Disc Golfers vs. Dog Poop (especially in Northampton)

[Jeff Kelley]

Hey there fellow discers,
Just wondering if there's a consensus out there on what to do when you see someone walking their dog on the course without picking up after it? This is a particularly widespread problem in Noho, where the course is also heavily used as a dog walking park. Unfortunately, a large number of people seem to think it is a great place to let their pets crap without picking up!

Yesterday I was playing a round- and I had just hung up a ton of small bags at the entrance- when of course, I saw someone letting their dogs go.. So I said 'You know, it would be nice if you would pick up after your dog.' Their response was that the dog was 'off the path'. I then told them that not everyone stays on the path (like disc golfers), and pointed out that my small kids who were just up ahead of me walk all over the place. So that was the end of that conversation.

So let me know your thoughts. Can we post a sign requesting people to use common courtesy? What do you say to someone (any dog owners out there)?

I heard a fellow player say that once he saw someone's dog crap, and he had a baggie himself, so he said that if they weren't going to pick it up, he would. Nice technique- the guilty party did the job.

[Matt Stroika]

I like to follow them back to their house or car and take a big old [bleep] right on the lawn or hood.

Posting signs, supplying bags, and asking them if they are going to pick it up are probably the best courses of action. I have seen this several times at Amesbury and have had a hard time not following up with the first suggestion.

[Karl Molitoris]

Jeff,

A fine topic you've stepped in here! Yes, I also have "succumb to the doo" (having more than 1 disc land in some) while at Northampton. Truly a bummer, but tact may win more than brute force.

I'm guessing that the MAJORITY of those dog walkers are townies. If we make a stink (the puns for this topic are just too easy...) about such, the doggers will come up with some trump'd up story about being hit by a disc (or some other nonsense), and they being the taxpayers in the town, will win (read: course pullage possibilities).

Give those (JJ et al) that got the course installed in the first place credit, but it's in a high-traffic area. And I'm QUITE sure that most of the people go there for that very reason - so they DON'T have to pick up the poop. Subversive guilt-tripping on our part may be the best tactic we have!

Karl

[Jason Johnson]

Jeff, unfortunately this has been a long running problem at Northampton. Looking on the bright side, its only on the first hole where it seems to be an issue, unless the whole concept bothers you, which I too am haplessly infuriated.

The issue is this, the City of Northampton has a "poop picker upper" LAW, its on the books, as well as a dog leash LAW. I will make it a point to copy those and paste them up on their doggy walker bulletin board.

The problem is the Smith Vocational High School, leases this property from the state, and they do it for agricultural purposes, not recreational purposes, and so, the City does not want to start creating a solution for people to pick up after their dogs, because then it becomes their problem. Whose going to pick up all the "picked up dog crap" now in unbiodegradable bags...

The ongoing "suggestedpolicy" for disc golfers (and other users), is to do exactly what you did, remind at EVERY oppourtunity to that human individual, to "be human" and PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOMESTICATED ANIMAL, AND PACK THAT CRAP OUT WITH YOU, BECAUSE ITS NOT ANYONE ELSE'S RESPONSIBILITY TO DO SO BUT YOUR OWN ! Be polite, be firm, utilizing your children's health and saftey is an excellent idea, deliver your message and hopefully the guilt will set in, and action will replace the "tragedy of the commons" which is what it is out there. Salamanders live downstream, they are polluting the Mill River watershed, they are endangering the use of the property for other recreational users.
Call the city, ask to talk to the storm water coordinator, write a letter to the paper, there have been some zingers in the past, but the idiots don't seem to pay attention, wear them down with embarrassment. I'm sorry I can't do much more.

Together we make a difference, thanks for your efforts, don't be discouraged.

[Jeff Kelley]

Thanks for the responses, guys- I knew I wasn't the first to think about this- good to hear your thoughts.

[Felix Harvey]

I know somebody who was declared mentally unfit for Vietnam service by jumping up on the shrink's desk and letting fly. That, however, is a different subject, and a separate decade(century).

More later...

[Mark Ottenberg]

Being a dog owner myself I really dont understand why ppl dont pick up after them. Yeah sure there are times when my dog takes a 2nd dump and i didnt plan on it, but i either improvise or return. I have yet to be to this course and was planning on heading there soon, so thanks for the heads up on the land mines!

[Jay Ducharme]

HCC has this problem as well, and it's maddening. The dog-walkers just let the animals take a dump wherever they feel like it, whether it's on the sidewalk or in the middle of the softball field. And it seems like very few people bother to pick up after them.

I'm going to bring this up to our Facilities department. There are parks with dog-scoop dispensers that have plastic bags attached. That, plus some signs around the walking trails might help curb the problem.

[Jeff Wilson]

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBi ... olink.html

the little ones were in the grass on 14th's fairway today ... skip it if you
see them ...

[Leslie Charles]

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bobolink.html

the little ones were in the grass on 14th's fairway today ... skip it if you
see them ...

thanks for the link--we've got bobolink's in our hayfield--their wonderful! They came back this last week.
Another long-migrator we have is the barn swallow (from argentina)--eats their weight in bugs (yet decides to poop a lot of it out in our barn). Love 'em and kinda don't.

[Whit Cooper]

mashall street should start selling butt pluggs for dogs!

[Joe R Lemon]

mashall street should start selling butt pluggs for dogs!

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would definitely be a Marshall Street Exclusive Item.

[Felix Harvey]

Not to get sick or anything, but I'm envisioning a "No Country for Old Men" air canister with hose and butt plug projectile unit where one could insert said plugs from a safe distance.