Dogs

I like dogs and there are a lot of them along towpaths and on boats, most friendly and amusing. But we are getting more and more fed up with (some of) their owners' attitude to their poo. Throwing a rope over bollards on locksides and then discovering it has swung through a pile of fresh muck is quite horrific. I have stepped off the boat into it on numerous occasions Too. But the worst habit we have found is those supposedly responsible owners who pick up their pet's mess, carefully tie it inside a plastic bag and then throw it in the hedgerow!? The hedges and trees are adorned with little bags swinging in the breeze. What on earth are these people thinking? We would far rather they dragged their mutts off the path under the hedgerows, where no one need tread, let them poo where it will naturally degrade and not contaminate anyone.

We watched a boater (no licence on his boat, by the way) walk his large dog a short way up the path, let it poo and then kick the pile into the canal........just as disgusting when you think ropes and people can fall in.

There are posters along the canals stating " there is no such thing as the dog poo fairy" - so true.