What to do with the poo?

On the regular morning tromp with the poodle to Duluth's Aerial Lift Bridge and back, I couldn't help but notice this little crop circle laid down on the sandy Park Point beach. Some dog walker had VERY CAREFULLY bagged up their dog's do, set it down on the beach, and drawn a two-foot circle around it. They must have kept on walking...and forgotten the poop bag.

Hats off to the artistic walker for at least bagging the stuff. 

Park Point is a popular dog-walking area, so we get a lot of poochies, many of them off-leash. Some dog owners seem to think that if their dog is off-leash, they don't have to worry about picking up poop. With what could be called an "extended January thaw," we are already seeing piles of abandoned excrement emerging from the thin-if-any snowpack. 

 

What a person does about their dog's poop says a lot about them, and how they feel about nature and society. Are public parks simply wilderness areas where your dog's excrement belongs just as much as wolf scat? Are you concerned about the impact of your actions on strangers who will follow? Would you drop a beer can on the beach as quickly as you'd leave your dog's poop? Simply, are you responsible for the actions of your dog?

Yeah, it's awkward dangling that bag o'poop as you finish your walk down the public beach. But it's way better than stepping in it, even if it's a total stranger doing the stepping.