doggie bags

[Jane Austen]

There is a dog park about five miles from me. It is all fields from a farm that is now public land where soccor is played. This is a long way to drive and there are places Duchess can run free nearer to home, but there are dogs for her to run with here and she gets more exercise and socializing than just walking with me.
Doggie poop bags are provided so no one need be unprepared. However there are many who do not pick up after their dogs and it gives the rest of us a bad name. This is just to remind everyone that we have to be responsible in order to enjoy the benefits of using public property.

[darci]

good post.

We have a lot of dogs in our neighbor hood with only a very few owners that carry poop bags on our walks.

[corgimom]

Cindy, their secret is to walk the dog at night - around 10 p.m. when most
people are inside and then they can poop and pee in everyones yard.

I have a neighbor directly behind me that does in home day care. She has
a beagle/poodle mix dog that pees in everyones yard. She will put him on
a leash when he is outside, but not hold onto the leash. Then she proceeds
to entertain her daycare kids, or do yard work and the dog wonders off and
does his duty in everyones yard but their own. Of course, she acts like she
is angry at him when she comes looking for him, but the truth is, she does
this on purpose so her yard does not get burned out. Her husband makes
her take a watering can with her so when the dog does pee in their yard, she
has to "water" it down right away. This is not a dog that I want my Cody to
come in contact with. He is going a bit deaf and blind and she has already
told me that he would "snap" at my dog; hopefully this won't happen in "my
yard" He howls in their house when they are gone or if he is inside, so we are entertained most of the summer by his barking and howling.

Linda

[Shelly]

There will always be people who just let their animals prowl the neighborhood to do their business whereever, and of course coyotes, but anyone who walks their dog and doesn't pick up after them is just rude. They wouldn't want dogs dropping their business all in their yard. And a park that furnishes the bags is a real blessing. No valid excuse for these people. If I saw it happen I'd offer them a bag out of my pocket and ask them to look after their pet. If they open their mouth to you, then just consider the source. The potty bags are fairly expensive in the petshops so what I did was ask the grocery store how much they'd charge for a full roll of the produce bags, and the petshop potty bags can't hold much whereas the produce bags can contain a whole walks' worth. My grocery store charged $5 for the roll and it's lasted the good part of a year and we walk about 3 times a day.

[Cardiguy]

Supermarket plastic bags are what I use (for my dog of course) and I always help myself to a handful to suppliment the bags that my weekly groceries come in.

[Michael Romanos]

We call these things Litter Bags here in NZ. Everyone in our Corgi walking group turns up with Litter Bags. Discerning dog owners in NZ always have these but there are a lot that don't bother and some local councils have got tough laws to sting the pockets of these people - if they catch them or they are reported to them by the public

The city I live in - Upper Hutt - which is only about a 20 minute drive from the capital city of NZ (Wellington), allows dogs the use of all parks as long as the dogs are controllable - on or off the lead - and any dog litter is picked up by the handler. Upper Hutt is overburdened with parks and I have four large parks within a 10 minute walking distance from my house as well as bush/forest reserves and a very lengthy river trail all of which allows Taylor to roam free.

[tandemgal]

removed by T-Gal

[Michael Romanos]

Hi T-Gal
Yes we have too many parks that could be utiliised for sport in Upper Hutt. The local council can't cope with them all so that some are left undeveloped or not brought up to the surface conditions ideal for various summer and winter sports. They are OK for some recreation such as flying kites etc. Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt were at one time the reacreational region for Wellington but we have long ago gone our separate ways with the two Hutts retaining most of their facilities. For example, we have many golf courses in the Hutt Valley - around a dozen with four of them of international class, Upper Hutt has a world class horse (gallops and pacing) and greyhound racecourse and a world class outdoor rifle range and a first class speedway venue. There is a park in Lower Hutt (Frazer) and one in Upper Hutt (Trentham) which are the biggest sporting grounds in the Southern Hemisphere - and another one in Upper Hutt (Maidstone) is not far behind. It's at Maidstone Park where the Upper Hutt dog training centre is located with its own floodlit grounds and club house facilities. That's where Taylor and I go weekly.

I loved your story about the trees and the landscape. I moved to Silverstream just over three years ago because I like the trees and the bush so much and the major view from my house is a tree, bush and bird reserve.

By the way, a doggy bag in NZ is a term for what you could get after having a meal at a restaurant or cafe and asking to take home whatever is left of your meal. The leftovers could be for you or someother person or maybe, the dog at home.

[corgimom]

T-Gal,

I used to live in Nebraska, talk about flat land and not many trees and
lots of "Wind" - I think Wisconsin is a beautiful state, but I dislike cold
weather.

Michael, we say "doggy Bag" here also.

Linda

[Michael Romanos]

Its great if you live in a warm climate with a moderate amount of rain so that the grass is green and the trees grow big and are plentful.
So a hot, sticky climate is out, a desert is out, constant wind is out and cool weather in the summer and cold weather in the winter is out. There are places like this in NZ but not where I live - we have a bit too much wind and it doesn't stay warm enough for lengthy periods in the summer and we can get cold weather in winters. But we don't suffer from extremes. It's the second month of autumn here and it's been one of the warmest and driest Aprils ever in the region I live in. And are we hilly. There are some parts of NZ that are flat but its mostly undulating hills. On my way to and from Taupo last weekend, I passed through a desert area ( the road is called The Desert Road). But this desert consists of miles and miles of tussock - yellowish tussock on dark gold coloured soil - that's our desert - and in the distant, a mountain range with three major mountains that are snow clad in winter. In fact the whole desert area can become snow covered for a while in certain conditions. I stopped in the middle of the desert both ways and let Taylor out for a run, and in the tussock, a light red and white Corgi blended perfectly into the countryside.

Doggy Bags - have you ever asked for one at a restaurant eg taken home a half eaten meal or some left over scraps for the dog?

[corgimom]

Michael,

yes, in the restaurants, we ask for a "doggy bag" to take leftovers home and
I have done that.

By the way, I went down just 1/2 mile from us yesterday for a walk with
Cody to a new park and wouldn't you know there was a "no dogs allowed
sign" up. I think that is the case with all our public parks here.

Linda

[Chip's Mom]

We are fortunate that in East TN there are many walking trails where you can take your leashed pet - People would utilize these more if they had more areas.

[Chip's Mom]

Michael

Do you have poisonous snakes in your desert area?

[ChloeLouise]

Our newspaper arrives in a nice, deep plastic bag - so when we go out the door in the morning with Chloe we just remove the paper, pocket the bag and keep walking! Otherwise we use produce bags or grocery bags for the rest of the day's walks. Our Dollar Store sells boxes of "poop" bags - 50 bags for $1 - but they are rather thin and don't always accomodate a full walk!!

I am always amazed that in this city neighborhood so many people are rude about walking their dogs and do not faithfully "scoop". Thankfully, we have a leash law, so all dogs must be fenced or leashed - rarely are there dogs loose roaming about.

[corgimom]

Chloe Louise,

We have leash laws here also, there are certain people in our neighborhood
who always seem to walk their dogs late at night to do their duty and the
mailbox area always seems to be a favorite to find surprises the next day -
and we have all big dogs, so much bigger surprises.

Linda