It’s not the size of the dog. It’s the amount of poop it eliminates!

Joel Atkinson

Dog Owner and KeepStellaSafe Client.  Joel lives in Texas with his dog Coco.  He and Coco track about 6 miles a day.

Hi y’all!  This is a common greeting heard and said a lot in Texas.  It is also very common knowledge to many that everything is bigger here in Texas, the amount of poop my dog eliminates is no exception!

Let me begin by saying I am no expert in dog/human relationships.  Growing up dogs had a purpose; they were early our security alarms for our home.  They mainly lived outdoors and would bark their silly heads off when strangers, neighbors or friends would approach the house.  I knew they had to be fed and watered and of course taken for walks.  As a ten year old I would race around the block while “Blackie” chased me, he would stop and “poop” and then off again we ran to get back home.  Dog walk done!

Fast Forward-50 years to present day.  I still have “Blackie” although she is a female black Labrador named Coco.  I am her human!  She is a rescue dog.  We still haven’t figured out who rescued who yet.

Coco is my companion while walking.  I’m walking to improve my health.  As a 61 year old human with multiple health issues it was time I needed to take that step towards improving my situation on this earth.  (Insert here- Get yo butt in gear and start walking) So I did.

Enough about me… for now.  As I mentioned before I’m new at this dog/human bonding thingy.   Coco adopted me and together we are getting to explore new worlds (our neighborhood) and go (and boy she goes) where no dog has gone before, well at least I thought.

She poops so therefore I pick up!

I never ever imagined that I would be writing about poop, but I am.  Coco is a sweet medium size dog.  Although by the amount of poop she eliminates I wouldn’t agree with that sentence I just wrote.  I do know as a responsible dog owner I am responsible for picking up the poop she eliminates.   She poops therefore I pick it up.  I get it.  Coco seems to poop where another dog has “pooped” before we got there.  Imagine my dismay, I go to pick up fresh smelly warm poop and there is already poop from a different dog. 

What should I do?  My preference is that I not pick up any poop freshly dropped by Coco at all.  Who am I kidding!  Okay so here is my dilemma, I know I need to pick up Coco’s poop, am I then obligated to pick up the other poop as well?  Could I leave Coco’s smelly poop and just pick up the previous pet owners poop?  It seems that a fellow dog walker is walking their dog about the same time my “poop scooping” issue is at hand. Oh poop what should I do? The other dog walker has seen Coco poop.  Do I need to find an escape route with my poop in hand and just not make eye contact? I can hope he/she doesn’t investigate my poop scooping skills.  More times than not, I feel obligated to pick up both poops and just deal with the disposal issue later.
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What a dilemma!  I would love to read your comments on this issue.  Maybe it’s just my issue. Who knows?  Coco is begging me to take her out, or let her out. Maybe she needs to go potty?  Ciao!