Doggie Dragnet
May 26, 2010 by Kathy McManus
Responsibility has gone to the dogs at the upscale Scarlett Place condominiums in Baltimore, where “dog excrement has been found in the elevators, in the long carpeted hallways, (and) in the common areas,” reports the Baltimore Sun. No resident has owned up to not cleaning up.
“We pay all this money, and we’re walking around stepping in dog poop,” said Steve Frans, a condo board member who proposed hiring a laboratory to identify which of the dozen dogs in the building have owners who won’t stoop to scoop. Under the plan, every dog at Scarlett Place would be swabbed for a DNA sample. Owners would be billed $50 for the test, plus $10 per dog per month to cover the cost of sending found feces to the lab for identification. Residents whose pooches are a forensic match would be fined $500.
“This is something you’d see in some kind of tyrannical nation where you had no rights,” complained the owner of two pugs and a poodle. “Our dogs are like our children…would you want someone coming in swabbing your child’s mouth for DNA?” Another dog owner remarked, “I feel like I’m living in a ‘Seinfeld’ episode.”
“Some people think it’s funny,” said board member Franz. “But you know, this seems to be a reasonable, objective way to say, ‘This is your poop; you’re responsible.’”
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10 Comments
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May 29, 2010 by Eva
I tnink it`s great idea to collect DNA from doogy poo.I am so fed up with people being iresponsible pet owners.It`s digusting to having smell...step in it and not only that it`s a health hazzard for pets as well people and children.Don`t we have enough garbage out there!!
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May 30, 2010 by Robert Dreyfuss
Unfortunately, there are inconsiderate & irresponsible dog owners out there that shouldn't have animals. Please don't blame the dogs. This condo is going a bit too far though. There has to be another way to resolve this issue. Perhaps the CC&R's could be amended to prohibit dog ownership for future residents.
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June 1, 2010 by Bartleby
Don't blame the apartments - blame the people who don't clean up after their animals. If your children left such messes in common areas, I would support such as well.
As far as this being something one would expect from a tyrannical nation, not so. It is by choice that you live in such a condo; you do not have to live there. You can live in a home that has no association whatsoever if you want, but if you live in a compex with an association, they will take steps to make sure that the rules of the association are followed.
Blame the association? Blame the irresponsible dog owners!
-Bartleby
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June 14, 2010 by best registry cleaner
I agree with your Blog and I will be back to check it more in the future so please keep up your work. I love your content & the way that you write. It looks like you’ve been doing this for a while now, how long have you been blogging for?
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June 16, 2010 by registry cleaner
I just confirmed my email subscription! Thanks!
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July 30, 2010 by martha
Dog owners are some of the most selfish and rude people. I should know. I am a dog trainer and owners think they are not obligated to be courteous to others. The only way these people will ever obey a poop scoop law is if they are forced to with financial penalties. Loss of money is the only thing that will get a rude dog owner to keep the dog on a leash, not let it run at large and to pick up after it. Training dogs is a joy but its the owners how make me drink.
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October 23, 2010 by BooNBree
In response to dog owners being some of the rudest people...you know who I think are some of the rudest? Parents of small children. They take them to restaurants where childless people, trying to enjoy a nice quiet meal, are forced to listen to their screaming, whining, chattering, banging of silverware, noise of hand held (babysitting) video games, running up and down the aisles, kicking the back of your booth, the parents contant yelling at them to sit, eat, stop it, etc. making a huge mess for the busboy to clean up! I think they should keep the smoking/non-smoking areas in place, and now call them with children /without children sections! I understand if it is Mickey D's or Chuck E. Cheese, but if I am in a restaurant where there are cloth napkins and the entree costs more than the entire bill for the family of 4 at fast food, I would choose the non-kid section everytime. No, I am not a child hater, I am sick of parents that think EVERYTHING their little brats do is charming, it's only cute to you to have your child blowing bubbles in his soup with his straw, and sucking up individual spaghetti noodles with sound affects. It annoys the rest of us, and usually makes us lose our appetites. If you want to eat at a nice restaurant once in a while, get a sitter and pick up pizza on the way home, let the kids make a mess of YOUR kitchen. Just sayin....
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July 31, 2010 by Reno
So the inevitable happens with pets in a condo setting.
A few years ago we were faced with the same dilemna. Dogs were poo-ing in the long hall ways AND kids were scuffing the walls of the same hall ways, foyer and condo sidewalks and no one would fess up her help to clean it up. SOOO in a board mtg the maintanence fees were raised, personal was added to deal with the animal/playing children issues and now we have a cleaner/maintained enviroment. A dog run was made on the side of the bldg to suffice for the dog owners and condo owners lobbied our state officials/reps for a skate board park nearby. That park will open later this summer 2010. Get involved make things work.
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January 4, 2011 by DIONNE SETTLE
Had,this dog up to date with it shots, and i`m on and fixed income,and if, not how much is the dog.
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November 26, 2011 by Mcskiguy
Talk about my own personal pet peeve!! The most beautiful thing to me is watching my dog run alongside my bike in the woods. It gets ruined coming across pile after pile on my local trail. I cant imagine coming across it on carpets, walkways and common areas. I'll never forget explaining the pooper scooper law to a friend from Stanley, Idaho (pop 42) who found it to be very humorous but I live in Glendale, CA (pop too many) where if you live on top of each other common courtesy should be more important than when in the outback but its not. If it was possible I'd get every dog DNA tested and give a reward to every bag of poop brought in for testing and a corresponding tenfold fine for the dog owner. My son laughs when we stop and get other's piles of poop but it bothers me more to see it and know there are non dog owners and children using trail than actually picking it up. It is a shame that responsible dog owners have to pay an additional price for the DNA testing but there is no reason everyone should have to pay for personnel to clean up poop. I have heard that Shanghai uses a reward system for all kinds of crimes where every individual is part of the community and rewards are paid by the fines, from public dumping to welfare fraud a generous reward system would cut down on the cost of enforcement. Just my thoughts on my pet peeve sorry if I rambled. LOL
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