It seems that the same people who poop in wilderness and leave it on the ground (along with their toilet paper) do not pick up their dog’s poop either.  They leave it on the sidewalk, or in the local park, or wherever their dog left it.

So what’s the big deal?  The big deal is that dog poop spreads diseases, bacteria, and protozoa (microscopic animals, sometimes pathogenic in humans. They include Giardia and Cryptosporidium, which live in water).

Dogs often poop tapeworms, what one vet called “poop rice.”  Got that image?  It’s THE most common infection transmitted by discarded dog poop in America.  It’s believed that 35% of the indoor animals that contract tapeworm get it from infected dog poop brought into the home on people’s SHOES that have stepped in it.  Got that image?  The parasite we call tapeworm needs fleas to complete its life cycle, but poop is also a contributing factor.

That leaves you out, right?  WRONG!  One of these parasitic worms, called roundworm, is transmitted to humans through infected dog (or other animal) poop.  It causes rash, fever, and in some a loss of their vision.  You can go blind from toxocarisis.

Your dog or cat has diarrhea.  You think it must be SOMETHING they ate.  You’re right.  But humans also get diarrhea and think it must have been from some fast food joint.  Next time, check the bottoms of your shoes.  Doctors have taken enough infected dog feces off a single shoe to infect several families.  The bacterium is called cryptosporidium.  Dogs eat other animal's poop.  They even eat human poop.  This can make them sick.

And what about the all too familiar E. Coli.  This bacterium infects the entire human digestive tract.  Often leaves people BLEEDING internally and can permanently damage to our kidneys.  Dog and human poop can be full of it.  It is a rare day when an E. Coli breakout doesn’t occur somewhere in the United States.  Check your carpet.  Check your shoes.

Poop is also full of viruses.  A small speck of human poop can contain as many as 10 MILLION viruses.   Viruses are rampant in the cities.  Ask your doctor.  And they’re very hard to treat.  Many people suffer from them for years.  And how many people die from them and are diagnosed to have died from something else?

Then there’s salmonellosis.  What?  This is a bacterium that can cause fever, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, simply take the life out of an animal (they lay around more than usual with this disease), making it hard for them to recover.   Meanwhile the vet bills keep mounting.  

Salmonellosis is really hard on young children and on the elderly.  And most often it’s been brought into the home on the bottom of people’s shoes.

Again, almost all of these parasites have to have a host.  They eat off the host.  But organisms like Giardia can live OUTSIDE the host, which makes it easy for this bacterium to spread like a forest fire.

Simply put, infected poop spreads infections.  But what if YOUR dog is perfectly healthy.  Why pick up her poop?  Because dog poop left on the sidewalk can find its way into the storm sewers, not the same sewers in which human poop travels, but the ones that discharge into the waterways - WITHOUT BEING TREATED.  And guess what?  YOU drink the water from those same waterways.  There’s so much animal poop in waterways today that experts claim it’s the biggest cause of lowering water quality, which increases in algae growth.  Ever wonder why your water seems so CLOUDY?

WHAT TO DO: Take one of our biodegradable greenbags with you when you walk your dog.   Do not leave it lying on the sidewalk or in the local park or on someone else’s grass.  When you get home simply put it into your normal garbage receptacle.  Burying it is better, but I think any city official would accept this advice as better than leaving it on the street or sidewalk or on the grass.   And if you take your dog with you into the woods, pick up THEIR poop as you pick up your own.  Think about your own health - if no one else's.  It’s in your own best interest to do so.