-centred like you have said but probably keeping the topic narrow...
Thanks nevertheless for your time adn comments...appreciate it
People train pet dogs to SIT STAND RUN FETCH and many other tricks. So why not toilet train them ? Dogs are not to be blamed..but dog owners who take them out for walks for this sole purpose. Mess created by street dogs cannot be avoided...but if pet dogs are trained in this problem will be reduced to that extent
ReplyDeleteThank you Rohini...you forgot to leave your name but I could guess since you told me on WA....
DeleteI agree that owners are to be blamed. Better civic sense and also in all aspects make us humans treat our Mother Earth better....but we don't want to.
Thanks for your time adn feedback
C’est bien écrit. I enjoyed reading it Prasanna.
ReplyDeleteMerci Gina... thanks for your French knowledge help on the last line....
DeleteAppreciate your time and comments
Well expressed Prasanna. It's always been a problem in India. I guess people think that there is shit every where...cows, humans, bandicoots etc so they think it's "normal" to leave shit around. As immigration rates are increasing, we can see occasional doggy poops in the west too. I sometimes dispose other doggie poops along with my doggie poop.
ReplyDeleteWell written Prasanna. I hope that this write-up gets on to wider media to increase awareness amongst pet parents!
And you forgot all about the French connection and the superstition....
DeleteThanks yes it's a nuisance given the occurrences on our roads...
Thanks for the read and comments
Wonderful Prasanna. The way episodes jog your memory and you put is across is really nice. Good read!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Usha... for your read and the comments... appreciate it
DeleteThis is indeed a "pet" peeve. I'm yet to understand why most dog owners in India let their canines 'mark their territory' bang in front of someone else's house !
ReplyDeleteA sign on the gate in our neighborhood says "No Parking" and "No Dog Shitting" !
And I hope the French do their civic duty, and not let their neighbors to their 'luck' ;-)
Anu in our Indian setup why do we have a neighbour's house and why do we have public roads and properties? To dump our etcetera/excreta there so we remain clean and tidy. HYPOCRISY at its best display.
DeleteTell your neighbour that dogs can't read boards on their gate, because be prepared the owner is going to cut back saying "I don't know I was on the phone and my dog can't read sign boards!!!"
I would assume the French to be a little more sensible...because at the end of the day, minus the rules, humans are humans around the world.
Thank you very much for your read and comments in spite of your busy travel back to India.