4 Reasons Why You Need to Pick Up After Your Dog
Dog owner or not, everyone has most likely encountered an unsightly dog poop along the way. There is a list of misconceptions out there that validate the act of leaving dog poop behind, especially in parks and private spaces. However, picking up after your dog with the help of dog pick up bags is an important responsibility as a pet owner.
Pick up bag providers like Practica Ltd. believe that there are many negative impacts of ignoring your dog’s waste out in the open. Furthermore, you must put in an extra bit of effort into making sure you’re not troubling the public.
Reasons to pick up after your dog as a responsible pet owner:
1. Common Courtesy
Dog waste, or waste in general, leaves an unpleasant smell. Getting rid of this odor is one reason why it’s important to pick up after your pet. There are many things that can ruin a person’s day, and stepping on a pile is most definitely one of them.
Walking your dog to the park means you are entering a public space. It’s one of your duties as a pet owner to make sure your dog doesn’t bother anyone. Your dog’s mess is essentially your mess, which makes it even more important for you to pick up whatever he or she has left behind.
2. Dog Poop Isn’t Cow’s Poop- It Isn’t Fertilizer
One of the reasons why pet pick up bags exist is because there are no benefits to keeping dog waste on the ground. A common misconception is that poop, no matter what type, is a good fertilizer; this isn’t true.
Cow manure has an entirely different makeup compared to a dog’s waste, this is because they have very different diets. Dogs are omnivores with very high-protein diets. Experts explain that their waste has high nitrogen and phosphorus content, which could have a completely opposite effect of fertilizer. These can burn your lawn and cause various issues for local watersheds.
3. Contains Disease-Causing Bacteria and Parasites
You must clean up after your dog in order to promote a clean and healthy environment. This is because dog poop carries disease-causing bacteria and parasites which are largely harmful to humans and other animals.
E. coli and salmonella are two of the most common bacteria found in them. In addition to those, these can also contain worms of different types, Parvovirus, Coronavirus, Giardiasis, Salmonellosis, etc. These can linger in the soil for years. If you don’t pick up after your dog, you’re putting other people at risk of catching certain diseases.
4. They Won’t Wash Away Soon
If you don’t pick up after your dog, chances are, his poop will stay in place for quite some time. There’s a common misconception that dog waste will simply break down or wash away. It turns out, dog waste can take up to a year to naturally break down, especially in cold climates.
As mentioned above, dog poop is a carrier of parasites and harmful bacteria. This means that even if the waste eventually washes away, the bacteria and parasites will be left to linger.
Dog poop happens. But as a dog parent, it should be one of your duties to pick these up with the help of handy dog pick up bags. You must also do your part in keeping every public place clean, not just for you and your furbaby, but also for everyone else entitled to these spaces.