How many of you out there are pet owners. More specifically, how many of you out there are dog owners. Well I am one of those dog owners. If you had asked me a few years ago if I'd be an owner of a dog I would have said no. I'm not a big fan of the responsibility that comes along with a dog. The getting up early to walk to dog, the clean up after they have a nice bowel movement and the grooming was enough to turn me off. I have always owned cats in my own house. This is not to say I did not grow up with dogs. I had 3 dogs in my childhood.
My first dog was Brownie. It was this cute little puppy. I'm not sure what happened to it, I think it was my parents before I was born. I only have a picture of her and very little memory of her. We didn't get another dog until I was in Grade 4 or 5. It was a big dog, but we had a big yard. To be honest I can't remember the dogs name, only that my brother played with him the most. Then we had to give up the dog when we moved into town. My parents felt bad so they gave us a smaller dog. My Dutches was a very loyal and quiet friend. She lived to be the ripe old age of 20 years old and fought till the very end to live. It was only after her inability to control her bladder and walk to go to the washroom outside that the decision to put her to permanent sleep was made. I figured that decision would be made while I was in China so I was able to say goodbye to her before I left. However, during the ownership of these childhood dogs we were rarely responsible for the dogs. My father and mother bought the food, let them out for their daily release of waste and made sure the grooming was completed.
The first animal I owned when I moved out on my own was a cat. I put the food down, changed the kitty litter and pet it but the actual amount of responsibility for cat ownership is low. Along comes my daughter. She loves animals. She was upset when Dutches died. I waited almost a year before getting her a new dog. So I'm now the proud owner of a dog. I mulled over the possibility of ownership but I could no longer deny my daughters desire to have a companion. I can't give her a sibling--not sure I want to go down that path anytime soon--so why not give her the next best thing. A buddy for her to play with, and she does. Angel--the dog--has to tolerate all the 'fun stuff' that she and Bailey engage in. I don't think the dog minds all that much as she does love Bailey. She is very protective of her buddy and will remind you in no uncertain terms that coming within close proximity to Bailey will result in a sharp bark.
Why am I bringing up my stories of my pet ownership--more specifically the dog ownership you ask? Well I read today on the CBC website about a City Counsellor hoping to make it law that dog owners have to take her dog poop home with them instead of dropping them off in the garbage bins that scatter the parks and streets of Toronto.
This does make sense in a round about way. I am guilty of throwing the dog poop bags in the garbage bins around my park and street area of Toronto. I was doing this before I knew about the green bin program with respect to doggy doo doo. I was of the understanding that doggy doo doo couldn't go into the green bin because it's not a 'good' organic for compost purpose. However, this myth was busted while visiting a knowledgeable friend a few weekends ago. I was informed that we could put the dog poop in the green bin so long as it's not wrapped up in the plastic bag. Even if you use a plastic bag for the green bin purpose it's the tightly tied up poop bags that can be problematic. Therefore, you're asked to just put the pooh in the bin, and the bag in the garbage. Or purchase a pooper scooper for the purpose of scooping the poop without the environmental damage of a plastic bag.
If this City Counsellor hopes to pass this law then I think an educational period needs to be put forth. I didn't know about the ability to put dog poop in the green bin, so I suspect that the average Torontonian is unaware of this ability as well.
Now if we could only get on the dog owners who let their dog crap all over the place without cleaning it up!!
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When I first read the article, my approach was to figure out what the city councillor was up to? Recently, my partner and I noticed the disappearance of a garbage bin in our neighbourhood and it seems that people might have been dumping other garbage and that is why they took it away.
Thinking about the options, I was suprised to find out that you could "poop and scoop and bring it home" to go into your green bin but the proof is in the compost!
www.toronto.ca/greenbin
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