We live in the city of Chicago, in a house on a quiet residential street. As such, we’re responsible for maintaining not only our yard but also our parkway—you know, the area between the sidewalk and the street. I’ll admit we have not invested a lot in this public area; we simply added mulch around the trees. Still, I like the area to be kept clean and I certainly don’t want dog owners and walkers leaving their dogs’ poop behind. Rude!
Still, it happens. So aside from putting up expensive border fencing, I’ve tried various appeals. First, I appealed to their sense of right and wrong (with a little law and order thrown in). I bought small black and white signs that say: IT’S THE LAW. PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG. Over the last few years, 3 out of 4 have been stolen. And the signs have not stopped some dog owners from leaving s from leaving their dogs’ “gifts” behind. Ugh!
Recently, I chose to send a stronger message, hoping a bit of threat and shame might work better. I invested in new larger color signs with language I believed would be more of a deterrent: NOTICE: ALL ACTIVITIES MONITORED BY VIDEO CAMERA. (Yes, that’s the actual sign pictured above!)
I bought 4 signs but only put up 2 (knowing full well I’d need replacements). And in the past couple of months, no dog poops, yay! But on a recent morning, I noticed one of the signs was already missing. I wanted to make good on my warning, so I used the footage from our front door videocamera to search for the culprit.
Eventually, I found him!
On the video, he walks by at 11pm and kicks down the sign, then returns one hour later and swoops it up. I guess he really wanted that sign! Unfortunately, the image is too grainy to identify him, so there’s not much I can do. My threats are for naught. Will this embolden him to steal another?
I’ve since replaced the sign with one of my back-ups and we’ve staked them in deeper, hoping this will make it harder for someone to remove them. We shall see. In the meantime, this has quite amused my grown daughter, as she watches my frustrated detective antics. We’ve shared a few laughs over this!
YOUR TURN: Any other wannabe (or real-life) detectives out there? Have YOU ever tried to solve a mystery? Tell us about it!
Oh, Hélène!!! I knew we were sisters at heart! xo
https://thebigsmoke.com/us/2021/07/19/communiques-from-geezerville-the-sheriff-of-doggie-doo-doo/
YES! Love it and will join your war, Sheriff! xo
Having your signs or any personal property stolen is upsetting, and I sympathize. I’ve also thought I would enjoy detective work. Did you ever read the Mrs. Pollifax series? I loved it as a young reader, and looking it up again, I realize I’m now like the main character – similar age and on my own after raising kids. Maybe I should stop coloring my hair and start detecting!
I never read Mrs. Polifax but love all detective shows on TV and once considered becoming a PI–although I’m sure it’s not as exciting as in the movies. You’d make a great detective! Thanks for commenting.
LOVE IT! Did he have a dog with him? Because if so, he’ll be back around 11pm and you can catch him then! But you are brave. I don’t think I’d confront anyone about it myself. But my question is WHY do they do it? You know these people wouldn’t want the rest of us having our dogs poop in their yard! Why are they like this? I don’t like to carry it around, so I often “walk” my dog in my yard to get the poop out right away (and I scoop and toss in the trash to keep the grass nice) and then we get on with our walk around the neighborhood. But sometimes there’s a second “stop”, so I always keep some bags tied around the leash. Honestly, it’s so simple to manage. Rude!!
I never thought of that but no, he did not have a dog with him either time. So why does he need my sign? It’s like he’s taunting me and my sign! So rude, totally agree with you. xo