Dog Poop Bag Issues Query - Dallas Neighborhood
Posted by woodstock9999@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 40 comments
I am a dog person. I have had a dog all my life since childhood except in college and the past 2 years since our last dog passed away. We live in a typical 1960's neighborhood and recently someone or multiple persons are now putting their rather heavy dog poop bags in our garbage can which is in the alley.
We live on a corner and are not sure if it is is someone who walks their dog(s) up/down the alley to/from their home or someone walking up the alley from the sidewalk and tossing them as our can is the closet to the street. I ted to think the latter as I asked our neighbor who lives in the next house in from the alley and he said he has never had it happen to him.
We have lived here for years and this never happened until the past few months. The bags are often not properly tied, sometimes get stuck in the can on the bottom so are not emptied by sanitation pick-up and they are really stinky which just gets worse as it gets hotter. We have had to power wash the can every couple of weeks which is a pain, time consuming and water waste.
Our pick-up day is Thursday and yesterday I went out about 6pm to put a bag of garbage in the can which was empty except for about 5 bags of poop and the stink opening the lid was awful. If this continues by next Thursday it will be rank.
I taped a note to the top of the can asking to kindly please do not leave poop bags in our trash can but wonder if this will make the issue worse.
I appreciate whoever it is is picking up their poop and not leaving it on a yard or sidewalk or putting in over bulk trash at the curb but why can't they take it with them and put it in their own garbage can when they get home.
In all our years of owning a dog in a few different Dallas neighborhoods that is always what we did. We never even thought of putting the bags in someone else's garbage can. Unfortunately there are no public receptacles nearby.
I know this may elicit a wide range of responses but I am just looking to find a viable solution to this and the best way to address without exacerbating the issue. I was afraid that my "please do not put your poop bags in my trash can" note may make it worse so I took it off. Thanks.
LTOTR@reddit
Putting your can somewhere else until trash day would be the easiest solution.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
unfortunately our gate is not even wide enough and it would be quite unweildly to move it in and out every week.
1130coco@reddit
That is your choice.
soggyballsack@reddit
Pick your poison. Either take it around the corner to your house and bring it out on trash day or put up with the smell. You can put a lock on it but that will just inconvenience you.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
Take our garbage can around the corner to our house? We are on a large corner lot with a front entry garage. Our trash is picked up in the alley. That is hardly a viable solution. But we have ordered a strap and will try that. Perhaps they will get the message.
PomeloPepper@reddit
My neighborhood had a huge, enlightening discussion several years ago about this on NextDoor. I think it was a pretty common thing, and I confess I did it maybe 2-3 times myself when I was pretty far from both my house and a public trash can. It wasn't a real common thing for me to do, but I definitely stopped. Also, now I buy the gargantuan size bags that are easier to carry.
My advice is to get your trash can out of that easily accessed area. But a note like you described should also make it crystal clear. And fwiw, the bags aren't smelly at the time they're being carried. But they're made to biodegrade/micronize. I've noticed the ones in my own trash can get pretty smelly in just a couple of days.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
Thank you.
noncongruent@reddit
Just put a padlock on it, or chain the lid shut.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
don't you think they'd just drop the bags on the ground?
noncongruent@reddit
If yours is the only trashcan within visible walking distance, possibly? Consider putting a camera out there in an obvious location, that'll discourage them since IIRC it's actually illegal to use other people's private trash cans without permission.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
is it really illegal?
noncongruent@reddit
I know, for a fact, it is for dumpsters, it is theft of service.
HolyAssertion@reddit
Your paying for your trash service in your monthly utility bills. You could reason they are stealing the use of the service you are paying for.
Not a hill I would die on.
OddSand7870@reddit
No, they just won’t pick it up in the first place. Either way it won’t be your problem any longer.
1of3musketeers@reddit
Put a camera out there.
Cansum1helpme@reddit
Yep. This is the answer
Cansum1helpme@reddit
LOL put an alarm on your trash can with a 100 decibel siren! Hide the switch somewhere you only know. It’ll scare the shit out of ‘em!!!!! 😁
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
don't you think they'd just drop the bags on the ground?
Cansum1helpme@reddit
If that were the case they’d have already dropped the bags on the ground to begin with.
blucivic1@reddit
No. They're picking it up and putting it in the first available trashcan. If yours is unavailable, they'll move on to the next.
therealradberry@reddit
So, other than a smell when you open the lid of your trash can, this hurts you how?
