A Dog's Life with Anna Webb joined by Vet & Environmentalist, Andrew Prentis

One of my biggest bugbears is not picking up after your dog, and worryingly there’s been a huge rise in unpicked up dog poo left in parks, and on the pavement.

Vet and Environmental Worrier, Andrew Prentis joined me to chat about the excremental problem.

A national and growing problem since the unprecedented demand for dogs through the pandemic has seen a 15% increase in the UK’s pooch population. That’s an additional 3.2 million dogs, bringing the overall population to over 10 million.

It’s wrong to point any fingers but the sudden excremental increase suggests that it’s the new dog owners creating the stink.

Here’s the maths:  an average dog weighing 20 kilos produces 350grams ‘it’ everyday, so that makes 3.5 tonnes of poop produced daily. Around a tonne of that daily could be attributed to the pandemic pups!

National campaigns led by animal welfare charities over a decade ago drove home that picking up is simply morally mandatory.

Is the mess down to feigning responsibility or is it that some poop be too difficult to pick up? Arguably a voluminous deposit of sloppy, beige poop might be a sticking point. And diet could be a contributing factor.

Discarded poop can be a pollutant to the environment and affect wildlife with insecticides from worm and flea treatments, and other medication seeping into their habitat.

The trend to hang bags on trees is neither aesthetically pleasing or kind to our wildlife. Not to mention the ‘waste’ of resources for local councils to clean up the mess.

It’s never been a right to ‘own’ a dog, but a privilege, and with that the unspoken rule to never let your dog become a nuisance to others.

Us dog owners need to fly the flag for our best friends in the new normal age where rubbing along, showing respect and being kind prevails, and protect a dogs’ reputation.

To listen click here.