LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor,

It is rewarding to see the response to hate and racism in Moraga, and the Town Council resolution. We were first families in the area and remember the trauma but also the support of the Council for Civic Unity, Orinda Community Church, St. Stephen's Church and AAUW. Hopefully Orinda and Lafayette will pass similar resolutions.

Carolyn Ashe Stokes
Orinda

Editor:

Reading the letter from a concerned citizen in Lafayette regarding her disgust with dog poop at the new sidewalk to the Lafayette reservoir across from the Community Center moved me to action. She exclaimed, "Why don't all you dog owners go down and pick up ALL the accumulated poop?" Since I am always looking for decent places where I can walk my two dogs, Essie and Brutus, I went to the place where she was forced to "get to the other side of the street just to get away from the stench."

I picked up one piece of very dry dog poop. Just like older singles, it was very easy to pick up. My dogs decided that this was not the time or proper place for them to defecate. We had an exhilarating walk around the reservoir. I do admit that there have been times that my dogs have created poop without my knowledge and I did not pick up the poop. This is why I have no problem picking up any poop that I find. Picking it up is very little bother. People like the infuriated letter writer exclaim that people are breaking the law by not picking up the poop. One can write a book about picking up dog poop or yell and holler at it with all their strength and good intentions but it just stays there. Furthermore, dogs cannot read and are oblivious to the evils of their poop. They think it is natural.

She writes about our beloved pets. "They are just like our children. We don't leave their poop lying around for others to smell or step over." Dogs do not pollute the air and water. They do not leave cans, bottles, plastic, cigarette butts, candy wrappers and needles at parks. They do not drive drunk, steal identities, send others to die in war or kidnap children. No, they are not just like our children.

What dogs do for those who care for them is improve the quality of life. To watch a young child play with a puppy for the first time is a source of wonder and awe. To see and elderly person relate to their pet when they have no one else is a blessing. Watching a dog run, play and give their human unconditional 24/7 love, companionship and friendship is inspiring. Yet, they poop. Coincidently, birds, cats, snakes, rats, fish, cows, horses, pigs and the filthiest animal of them all, humans, also poop.

The concerned Lafayette resident says that dog poop spreads disease. Dysentery, Typhus, Diarrhea among others spreads from human poop. What disease spreads from dog poop? She writes that she does not want to get started on "the dogs in restaurants licking their private parts" while she is eating. I suggest paying more attention to one's meal than focusing on canine private parts.

Dogs do not know that they have private parts. Being totally true and honest creatures they do not know that they are naked. In fact, to a dog, a restaurant is just another place that they have to go. Since we train them not to urinate or poop in our homes, they have to go outside or wherever we take them. If we do not pick up after them, we should be aware of the poop-police of the world who are inconvenienced by our beloved pets. They will remind us of our poop obligations. We should feel bad for them. Imagine how many other things there are in the world that are far more annoying and dangerous than dog poop and naked dogs in restaurants.

Norman Weiss and his best friends, Brutus (14) and Essie (2)
Orinda