# Trace poop service



## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Some councils are thinking of employing DNA matching of dog mess on our pavements to a database in order to trace owners who don't clean up in problem areas.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north- ... s-30648504

Perhaps they could employ the same technology to those mysteriously full bottles of yellow lemonade seen on the roadside too?

There was a woodland area I used to go walking with my daughter when she was little. We stopped going there because apart from the "wheelchair friendly" path being strewn with dog droppings every few feet which we had to be careful to step over (as especially did wheelchair users who couldn't!), all the trees to the side of the path were decorated with hanging bags of dog poop that had been flung into branches to hang there like Christmas tree decorations - hundreds of them - I couldn't believe it when I first saw it in autumn when leaves fell and realised what it all was that had been revealed. I thought it was some weird art project at first.The whole place had become a dog toilet exhibition area. Some people are disgusting.


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

seems a bit extreme. I think money could be better spent.

what are they going to do, DNA test every dog in the county, dogs are not registered, how will they find ALL the dogs and where the owners live I dont see how they could force you give them your dogs DNA. surely this would needs a change in existing law?

I have 2 dogs and I do clean up after them, but that's because its unpleasant for someone to stand in it, or a kids ball to get covered in it, I think the actual "dangers" associated with dog mess are blown out of proportion. how many people actually caught a disease or fell ill from contact with dog faeces in the last 12 months?

im betting you have more change of getting struck by lightning or winning the euromillions lottery.


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## Shug750S (Feb 6, 2012)

Saw this role advertised on the council website, but it looked like a sh** job so I didn't apply


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

brian1978 said:


> seems a bit extreme. I think money could be better spent.
> 
> what are they going to do, DNA test every dog in the county, dogs are not registered, how will they find ALL the dogs and where the owners live I dont see how they could force you give them your dogs DNA. surely this would needs a change in existing law?
> 
> ...


From NHS:



> *How common is toxocariasis?*
> 
> Toxocariasis is uncommon in the UK, although it's hard to determine exactly how many cases occur every year, as the condition is often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.
> 
> ...


According to this there are about 50 cases per year:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/artic ... EBALL.html


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## Tangerine Knight (Jul 25, 2010)

Braver man than me sticking a cotton bud in a dogs mouth to get its DNA. Saying that if your job was collecting said evidence it would stop you biting your nails


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## YoungOldUn (Apr 12, 2011)

blackpoolfc said:


> Braver man than me sticking a cotton bud in a dogs mouth to get its DNA. Saying that if your job was collecting said evidence it would stop you biting your nails


 :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Listen, I saw a woman on TV who had her little dog attacked by a Rottweiler and to get it off stuck her finger up its bum! It worked - so you don't need to go near the mouth to take DNA :lol: :?

Talking of mouths - apparently in the US it's popular to have "kissing booths" for dogs like this:










Apart from the possibility of contracting diseases from the last time the dog licked wherever, there is the risk of getting mauled and I'm not going to post pictures here but you don't have to look far on Google to see how stupid this idea is.

I'm sure anything going wrong is quite rare but I'd rather not :?


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## Tangerine Knight (Jul 25, 2010)

John-H said:


> Listen, I saw a woman on TV who had her little dog attacked by a Rottweiler and to get it off stuck her finger up its bum! It worked - so you don't need to go near the mouth to take DNA :lol: :?
> 
> Talking of mouths - apparently in the US it's popular to have "kissing booths" for dogs like this:
> 
> ...


Should imagine finger up to the knuckle in the old rusty bullet hole would stop anyone fighting


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

The dog might like it 

As Brian says the actual health risks are relatively low, its the disgusting bit about getting dog poo on your shoes or your kids shoes and then treading it in the car or in the house that's the real problem for most people. But its easier to drive a campaign and get funding on perceived health grounds.

