"He scoffs at a bloke carrying a baby in a sling, gives a charity chugger very short shrift, and jumps out of his skin when a youth on a hoverboard zips past him. But it was Tony's disgust at a woman picking up her German shepherd's poo that got me thinking. When did picking up dog poo become the thing to do? Or, put another way, when did just leaving it there become the thing not to do?"
"I've been quizzing dog owners of a certain age about this. No one can quite remember when or how the change came about. What they all agree on is that, in the past, yes, dogs crapped everywhere with impunity. Also, because of the bonemeal used to bulk up dog food, it was white, which must have made it next to impossible to dodge in the snow."
"My auntie Barbara, who has owned countless dogs over her long life, points out that it was less a case of owners not picking up the poo; it was more that the owners often weren't with their pets anyway, as dogs were generally left to roam at will. Only rarely did you see them out for walks on leads. I suppose you could argue that these were halcyon days for dogs as well as their owners."
A PE teacher named Tony is thawed from a 1979 avalanche by global heating and appears in the present day unchanged, providing comedic culture shock. He reacts scornfully to a man carrying a baby in a sling, dismisses a charity solicitor, and recoils at a youth on a hoverboard. Tony's strongest disgust is directed at a woman picking up her German shepherd's poo, prompting questions about when bagging dog waste became normative. Older dog owners recall dogs once roaming freely, white bonemeal-streaked faeces that were hard to avoid in snow, and that owners rarely accompanied dogs on leads.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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