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
Well aside from the rank smell that intensifies at the temperature rises, bags are often not tied or closed properly, they break, they get stuck they attract bugs, flies, and fleas. A few weeks ago a bag broke and there was poop in the bottom of the can that we had to clean out - not pleasant or easy. We have to power wash the garbage can every few weeks. They are heavy, it is a process to get the hose to the power washer , we are wasting and paying for water.
therealradberry@reddit
Fleas? This ain't real. It's a trash can. They hold trash. There are bigger issues to deal with in life
Hot-Education4582@reddit
Id get a video camera recorder and then post the video of them on nextdoor. You can also try to attach a lock to your trash can, but I think you might have to drill a hole for that.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
I saw a fe won Amazon and I think you do. I ordered a strap type and will try that first.
trying_to_adult_here@reddit
I don’t think a note would make it worse. They may not realize they’re bothering you.
I’ll probably be horribly downvoted, but when I was about 12 years old, I did exactly what someone’s doing to you for a while. I’d walk the dog, and if he pooped I’d pick it up and throw it in the next trash can I passed in the alley, I must have also frequented the can at the end of the alley. In my mind, the trash can was the right place for dog poop and I didn’t think that adding dog poop in with a bunch of other garbage was any kind of problem.
Eventually, the trash can’s owner saw me and told me to stop because it stunk. I was mortified and apologized. I only threw the poop out in our garbage can after that. (I still, as an adult, always pick up after my dog and throw it away in an appropriate place.) But I truly hadn’t realized it would bother anybody before they said something.
ApprehensiveAnswer5@reddit
I think that’s the line of thinking for a lot of people, and it’s also something I would have done if someone hadn’t told me not to first, lol.
It wouldn’t have occurred to me that putting something considered waste in a waste bin would be considered disrespectful if it wasn’t my own bin.
trying_to_adult_here@reddit
Yeah, as a kid in my mind garbage cans were sort of magical black holes where you put trash and didn’t have to think of it any more. Eventually the truck picks it up.
It wasn’t until I moved out and went to college that I realized trash gets gross and smells if it sits in the bin too long, and that the outside bins get gross and smelly too depending on what’s in them. I took the trash out to the big can as a kid because my parents wanted it taken out regularly, but that was just an annoying chore my parents made me do. Turns out you take the trash outside regularly for a reason and that chicken breast packages and trimmings in the kitchen garbage stink up the kitchen real quick.
ApprehensiveAnswer5@reddit
Yeah, I think most of us probably had a similar experience with waste!
It was the same for me.
I always did it, even when I was in my own apartment for the first time, on the “schedule” my mom had set.
I probably sound dumb, but it really didn’t click for me about it until that point either.
CheezitsLight@reddit
It's the neighbor. No one carries five bags around on walks. They just don't want their can to stick.
Cameras are cheap. It's trespass.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
Is it really trespassing?
CheezitsLight@reddit
If its on your property, yes. And its illegal to put things in others trash cans in most cities. They pay for it.
aeroluv327@reddit
This is an ongoing conflict in my neighborhood, it seems to be split pretty evenly between people who think it's rude to discard dog poop bags into anyone else's trash and then people who don't think it's a big deal. I'm in the camp of not thinking it's a big deal, as long as the bags are tied of course. My trash can is going to smell, it stays in the alley anyway, when it gets gross I can request for the city to replace it. (For the record, I have a dog but she's other-dog reactive so we don't walk her in the neighborhood, she gets her exercise and does her business in our backyard.)
I think it's reasonable to put a note above the trash can not to discard dog waste in the trash cans, I think most people would respect that. (You could even add that you have surveillance cameras, even if you don't, people tend to follow rules better when they think they're being monitored.) If for some reason, it gets worse, you might have to lock your trash can (obviously unlock it for trash day) or start keeping it in your garage and putting it out on trash day. Not ideal, but might be the only way to completely avoid it.
woodstock9999@reddit (OP)
I think we may try the straps and see if the person(s) gets the message. We have front garage or I would keep can in the garage. It's been pretty gross lately and with summer coming will only get worse.
aeroluv327@reddit
Good luck!
upperdeckerdad@reddit
At least your neighbors pick it up. I once watched my neighbor try to hide her dog’s poop by covering it with handfuls of grass lol. You do have a valid annoyance. I would take an old cctv camera (unplugged) and mount it directly above the trash bin.
omar_strollin@reddit
I don’t think you need to justify how much you love dogs to feel okay complaining about this. The dog isn’t throwing its shit in your trash pan.
Bad dog owners absolutely suck.
notamyokay@reddit
I can see where this would be annoying. You could always put paper bags at the bottom to keep things from sticking. Unfortunately, I do think a sign will either embarrass someone into compliance, or more likely, make it worse.
Joy_1990_@reddit
That’s what I would do, but I sympathize with the smell worry.
Sweaty-Blueberry140@reddit
Corner dweller here. I just tip the can over during the week (laying on its side with the handle/hinge side facing up). On trash day I pull it up, put my trash in and then tip it over again after the trash truck goes by. The people who are too lazy to carry their poop bags home are also too lazy to set the can up as they walk by.
I also considered a strap like this https://a.co/d/065UjGDF