DNA sampling is useless unless you have a database of known dogs to compare the sample to. I suppose its quite practical to build up a DNA database with samples being taken when a dog goes to the vet. However the people who are most likely to be irresponsible to let their dog foul footpaths are also the one's least likely to take their dog to the vet. :roll:


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

Which reminds me ....
A friend came to drop her kids off for school one morning and warned us that there was a large pile of poo on the footpath outside our gates.
Following some general tutting about dogs and poo on the pavement our friend said .... "Mind you I blame the owners".
After a pause I replied "No, I'm pretty sure its the dogs that do it".


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## Bartsimpsonhead (Aug 14, 2011)

This whole thing of bagging up dog poop does make me laugh. Ok, in children's play areas, residential streets and public parks I can see a need for it, but in footpaths adjacent to fields (farmland or fallow), in woodlands or on commons it shouldn't be necessary. Dogs ahave been pooping for thousands of years and we've been relatively ok. Heck, most of our food is grown in fields fertilised with cow poop!

But if it's to be done, why stop at dogs? I'd like to see cats included as well (so I can find out which of the little sh*ts has been crapping in my flower beds) so I can have words with their owners.

And why don't horse riders carry bags and shovels to clean up their horses crap off the roads? That's a hazard too!


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## Jenny H (Aug 25, 2013)

Bartsimpsonhead said:


> This whole thing of bagging up dog poop does make me laugh. Ok, in children's play areas, residential streets and public parks I can see a need for it, but in footpaths adjacent to fields (farmland or fallow), in woodlands or on commons it shouldn't be necessary. Dogs ahave been pooping for thousands of years and we've been relatively ok. Heck, most of our food is grown in fields fertilised with cow poop!
> 
> But if it's to be done, why stop at dogs? I'd like to see cats included as well (so I can find out which of the little sh*ts has been crapping in my flower beds) so I can have words with their owners.
> 
> And why don't horse riders carry bags and shovels to clean up their horses crap off the roads? That's a hazard too!


I agree with the comments about horse crap because I live in the horse sh*t capital of Warwickshire. The lanes round here are covered in it. Drove through a huge pile of it a couple of days ago, couldn't avoid it as something was coming the other way. Had just washed the car and it was plastered in it, all down the side [smiley=bigcry.gif] 
Jenny


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

I'd rather not get dog mess on my boots though. It's a problem when its concentrated onto a footpath by owners with dogs on leads whereas thousands of years ago they were less likely to be taken on recreational walks and would more likely be free to roam working dogs in fields rather than household pets. There are a lot more now too - as there are humans and space is a problem when we are all sharing it. There wouldn't be such a problem if they were taken off the footpath to do it. I agree there is no sense in bagging it and flinging it unless the bags bio degrade. Certainly tree decorations are not attractive :?

Diet is significant. Horse droppings are mainly fermenting grass and don't smell half as bad as putrefying flesh which is why dog and cat droppings smell so bad.


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

John-H said:


> brian1978 said:
> 
> 
> > seems a bit extreme. I think money could be better spent.
> ...


according to the daily mail.... dearie me john

if you read the nhs article

"The Health Protection Agency (HPA) only recorded 30 cases in England and Wales between 2000 and 2010."

its also transmitted by foxes so how many of those 30 are down to dogs is unknown, im more worried about getting hit by a meteorite than catching this from a dog tbh


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## Otley (May 15, 2013)

I deliver to a pub/restaurant on the edge of a glen/moor every Friday around lunch time, have done for the past 2 years. Dozens of dog walkers every time, all got one thing in common... No poop bags, none of them, in all the time I've been there. I have to roll barrels over the grass to gain access to the cellar and have to walk it first to find a clean route. There's a bin in the car park that I dispose of my gloves every week just in case, never any poop bags in there either. Now this is in a VERY posh area and all the dog walkers appear to be locals, well dressed, polite, nice cars etc but they're all happy to just walk away from all the mess created because (I believe anyway) no one else sees it happening. It would be a different story if someone with a dog on a lead was seen fouling at the end of their drive, there'd be uproar. 
Sorry for the rant but it's just [email protected]@dy lazy to just leave it there and I think people that are caught doing it should be named and shamed to let their family, friends and neighbours know what bone idle sods they are.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

brian1978 said:


> according to the daily mail.... dearie me john
> 
> if you read the nhs article
> 
> ...


