Of all the “third rail” topics concerning dogs, here’s one I never could have guessed would make some people incensed: A passerby putting a bag of dog poop in their garbage can. Ack! Apparently, this makes some homeowners angry enough that they put signs on or next to their garbage cans, set up security cameras in order to identify and eventually confront the offenders, or threatening penalties for the alleged “theft of services” (using someone else’s garbage service).
Personally, I can’t imagine getting upset enough about someone putting a bag of even very smelly dog poop in my trash can—but I have to admit that the only time this might even be possible is on trash pickup day, when my garbage bin is out on the street and accessible to passersby. And while it would not be very nice if someone dropped stinky poo in the bin after the garbage truck had emptied the bin—so it would conceivably stink up the bin for another week—I don’t have my bins close enough to my house that I risk smelling that smell, except for the second or three that it takes to put other bags of garbage in there. But I live in a rural area, so I guess I’m spoiled.
My son and his wife had a baby late last fall, and I’ve been visiting them at least once monthly in the eastern part of the San Francisco Bay Area where they live. One of the few ways I can make myself useful to them as they adjust to live as new parents is to walk their dog, Cole, catching him up on exercise he’s been missing on the days with higher levels of baby maintenance. We’ve also gone for family walks, with my son or his wife carrying baby Maddie in a soft wrap or pushing her in a stroller. We were on one such walk when, after I had picked up one of Cole’s poops and was about to put it in someone’s garbage bin that was waiting at the curb to be picked up, my son stopped me. “Mom!” he said. “You can’t do that here! Someone will probably come out of the house and yell at you!”
We spent the rest of the walk talking about all the tactics he had seen deployed in his and his friends’ neighborhoods—tactics that people are using to keep dog-walkers from putting dog poop in their garbage. As we walked, my son pointed out signs, security cameras, locks on the garbage bins, and locked cages that secure the bins in his neighborhood. Yowsa! There was a war going on that I was not even aware of!
I guess it makes sense, particularly in urban areas where the density of dogs being walked daily is very high—and where your garbage bin is very likely stored in your garage, or right next to your home and possibly even under a window.
I don’t particularly enjoy carrying dog poop for the rest of a walk—especially if I’m walking more than one dog, or the dog is like Cole, who seems to go to extra trouble to force himself to poop at least three times on every walk, even if the last one is just the size or a grape. But the answer for me is to simply carry a “poop pack-out” bag: one of the new-generation odor-containing bags that enable you to carry several bags of poop securely and without smelling it, until you get home and can dispose of the poop in your own garbage bin.
We first recommended one of these products in WDJ’s Gear of the Year 2024. I ordered one on the strength of our veterinarian reviewer, who walks two large dogs daily and said she could fit the waste of both dogs in the Olive & Odin Poop Pouch. I was skeptical that the bag would truly work to completely contain the odor, but it did! I once carried the bag in a large fanny pack on a long hike, and had to occasion to put not one but two bags of dog poop in the bag. Once home, I accidentally left the fanny pack, with the dog-waste bag inside it (and the dog poop bags inside that), in my car for over a week—and never smelled a thing! These bags use an odor-containing technology that truly traps the foul odor of poop in the bag.
At the time of our review, I wasn’t aware of this type of product at all. Today, there are at least a dozen competing products on the market, including ones by Ruffwear and Kong.
The only problem with these bags is that none of them seem to come with a carrying strap; one needs to put them inside a backpack or fanny pack or fasten them somehow onto the belt for your treat-carrying pouch, or just resign oneself to carrying them by the strap used to close them. Despite this minor inconvenience, they certainly do make it more pleasant (less unpleasant) to carry home several (or one very large) bag full of dog poop for disposal in your own garbage bin.
I’m a pet sitter dog walker in a suburban neighborhood. We don’t even have street lights where I’m working.
I would never consider putting a dog poop bag and someone else’s garbage can. Just as I would never consider leaving the bag on the curb or actually hanging up from a tree like it’s a Christmas ornament as I’ve seen.
I’ve walked the dog, it’s done its business, it’s my responsibility to take that to my home and dump it in my personal garbage can.
I can see this being a hot topic issue.
Our city provides rolling trash bins to residents, and mandates that they have to be removed from the thoroughfare within 24 hours of pickup. So, the morning of or after trash collection day, I feel it’s perfectly acceptable to put what our Boys leave behind in a city-owned receptacle on a public road, akin to using the trash containers in city parks. But I certainly wouldn’t trespass on someone’s property to do so. Like most such flashpoints, common sense and courtesy go out the window for extremists on both sides – the dog haters who resent our furry companions, and the entitled types who don’t care if their actions create discomfort for their neighbors.
I get a charge out of the signs along the curb telling me not to let my dogs pee on their lawns (on the 6′ public road allowance, no less!). I’m sure the local bunnies, deer and foxes are very respectful of those homeowners’ wishes, too.
When I walked numerous dogs at a daycare, I would put bags in trash cans outside the curb if they were out.
After I got my own private business, I would wait to dump it in the trash outside of my home, because it was one dog at a time.