Dear editor,
As a guardian of two dogs living in the Comox Valley, I would like to respond to Adam Irwin's letter (Record, Jan. 16) about dog feces.
Mr. Irwin is exactly correct.
I don't know that dogs have become the new smoking, but I must say that as a dog guardian and resident, I am disgusted by the amount of feces that we run into (literally) in and around Comox.
We have such a beautiful area in which to live in, but as dog guardians, many of us are disrespecting this environment.
We have walked the Courtenay Airpark and have been shocked to see the amount of feces left behind. Since this is an on-leash area, that means that the responsible person is no more than four to six feet away from the dog doing its business.
How can you not notice? The answer is, of course, that they know they have consciously chosen not to pick up.
We also walk in Lazo Marsh area and find ourselves being very careful not to step into something left behind by someone else's dog while we pick up after our own dogs. We wear gumboots there, too.
At Lazo Marsh, one woman (with a dog) said to my husband, who was off the path searching for one of our dogs droppings, "Oh, that's beyond the call. I just leave it. That's why everything here is so lush and green."
I walked with a gentlemen who proudly said of his dog, "See, he is such a gentlemen; he poops off the pathway."
C'mon folks — as guardians of dogs we are not only responsible to keep our dogs happy and healthy, but we also have a responsibility to keep our environment and fellow residents happy and healthy too.
There are stocked poop bag dispensers and garbage cans that are emptied regularly almost everywhere. There is no reason for this irresponsible situation.
If we, as dog guardians, continue this behavior, we are going to lose the ability to enjoy our dogs in such a beautiful place and we will have no one but our fellow dog guardians to blame.
Grab a brain, grab a bag and grab the pile left by your dog!
Sylvia Stone,
Comox