It's not your imagination -- people have spent a lot of time outdoors in the past few years.  You're also not making things up if you think there may be more dogs in your neighborhood.  Both outdoor time and dog adoptions were positive side effects of the pandemic.  But both of them also have their own negative consequences.  In the case of the former, along with the additional foot and bike traffic in the great outdoors, there has been a lot more litter left behind.  In the case of the latter, a different kind of litter has been showing up:  poo!

This is not to say all of the odiferous offerings cropping up in public spaces and yards all over the place are simply the result of neophyte dog owners -- there already were plenty of long-term miscreants who think nothing of dog doo once their pooch is done pooping.  "Walk Away" seems to be their slogan.

Unfortunately, that's not really the way to go, as a current article from the Penn State Cooperative Extension makes clear.  Pet waste can have significant impacts on water quality and, even in less populated places like Central PA where we tend to focus more on animal waste on farms, it can have major impacts on quality of life. We certainly regulate it on the ag side; we need to also attend to more personal sources, too.  What would you say if I told you that the EPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) has long recommended dog owners not only collect their dog's "emissions" but also flush them down the toilet when they get them home?  That does seem to be a tall order, a bridge too far for most.  But at the very least, dog owners should be collecting poop in bags and disposing of it in the trash at home. 

Please do not drop Fido's doo-ings into the nearest trash can you see behind someone else's house or in a public setting either.  The Borough Crew opens residential trash cans and lifts the trashbags out.  Little carefully wrapped poo bombs just linger and fester at the bottom of the barrel. And public trash cans can start to reek pretty quickly if they fill up with pet waste.

Nor is this just a matter of manners; there are Borough Ordinances covering the topic. To wit:

§ 106-17Defecation. It shall be unlawful for any owner of any animal to cause or permit such animal to soil, defile, defecate, urinate or commit any nuisance on any lawn, yard, common thoroughfare, sidewalk, passageway, bypath, play area, park or any other place where people congregate or walk, whether public or private property, other than the property of the owner of such animal or of another who consents prior thereto. A. This section shall not apply to that portion of the street lying between the curblines, which may be used to curb such animal. B. The person who so curbs such animal shall immediately remove all feces deposited by such animal by any sanitary method.

So, to review.  More dogs/more time outside, yay.  More trash/more poop left lying around, boo.  So please remember that when your dog does its doody, it's time for you to do your duty.  In the immortal words of the literary classic, "everyone poops" -- time to learn to deal with it!