Article - French dog owners least likely to clean up after their pooches

[Pauline]

It has certainly been my experience traveling in France that there is a lot of dog poop on the sidewalks. The first thing I did on our visit to the Loire Valley was step in so much dog poop that I had to pressure wash it off my shoes. In Montpellier we watched the city worker in a special machine cleaning up poop. (Maybe I have a photo of that!!)

The Telegraph (UK) - Sacre bleu! French dog owners least likely to clean up after their pooches, by Patrick Sawer 08 Mar 2015
The Italians do it, the British do it, but the French and Germans just can't be bothered. Which country's dog owners clear up after their pooch's mess?

From the article: "Toby Massey, co-founder of Beco Pets, found that French dog owners expect their pet’s mess to be picked up by the country’s army of municipal street sweepers and are loathe to do so themselves"

It makes sense to me. The one time I took a dog for a walk and had to scoop up, it was kind of disgusting.

Pooper Scooper in Montpellier.

 

[Roz]

The worst city I remember for dog poop is Venice, although admittedly it's been several years since we were there. But I recall quite a bit on those narrow streets where it was hard to avoid stepping in it. I do think it's gotten better in Paris in the years we've been going there, but maybe that's just because the street cleaners do a pretty good job.

 

[Roz]

David Jaggard's recent column in Paris Update addressed, among other topics, the issue of dog poop: The Good Old Days in Paris -- or Were They? He says that the "pooper scooper" law passed a few years back has helped quite a bit. I wonder if any other French cities have the stiff fines that Paris now does for owners who get caught not picking up.

 

[Pauline]

Great article Roz, thanks for posting the link. I like David's articles and missed that one.

People who don't deal with their dog crap is a huge topic in our village monthly newspaper.