"George.com" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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"George.com" wrote in message
...

"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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Reciprocal arrangements - I like that! Here's one: When
dog owners license
their little pets, they should be required to provide a
DNA sample from the
dog, and depost $1000.00 into an escrow account which we
normal people can
draw on when we need to have our carpets cleaned or
replaced because your beasts crapped on our lawns. Now
we're talking personal responsibility!

Don't people take personal responsibility for protecting
their own
carpets by checking their own shoes when they come in from
the garden (for mud, grass, water or oil, as well as dog
dirt). ?

Janet


When I come home from "the outside world", of course I
check my shoes, or more likely, remove them. On my own
property, there is never spilled oil. If I'm gardening and
it's muddy, I adjust my behavior. That's MY choice.

Janet, you're a smart lady. Here's a statement:

"I want to go outside at midnight, wander around my yard,
look at the stars, and see if the moonflowers have opened".

Please tell me what I said in that sentence. It's an
exercise of sorts.


First of all, we're talking about dogs on leashes, with people
attached.
Not strays - they are a separate issue that's easier to deal with.
Onward:

I *do* ask people not to stop their dogs on my grass, and I do so very
politely. Unfortunately, some of them refuse to comply, which simply
baffles
me. Their logic is that the first 8 feet is "public property", which
is
completely untrue. The reality is that the town and the utilities have
permanent easements which allow them to do certain types of
construction
or
maintenance.

As far as fences, two problems: First, you cannot erect a fence within
that
first 8 feet, so that leaves a pretty large area of property
unprotected.
And second, I can't afford a fence, nor should I have to. It's not for
me
to
spend money in order to deal with other peoples' stupid behavioral
problems.

Doug, I will be honest but I am not doing so to antagonise you or
overly
antagonise you, I think you need to chill out a little, smoke some dope
or
whatever and not fixate so much on dog shit. I have clearly stated my
approach to dog ownership and dog walking, it is a responsable
approach.
Other dog owners I know have the same standards, they are reasonable
people.
If you apply a test of reasonableness to my approach to walking mutts I
think it will hold up well.

Expecting people to pay $1,000 into an account for your carpets clearly
is
not reasonable. Either you are taking the **** or you are serious. If
the
former, I give you marks for cheekiness, if the latter then you fail
the
test of reasonableness. The state of your carpets are your
responsibility.
You can remove your shoes, you can buy a mat. You don't blame anyone
else
for your failure to check what you tramp in. Likewise, if you are
clumsy
enough to spill wine on your carpet you don't blame the maker of the
glass
for it being smooth or having a slender stem etc. Your choice, your
responsibility. If my dog did, for some reason, crap on someones lawn I
would take responsibility to remove it. My responsibility.
Responsibilities,
yours and mine.

Reasonable dog owners keep their dogs off peoples property when walking
just
as responsible child owners keep their children out of other peoples
gardens
when walking. I don't know what it is about your situation Doug but my
neighbourhood does not have the problem you describe of people walking
their
dogs on to your front lawn to crap. Dogs certainly crap on the grass
verge
outside my house and my dogs do outside other peoples. The shit, of
course,
gets picked up. However, and an important matter here, you or I or
anyone
else has no right (none whatsoever) to instruct someone not to allow
their
dog to shit on the grass verge. We can tell them to pick up the shit
however. Just as you or I have no ability to tell a parent what their
child
can or can't do when walking along the footpath.

Hope I have outlined that clearly for you.

rob

The bottom line, really, is that when I go out at night to look at the
stars, that's what I want to do. I don't want to have to inspect the
ground
with a flashlight. I want to look up. The statement "I want to look at
the
stars" cannot be interpreted to mean "I want to spend 20 minutes scraping
dog shit off my shoes".

Doug, it may be the case that you want to go outside and look at the stars
without stepping in dog shit. The situationI have outlined above solves
that
problem does it not.

rob



I think we're done here.