Well' I did quote both sources on minimal research. The NHS article is a year old with data that's a good few years old and it does say it's sketchy as "many more" people get infected but don't show symptoms or get misdiagnosed. The daily Mail article is two years old and doesn't give its sources.

I've seen other figures quoted by Lancaster city council for Toxocariasis, saying that the last full study was in the 1970's and estimates between 1% to 4% of the population are now infected with 100 cases per year being diagnosed with symptoms with 50 of those children having serious eye damage. http://www.lancaster.gov.uk/dogwardens/foul-subject/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ma ... r-11012044

If only it were as rare as being hit by a meteorite (1 in 20,000,000,000,000).

I can't point you at fully reliable up to date information but this Scottish charity seems to have summarised a few studies and highlights the importance of de-worming twice a year: 
http://www.canineconcernscotland.org.uk ... rvey/c18ml

The main problem is the people who don't de-worm I suppose and cats are a problem too. De-worming should be seen as a human healthcare measure.

The *toxoplasma-gondii * parasite in cat droppings is eaten by rats and after getting into the rats brain alters its behaviour making it attracted to cat urine, then more likely to be caught and eaten by a cat, so completing the cycle. In humans this parasite can form apparently benign cysts in the brain but has been linked to a fifth of Schizophrenia cases and Suicide.

Toxocariasis is only one parasite and there are many other health hazards potentially present such as Whipworms, Hookworms, Roundworms, Tapeworms, Parvo, Corona, Giardiasis, Salmonellosis, Cryptosporidiosis, Campylobacteriosis etc.


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

John-H said:


> brian1978 said:
> 
> 
> > according to the daily mail.... dearie me john
> ...


yea the meteorite was me being sarcastic :lol:

wasn't aware humans could contract parvo, anyhoos all of the above are problems found in dogs, not sure which ones are not species specific and can be passed to humans, and unless you have habit of eating dog $*** I dont think you would be at any real risk. I still say the risks from catching anything from a dog turd are grossly exaggerated.

I think we have bigger things to worry about than wasting a fortune DNA testing dog poop. unless you have a list of all the dogs in the area and have DNA samples for all of them its a waste of time, as pointed out earlier the scrubs who dont pick up after their dogs tend to be the ones who wouldn't register a dog anyway.

Also who are they going to charge with the offence, 5 different people walk my dogs including myself and my wife, the dogs are not registered to anyone in particular.


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## ZephyR2 (Feb 20, 2013)

brian1978 said:


> yea the meteorite was me being sarcastic :lol:


Yeah you say that now but come the moment ..... :lol:



brian1978 said:


> Also who are they going to charge with the offence, 5 different people walk my dogs including myself and my wife, the dogs are not registered to anyone in particular.


They'll make one person the registered keeper and like with speeding fines, if no one else can be implicated the registered keeper gets the fine  
And I guess it the dog becomes too old or infirm to go out you would have to fill in a SORN notification too.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Now that is funny. I guess the police would have a few _leads_ to follow and Brian would get _collared_ :roll:


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

John-H said:


> Now that is funny. I guess the police would have a few _leads_ to follow and Brian would get _collared_ :roll:


Certainly not me, I clean up after my pooches. :roll:

What if your dog has diarrhea, are you supposed to suck it up with a straw?


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Of course I wouldn't have thought anything less - it was the SORN bit that was funny and I couldn't resist joining in. Woof woof!

The runny problem is a difficulty. Hmmm ... not sure how to handle that one. If you'd already declared SORN then they may believe a scrap or export claim or gone into liquidation or something :roll:  .


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30699272


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

A3DFU said:


> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30699272


Dogs are amazing


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

brian1978 said:


> A3DFU said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30699272
> ...


Aren't they just 8)


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