New York Minute 130 - Dog License

I was on my way to work one morning last week when I passed a young woman walking her dog. The sidewalk was narrow at the point where we met. The curb was lined with trees and garbage bags, and the brownstones had long front staircases that reached out toward the street.

The lady and her dog were a few paces away, when the dog made a sudden stop and began to urinate on one of the staircases. His urine streaked across the sidewalk like a foamy, yellow river as it made its way toward the lower level of the street. 

The lady smiled nervously and apologized. “It’s okay,” I said, as I stepped cautiously across El Rio Amarillo.

This incident makes me wonder why dogs have free license to urinate and defacate on every square inch of the public areas of the city. Yes, owners are required to pick up the bulk of the poo poo, but there’s always some residue left behind, often a substantial amount. 

If a human being left a smeared streak of stinky, steaming turd on the sidewalk, there would be widespread outrage. It would probably make the evening news; the neighborhood would be the butt of jokes, no pun intended. Tourists would avoid the area. Residents would go out of their way to avoid the street where the offense took place. Schoolboys would make jokes about the incident.

Yet, we go outside and walk on dog dirt every single day. I try to watch my step, but I frequently see people plow right through gobs of the stuff, blissfullly unaware of the bacteria that they are now spreading mindlessly. 

Please temember to take your shoes off when you get home. You wouldn’t to track Eau de Fido and Residue of Rover into the kitchen.

Copyright © 2019 Daniel R. South 

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