Someone’s been pooping in my front yard. Or, to be more precise, someone has been letting their dog poop in my yard on a daily basis.
The culprit is a mystery to me. Despite being outside for 2-3 hours a day and having clear view of my yard from house, I have never seen the “poop and run” in action. As someone whose walked and cleaned up after my own dogs for more than 20 years, it bothered me the first time I found the dog poop in my yard.
When I found it again for the next 5 days, I realized that someone has decided it’s fine to not clean up after their dog in my yard.
That’s when I got angry.
I thought:
- How inconsiderate…what an a$$hole.
- We have dog poop bags and stations everywhere in my neighborhood, why don’t they just use them?
- It must be a little kid.
- Or maybe it’s that jerk I see at night who never says hello and stand in front of my house sometimes for 15 minutes making my dogs go berserk.
- I should put up a sign.
- I should get a video camera.
- I’m going to catch them and them take all the poop and leave it on their car windshield.
I spoke to a neighbor in the hopes that she spied the evil doer. She had not.
I saw that my neighbor across the street has a ring doorbell and thought I could ask her if she has any video captures. Then I thought, “That neighbor has talked to me exactly once in a year. I can’t ask her that. I’ll sound like a nutcase.”
I looked for a wireless motion sensor camera on Amazon.
I complained to my mother and told her about my plans for vengeance. She said, “Wait until you see it’s a little old crippled lady who can’t bend over to clean up after her little old crippled dog.“
Then, I came to my senses and laughed at myself.
It’s just dog poop. I’ve picked up dog poop more than 15,000 times in my life and with any luck, will pick it up another 15,000 times before I’m done.
One more bag of poop a day won’t matter much. Plus, eventually, this jerk will go away. The type of person who doesn’t clean up after their dog is the same type who will eventually quit walking the dog or they’ll move away or they’ll find someone’s been sleeping in their bed and get eaten by a bear (I can only hope).
I’m not buying a camera. I’m not taking a picture and reporting it on NextDoor. I’m not asking my neighbor to check her Ring videos.
If I ever do catch the person, I’ll confront him/her. If it’s a kid, I’ll be gentle but firm. If it’s an adult, I might be more direct. If it’s a little old crippled lady, I won’t say a word.
Some things really are just not a big deal.