GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Grass to garden -- what's the best approach?

JoeSpareBedroom · 03-03-2007, 12:35 PM posted to rec.gardens

wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
"Jen" wrote in message
...

When babies start walking and investigating everything in the house,
most
people put safety locks on cabinets containing anything that could
hurt a
baby. Assuming the home did NOT have these safety locks in place
before
the baby, would you agree that their appearance is related to the
presence of the new baby?

Not the babies fault if there isn't.

The point is this, Jen: The parent installs the locks because they
address
one of the requirements for being a good parent: Keeping the baby from
harm.
Therefore, the parent's behavior has changed because of the presence of
the
baby.

The dog owner's behavior changes because of the dog, too. The dog needs
exercise. The dog needs "bathrooms". If the dog didn't exist, the problem
with their waste products would not exist.

Now, before you respond as I know you want to, consider this: All urban
and
suburban areas have laws regarding what types of animals we can have on
our
property. Why?

This discussion comes up now and
then in rec.gardens. Nothing is ever resolved. Have you actually
asked this person not to allow their dog to pee on your plants? If
so, what did that person say?

One obeyed, and remained friendly. Two said that the first X feet of
property belongs to the public, which is not true (according to our
town
justice), and continued to argue. All three were asked politely, in
the
exact same way.

So why are you blaming dog owners. Why not just blame this "person"?

Because of an erroneous group of words: "I'm a good dog owner". Even the
"good" ones walk around causing problems. We have a couple of strays
here.
Guess where they sniff around to take a dump? Exactly where the "good"
dog
owners cleaned up after their pets. So, the "good" people are setting up
their neighbors for more annoyances.

When these little inconveniences prop up for me I think about the
thousand people who just died all over the world from either
starvation, not a drop of water, or HIV AIDS. I think of the child
in
Africa who dies alone at the age of five and a huge vulture now has
some food. There are so many more important things in the world and
locally to put energy into.

You could use this logic to justify looking the other way for almost
any
kind of crime. I've got a friend who could remove a picture window
from
your house, intact and undamaged, in under 1/2 hour. Would that be OK
with you? After all, it's not assault or indecent exposure, and it's
certainly not a bad as a child starving in Africa. I just like your
window and I feel like having it, purely on a whim. You wouldn't call
the
police, right?

A dog doesn't purposely pee on your garden because it annoys you. It
doesn't even consciously think about it.

Jen

Does the dog owner leave the house with the dog intentionally, or is the
dog
owner somehow unaware of his/her actions? I think that qualifies as
dementia.

Huh? What a strange idea.

Dog owners knowingly walking the dog down the street, watching it
dump a big pile of shit on the public footpath, and then then
consciously proceeding along? Without even thinking of cleaning
it up?

I'm sure that they don't even know that it happened. And they
cannot be expected to deal with such esoteric ideas. Such as
your personal, idiosyncratic displeasure with the dog shit piles.

Sometimes, they walk for 15 minutes and never realize their dog's crapping
on someone else's lawn. I admit that it's confusing, since houses come in so
many different colors and have different cars in the driveway. One's head
can end up in a swirl of details, impossible to organize. How is one to know
that they've left their own property? Perhaps some sort of electronic
device, you know?