Editorial: March 7, 2025

When most of us started in the world of purebred dogs, we owned a pet that was the greatest, most beautiful and smartest dog to ever grace the earth. We proudly walked our dog down the street — until nature called. Then we stood, trying to ignore Rover twirling in circles with what was taking place on our neighbor’s lawn. Upon Rover’s completion, we quickly hurried down the street for a quick getaway. One dog, one leash, a few walks a day. There were no laws about picking up after your dog, and so we didn’t. Life was easy then — until we learned we were wrong. And so our journey began. With the purchase of our second dog, which was also our first show dog, we were like sponges: We wanted to learn everything about our breed, decode pedigrees, learn breed-specific care and conditioning. When it came to nutrition, there were choices to be made: There was commercial kibble, commercial canned food that came with a choice of beef, chicken or tripe, even venison or rabbit; homemade biscuits; frozen food that looked like human meatballs; raw foods of various descriptions, even vegan food. (Pity the poor dog that has to eat only non-animal things that come from the ground or fall off trees.) Then there are those who swear by home-cooking: Who among us has not had a pressure cooker explode in their kitchen that left chicken soup all over the walls? Of course, while this learning was happening and your dog population was growing, walking the dog took a back seat to the fenced-in yard and a shiny pair of pooper scoopers. As your dog population grew even larger, those once-shiny scoops became battle scared and bent beyond repair. But today as a society we obsess about eating healthy, exercise by walking our dogs, ride our bicycles with our dogs running alongside, and try to think green and not pollute the earth any more than we have in the past. We consider things like fossil fuels, plastic waste, water pollution, air pollution, and some have expressed concern over the proper poop bags for us to use so we don’t contaminate the earth. Yes, yes, you say, is there really a difference in the quality of poop bags that are best for our well-being? Where does it all end? There are an estimated 90 million dogs in the United States that produce 12.2 tons of waste per year. So no matter what dog food you feed, the end result (pun intended) is staggering. While some manufacturers proclaim their products are biodegradable, they in fact are not. The best product you can buy is a compost bag that meets the D6400 standard set by the American Society for Testing and Materials. I’m sure your trash man wouldn’t mind if you started your own compost pile of dog feces that can be used on your lawn and flower gardens — but not on anything that might be eaten by humans. I just wouldn’t put it too close to the house. We know it’s a shitty subject, but one that should be addressed.