Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post / Opinion

Dawn Picken: Owners need to pick up after their dogs

By Dawn Picken
Weekend and opinion writer·NZ Herald·
30 Jul, 2021 10:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Owners need to pick up after their dogs, writes Dawn Picken. Photo / Getty Images

Owners need to pick up after their dogs, writes Dawn Picken. Photo / Getty Images

Opinion by Dawn Picken
Dawn is a weekend and opinion writer for the Bay of Plenty Times
Learn more

OPINION:

Having a dog is like living with a baby.

There's an abundance of cuteness. And a mountain of poo. It's part of caring for a creature that cannot use the toilet.

I succeeded in potty training my toddlers, but I haven't bothered trying to toilet train the dog. The risks - falling into the bowl, making a mess, chewing through the toilet roll - far outweigh the benefits.

I'm resigned to being my dog, Ally's, handmaiden the rest of her life. I'm devoted to uplifting and discarding faeces at home and away.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But not all pet owners share my devotion to doo disposal. Anywhere there are dogs, you'll find owners looking the other way as Fido circles, sniffs, squats and makes his deposit.
These are the folks who walk their dogs off lead to provide freedom - for their pet to roam - and to avoid the unpleasant but necessary task of poo patrol.

So kudos to Dunedin's Antonia Wood, who told RNZ last week about volunteer efforts of POOP (Poo Off Our Paths). The group, including herself and 10 volunteers, scooped about 30kg of dog doo from a popular walkway. They filled two large plastic tubs with compostable bags and could barely lift it at the end of the cleanup.

The Dog Control Act 1996 says owners can be fined $300 for failing to pick up dog doo anywhere in the country.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Judging by the number of droppings left lying around, it appears this law is rarely enforced.

It steams me as a pet owner because Mr "I didn't see my German Shepherd drop a giant load on the beach" gives us all a bad name.

Discover more

Opinion

Dawn Picken: Once upon a time, I could venture with my kids

23 Jul 11:00 PM

Dawn Picken: Where will we house the next wave of Kiwis?

17 Jul 12:00 AM

Dawn Picken: Saddened but not surprised by sexual assault report

03 Jul 12:00 AM

Recently, I was running (sans pet) along the Waikareao track in Tauranga with a friend. We watched someone's dog do his business while a group of women walked ahead, seemingly oblivious to the offence they were committing. We sped up to tell the owner she needed to handle the mess. "Oh, I'll pick it up when I come back," she said, continuing to distance herself from her pet's steaming excrement.

What a crock of - well- you know. We can guess what happened with that pile. Either the owner never planned to retrieve it in the first place, or when she returned to the scene of the crime, she couldn't remember where Doggie Dearest left his calling card. Picking up poo is a lot like justice - when it's delayed, it's denied.

If people can't be bothered to supervise pets off-lead, they should keep them leashed. Then there's no mistaking when Fido relieves himself on a neighbour's grass, the beach or a walking trail.

Speaking of faeces, another maddening aspect of living around other people is cats have free reign to crap wherever they like. While there is a Dog Control Act mandating removal of dog foul, I found no corresponding law for cats. The Animal Welfare Act 2018 covers everything from bringing home kittens to the feeding and care of older felines. It doesn't mention cat poo on public or private property.

The Community Law website states, "It's generally accepted that cats are allowed to wander on to other people's property and that the owner isn't responsible for any damage they do. Cats can cause a lot of damage to wildlife. There are no laws about this, but the SPCA and Forest & Bird have guidelines for responsible cat ownership that include desexing cats that aren't intended for breeding, putting bells on cats to help warn birds and discourage hunting, and keeping your cat inside at night."

Some people think having a litter box in their home is gross. So is finding cat poop in your flower bed. My dog will never squat in my neighbour's flowers because our section is fully fenced. Ally is short, and unlike a cat, lacks the vertical leap of an NBA basketball player.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Since we moved house, it's rare I find a strange pile of faeces in the part of our section off-limits to the dog. At our old house, cat poo in the garden was a weekly occurrence. I scattered orange peels and coffee grounds around the house to try to prevent felines from fouling my flowers. Those methods didn't work. I felt like a doofus trying to cat-proof my garden, knowing no one needed to dog-proof their yard against my pet.

The double standard for dog owners versus cat owners is - pardon the pun- crappy. Unless you have a roaming cat, in which case it's fine.

Bottom line - pet owners need to own the poo problem. Domestic animals are not here for our convenience. They're not really convenient at all. If people can't pick up after their animal, they probably shouldn't have one.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily Post

Bike racks back for Rotorua buses, Tauranga's a month away

02 Jul 11:55 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Popular Waikato walkway fully reopens after major upgrade

02 Jul 05:00 AM
Rotorua Daily Post

Wet, wet, wet: Rain warning for BoP as more tropical weather looms

01 Jul 11:38 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Bike racks back for Rotorua buses, Tauranga's a month away

Bike racks back for Rotorua buses, Tauranga's a month away

02 Jul 11:55 AM

BoP public buses are being modified after national concerns over night-driving visibility.

Popular Waikato walkway fully reopens after major upgrade

Popular Waikato walkway fully reopens after major upgrade

02 Jul 05:00 AM
Wet, wet, wet: Rain warning for BoP as more tropical weather looms

Wet, wet, wet: Rain warning for BoP as more tropical weather looms

01 Jul 11:38 PM
Road reopens after person hit by truck

Road reopens after person hit by truck

01 Jul 11:24 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP