curb your dog.

i will begin by saying i'm not much of a dog lover.  there are some exceptions and i can appreciate a dog from afar, but i don't ever see myself being a dog owner.  that being said, i cannot stand those that do not clean up after their four-legged canine friends.  it's part of the responsibility of owning a pet.  i scoop through the two litter boxes that my cats use on a regular basis.  it's my duty as their owner.  likewise, it's your duty to make sure you clean up after your pet in any public area.


note to my neighbors: my parking space is not your dog's private relief station. 
i'm so sick and tired of walking to my car to find urine and/or shit from dogs around my vehicle.  i have made it my personal mission to stop this behavior. 

there are probably four to five dog owners who live in the building behind ours and one or two in our section of our building  who use the alley and surrounding areas for their dogs to relieve themselves.  i understand that in a city where most residents do not have their own lawn space is limited for your dogs to pee and poop.  but i feel that there's a set of common courtesies that comes with all of this. 

my two most important demands are:
1.  do not let your dog relieve him/herself near someone's property (i.e. my car)
2.  do not let your dog relieve him/herself at the end of a walkway (i.e. my back gate)

as i said, i have made it my mission to stop these behaviors.  cue up confrontation number one.  female dog owner is bundled up while waiting for her dog to relieve himself.  i notice dog scurrying around my car, located in my parking space (which i pay for).  dog owner sees me coming.  she subtly calls for her dog and dog runs out of my space and around the alley, still searching for the perfect spot.  fuming inside i build up the courage to say to her, "excuse me, i'm finding a lot of dog crap in my parking spot and it's really disgusting."  she rebuts, "i always clean up after my dog.  i wouldn't want to find that around my car either."  i notice the plastic bag in her hand.  i have nothing left to say. 

the problem doesn't get better at all and now with snow on the ground, i notice all the yellow snow near the front of my car.  seriously.  gross.  i know that it's just dog pee, but why should i be expected to walk around (or deal with) someone else's pet pee?!?! 

and while we're on the subject of pet pee, why would anyone allow their pet to urinate at the end of a gated walkway where half of a building's residents use it as their exit?  laziness and inconsideration for others are the only answers i can come up with.  i have seen puddles of urine at the end of my walkway leading to our back alley.  and now, occasionally, it freezes over.  nasty. 

i'm so infuriated by both of these things.  i think that i'm going to raise my concern to our condo association regarding the urine at the end of the walkway (since it's technically part of the condo property).  as for the situation surround my parking spot, i'm at a little bit of a loss.  i can say something to the owners that i see in the alley.  i've also thought about putting up a sign, which would require the permission of the owner of our spot.  

it seriously makes my blood boil.  do you have any suggestions to help me deal with these things?! 


photo found here.