Dog Crap and its impact on the environment (and my Shoes /Tires)

on this note…

my beef is the hikers and bikers who shit in the woods.

well specifically the ones who don't dig a hole and bury it. as my pooch seems to always find those fresh stashes and sadly digs in.

pretty sick.

then he usually looks for poor buggers who have stepped in his shit and apologizes by giving them a big wet dog lick across the face.

My dog is also working to correct this endemic problem, can you spell coprophagy… gag… gotta love those big wet sloppy doggy licks across the chops.

On a more serious note; the amount of dog dirt deposited on the north shore is having a significant impact on surface water quality in the downgradient recieving environment. Streams below dog walking areas can contain as much as 2,000 - 4,000 fecal coliform units per 100 ml. Upgradient stream samples typically contain less than 10 but may peak to 40 CFM/100 ml. The recreation guideline is 200 CFM/100ml above which contact with the surface water body is not recommended and can result in stomach upset and skin rashes.

why don't they just put it in those little plastic bags , so the rain doesn't wash it away .

that's what they do in my 'hood :lol:

God here we go again gettin' all polarized about something. It is common sense that dog walkers or riders pick up after the dog near popular spots. i.e. at trail heads. Dogs inherently poop off the trail. If they poop 4 km in, it's not much of a concern. Get a stick and play a little poop hockey if the turds are too close to the trail. Cover up a mushy mass with dirt leaves rocks or something. Most of those poop bags biodegrade ass they are made from corn starch. I had one turn to flakes in the back of a car. I don't know how old the bag was but the heat of a Moab trip turned it crispy and it crumbled.

Anyone who owns a dog soon learns its poop schedule and most dogs will go soon after they get outside.

my dog eats nothing but organic raw venison on a bed of parasite free lettuce- do i have to pick up his poo?

God here we go again gettin' all polarized about something.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhPMQnWu4[HTML_REMOVED]feature=player_embedded

Now go ride yer bikes.

On a more serious note; the amount of dog dirt deposited on the north shore is having a significant impact on surface water quality in the downgradient recieving environment. Streams below dog walking areas can contain as much as 2,000 - 4,000 fecal coliform units per 100 ml. Upgradient stream samples typically contain less than 10 but may peak to 40 CFM/100 ml. The recreation guideline is 200 CFM/100ml above which contact with the surface water body is not recommended and can result in stomach upset and skin rashes.

That doesn't sound like BS. So there is some basis to this.

The first gate is kind of a crappy place to leave turds with so many people congregating there. Personally, I never gave a shit though. Based on the rainbows I've seen running through the neighborhood gutters, I'd guess that toxic stuff like gas/oil/coolant/paint etc would be the number 1 pollutant, and poop would be number 2 at most.

I find big piles of horse poop in the middle of the trail more annoying

On a more serious note; the amount of dog dirt deposited on the north shore is having a significant impact on surface water quality in the downgradient recieving environment. Streams below dog walking areas can contain as much as 2,000 - 4,000 fecal coliform units per 100 ml. Upgradient stream samples typically contain less than 10 but may peak to 40 CFM/100 ml. The recreation guideline is 200 CFM/100ml above which contact with the surface water body is not recommended and can result in stomach upset and skin rashes.

Thanks for this post KNN, this was the type of Dialogue I was hoping to get into.

As for why I am stepping in it all the time. I stop to stretch my hamstrings, grab a drink and fine tune my saddle height, pro-pedal etc once i get above the gate, I usually do this between the gate and the drinking fountain, and usually on the east side of the road. It seem like me or one of my riding friends almost always hits a pile. either stepping in it or rolling thru it.

I now look carefully before i roll onto the shoulder anywhere near the gate.

i am surprised at the direction this post took, i expected more reaction to the 400 plus shits per week and thought someone would react to the 21,000 craps per year.

As for KNN's stats, there is a major creek right at the gate, and I bet the fecal matter in it is way higher than the other main creeks off that slope.

As for the argument that all animals crap in the woods. I would assume there are lots of small rodents, the occasional raccoon family, a few coyotes, maybe 1 cougar and a small number of bears on the entire south slope, this is a tiny load compared to the concentration of Dogs near the gate. And as stated earlier, their diets are much different than the local wildlife's diet.

E

I find big piles of horse poop in the middle of the trail more annoying

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3DdkcX5o9w

;)

The first gate is kind of a crappy place to leave turds with so many people congregating there. Personally, I never gave a shit though. Based on the rainbows I've seen running through the neighborhood gutters, I'd guess that toxic stuff like gas/oil/coolant/paint etc would be the number 1 pollutant, and poop would be number 2 at most.

It's far more likely that the majority of the dogs taking their dump around there are local home owners who own dogs. I'd guess at least half of this issue is caused by the people of the neighbourhood who have the belief

It pretty much happens every where. it is their woods and can do whatever the hell they want.

I find big piles of horse poop in the middle of the trail more annoying

Horse poop is more of an inconvenience than a danger. Horses diet consists mainly of grass. Leave it on the trail, and it basically becomes dirt again. Unlike the droppings of many other animals.

Plus a big horse pile makes for a cool little hip when they freeze. Drop to flat!

That doesn't sound like BS. So there is some basis to this.

The first gate is kind of a crappy place to leave turds with so many people congregating there. Personally, I never gave a shit though. Based on the rainbows I've seen running through the neighborhood gutters, I'd guess that toxic stuff like gas/oil/coolant/paint etc would be the number 1 pollutant, and poop would be number 2 at most.

I find big piles of horse poop in the middle of the trail more annoying

Yup, unfortunately it's not BS, it's based on lab data I have collected from three north shore streams.

Road run-off also contains a whole host of other pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (combustion by products) oils and fuels and a variety of metals associated with vehicles, such as copper, arsenic, nickel, chromium, lead, manganese, cadmium and zinc from fuel and oil additives, friction materials and tires. Persistent low level impacts associated with storm water run-off is now considered to represent a greater concern to the environment than the more obvious and politically sensitive spills that hit the news paper because they look so bad.

My dog generally sh*ts waaaaaay off trail, usually in the middle of a ride, she'll disappear for a couple of minutes and do her business. I don't bother to pick those ones up. But If she poops near the parking lot, on the trail or at the trail head I'll do a courtesy clean up and toss it in the garbage if available or at a minimum flick it off trail. Common sense.

The people that piss me off are the ones who bag their dog sh*t, then throw the bags in the bush. If you're going to do that, just flick it off the trail with a stick, it'll be gone in a couple of days (In typical BC weather) as opposed to preserving it in a baggie for a couple of months.

Oh yeah, if your dog sh*ts on the beach, pick it up. The next person I see kicking sand over their dog's shit I'm going to lose it. A couple of years ago I found my neice playing with a petrified sandy dog-turd… not cool.