Pet ownership requires attention to detail, patience, and responsibility.
Although some people only think of commands and dog training obstacles when they think of obedience courses, most pet owners also know the importance of teaching your dog to behave and obey in public. The best dog owners also know their own responsibility when it comes to having a pet. From providing a safe kennel space for your pet when company is in the house to making sure that you clean up after your pet when you are on a walk, the best pet owners know to always have dog poop bags with them.
The best pet owners make sure that they are always responsible for their pets, whether they are spending time working on agility at a course with dog training obstacles or taking a simple walk around the park. Irresponsible pet owners, on the other hand, can make a bad impression and, even worse, can make people without pets think that all pet owners are careless and irresponsible.
Fortunately, most cities have imposed fines, sometimes as high as $750, if pet owners do not clean up after a dog in a public area. These fines, however, are impossible to impose for the owner who walks a dog in a place where, or at a time, when no one is around. In other efforts to encourage responsible pet ownership, many parks also provide dog waste stations.
Consider some of these facts and figures about pet ownership numbers in America and the habits that those pet owners have:
- 46.3 million households in America own dogs. This translates into 37% to 47% of all households in the U.S. having a dog.
- Nearly every major city has at least one dog park, according to a report from the Trust for Public Lands in the year 2016.
- 23 million fecal coliform bacteria are contained in a single gram of dog feces.
- Dogs defecate twice a day on average, which adds up to about 14 piles of feces in a single week.
- Female dogs, on average, are 15% more active than males dogs.
- Unfortunately, estimates show that at least 40% of dog owners do not pick up their pet?s poop.
Whether you are a pet owner who takes your dog for a walk three to for times a day or you are the kind of owner who iis lucky to take their dog for a walk five time a week, it is important to be responsible and pick up your pet’s waste. Training your pet to quickly make it through dog training obstacles and agility courses may be impressive, but you will erase all of those accomplishments if you do not make sure that you are picking up your dog’s waste when you are in public spaces.