Oh crap!

Imagine you are taking a nice afternoon walk along a sidewalk with the sounds and smells of Autumn surrounding you.  You take notice of the sun shining brightly and look up to admire it...and then you feel a terrible "squish" underfoot.  Already knowing what it was, you try to repress the deep anger about to escape in an awful scream.  Sound familiar?  For those of you reading this in the USA, I assume about 95% will say "no" (unless you were in a park or on a yard, which is why I specified walking on the sidewalk).  For those of you reading this in Russia, I assume 50% will say "yes" (plus an additional 45% will say "almost").  Why such a discrepancy?  I believe that there are three primary possibilities for this variance, listed in no particular order.

1. Lack of Responsibility = intentionally leaving your pet's crap on the ground
2. Lack of Common Courtesy = you truly don't care that someone WILL step in that crap
3. Lack of Laws = no system culturally or legally in place to prevent the problem

Have no doubt that it is a problem!  Pet feces left on the ground not only pollutes the area, but can also spread disease!  One terribly simple scenario: pet feces left near a place where young children play.  For more information regarding the seriousness of dog poop, please go here or do your own search.  It's not hard to love a pet, but part of that love necessitates responsibility.

Maybe I have too much faith in the human race, but I find it difficult to think that some people simply think it is a joke or funny, that someone else will have a terrible time due to their actions.  I am not so naive to think that they don't exist, but I prefer to not even give those people the mental energy required to discuss them...they are not even worth the amount of time I've already given them.

I don't claim to know all Russian laws, whatsoever.  However, I am not the dullest knife in the kitchen, so to speak.  I have never noticed, or heard of, any fines for failing to remove pet waste.  In the USA, it is common knowledge that if you do not do so, you could face a fine.  I like to think that people in the USA pick up their pet waste simply as a matter of common courtesy or mutual respect.  Then again, I am not so naive to think that all Americans are so altruistic.  Perhaps it is the threat of financial fees and the paperwork involved, which merely keeps most people in the USA cleaning up after their pets.

However it has become the way it is, it is the way it is.  People in Russia might give a strange look to you, if you take out a plastic bag to pick up your pet's waste...whereas in the USA if you don't do so, someone might be forward enough to say something or even offer you a bag.  I can't change the world, but I can help it be a better place where I live.  Whenever my family takes our dog outside to "take care of business," we always try to remember to take a plastic bag (though my son isn't too fond of doing this).  And yes, people do give a strange look...and I've never once seen another person doing such.  I can't understand why, because the feces can't pass through the plastic bag, and there is always a sink with soap waiting when I get back home.

Perhaps with luck, this post can help create a small mental shift for some...