Dog Crap is the Devil's smegma.

As a runner I am frequently astounded by the sheer amount of dog shit around our streets capital. It is really unbelievable.
Now some areas are a whole lot worse than other, for example Rathmines is pretty shit free, so it Rathgar, Crumlin is bloody covered in it, Kimmage too, Templeogue looks clean, but take a short cut across a patch of grass and you'll soon see- or rather feel- the crap.
A lot of my runs end with me standing one legged out in the back garden using the hose and a bloody stick to scrape the stinking shit out of the treads in my footwear. I curse a lot when I have to do this, I curse and think murderous thoughts about people.
Now I walk a CG's dog on a regular basis, and I always bring a selection of small plastic bags with me, he poops, I invert the bag, pick it up, twist the bag out and knot. It takes SECONDS. Admittedly there are a serious shortage of bins around and nine time out of them I end up carrying it for quite a while before I find one, but as it's tied it really isn't the end of the world. If I can do it, why not everyone bloody else?
So it was with glee I read of this morning's latest crap fighting strategy.

From the Indo.

"DOG owners beware -- Big Brother is watching you.

Dublin City Council, tired of having to clean up dog litter from the capital's streets, is to mount covert operations aimed at catching offenders.

Mobile CCTV units and officials working undercover will mount surveillance operations to police blackspots, including Clontarf and Sandymount strands, as part of its efforts to catch offenders. And owners who claim little Fido was caught short can expect no mercy. The city plans to step up its enforcement activity and has promised more prosecutions and fines.

The new regime was revealed yesterday in the council's Litter Management Plan 2008-2011.

The plan will also see celebrities used to front advertising campaigns aimed at reducing specific litter problems such as cigarette butts, chewing gum and fast-food wrapping, while a multilingual campaign will be launched aimed at telling people of all nationalities that littering is not acceptable.

The city council currently collects 25,500 tonnes of litter from the streets each year, and has a budget of €37m for 2008.

Yesterday a range of new measures aimed at tackling litter were proposed. They include:

l Construction sites will have to be kept neat and tidy or contractors will face prosecution. Industrial estates will also have to ensure skips and waste containers and not a source of litter waste, while management companies and landlords will have to keep premises clean.

l A name and shame campaign will be extended to include businesses, public bodies and individuals found littering, and a list of prosecuted offenders will be published annually.

l Council vehicles will be painted with anti-litter messages to help promote the message that people who drop litter are themselves "pieces of filth".

l Concert promoters will have to submit litter management plans to the council, and will have to pay the city to clean up if they are not complied with.

"Dog litter is a major issue, especially for kids, and it's very much an eyesore," spokesman Hugh Coughlan said. The council also proposes introducing by-laws later this year which will require businesses to agree practical measures to tackle litter outside premises.

Businesses will have to provide a certain number of bins, and must draw up specific cleaning plans, which must be approved by the council.

Residents' associations will also be provided with free litter-picking equipment and bags, and gardai will be drafted to help in specific enforcement campaigns against graffiti and litter.

A littering tip-off system will also be introduced, where people will be able to report illegal dumping via a website or through mobile phones.

Litter bins will be mapped using satellite technology to show the distribution of the bins across the city, with bins to be power-washed once a month.

Another 15 staff will be employed to tackle litter, and €750,000 a year will be spent removing graffiti."

Huzzah! About bloody time!
Naturally we'll have to see if this in enforced rigorously, but I hope it is.
It isn't difficult not to liter, it isn't difficult to clean up after your dog, it's isn't difficult to spit chewing gum-if you MUST chew the disgusting stuff- into a piece of paper and bin it, it isn't difficult to not drive up into the beautiful Dublin/Wicklow mountains and not toss great big sacks of household rubbish into lanes and culverts, no really, it' really is very easy not to do that.
All you need is an IOTA of consideration for other people and your surroundings. All you need to remember that the whole fucking world is not your personal dumping ground.