Canadutch
(Photo taken by Carol, an expat friend here in the Netherlands)
Apparently I am not the only one having problems with Shit Ninjas in their area. Today when I checked one of my expat lists I saw a funny message from another lady who is fed up with the fact that people just don’t clean up after their dogs here. Only she came up with a much better way of dealing with it than I did (even though my way actually worked, our Shit Ninjas have been behaving since our run in).
She decided to stock up on little Dutch flags to stick in the poo when she sees it. I’m sure some people seeing her do this would probably take some kind of offence saying that she is saying the Netherlands is shit , but I think it’s hilarious.
Apparently on her 3 walks with her dogs yesterday alone, she went through 14 flags. That’s 14 shit dodges in one day. I’m telling you, it’s out of control!
I’ll never understand why the laws about this aren’t enforced more here in Holland, they DO exist but nobody gives a shit about them. Err.. pardon the pun. Regardless, I have never lived anywhere in my life where I am constantly dodging dog crap like I am here. Not to mention the fact that my dogs are always trying to eat poo which means I’m tugging at them nonstop on every walk. Ok I guess I am mentioning it but since when have I ever not wanted to share my misery?
I’m going to be very curious to see how this works for Carol in the future? Will the Shit Ninjas in her area wisen up and start cleaning up after their dogs? I have my doubts, but it will certainly let them know that SOMEONE is noticing their laziness.
Knowing the luck of us expats though, one of our 12 year old, baby faced police officers will see her and give her a ticket for littering.
I’m going to be very curious to see how this works for Carol
Wow! I am surprised that this country doesn’t do anything about the dog poop problem. I haven’t thought about how other country deal with dog poop. Props to that person sticking the flag in the poops so the problem could be recognized!
I’m a city forester for Toronto and its disgusting here. Owners take there dogs to school yards so they don’t get seen NOT picking it up. Meanwhile children play in these areas. I spend more time sitting with a stick in my hand picking at my boots than I care to think about. Humans developed sewage systems for a reason and it was a huge improvement in human health. Yet we now allow feces in the streets again. Just not ours. Its a health issue plain and simple. Dogs can be trained to use litter.
Where I grew up it was more like a farm than a city, so dogs were allowed to be dogs. Doesn’t work so well there though.
THEY.
FOUND.
MY.
BLOG.
Thanks for jinxing me becauseeeee………. yessss, I’m out of a job/home hahahahaa… Woops.
Gross, yet hilarious! It will make a statement, for sure ;-)
Reminds me of this website I once came across called Sprinkle Brigade: http://sprinklebrigade.com/
AAAAAHHH, this is HYSTERICAL! Shit ninjas… love it. Thank goodness they don’t come swinging nunchucks at you, though! I figured that there WERE no laws in place regarding curbing your dog! Just yesterday I was cruising along in the bakfiets and had to come to a screeching halt to avoid running over the steaming hot fresh poop a lady just allowed her dog to deposit. Blech.
Regarding your comment on my post, a) I’m sorry about your baby situation :-( b) the points I made are all things I so desperately WISH that I could discuss with the parents, but what’s more insulting than a 22-year-old telling you how to parent?! And I LIVE with them, so even though I usually have no problem saying what’s on my mind, I find myself avoiding confrontation a lot. c) thank you a thousand times over for the generous housing offer! Would love to be a house guest but ooooh man, I hope I don’t need it! ;-)
Jaimes last blog post… No, No–You’re Doing It All Wrong
I haven’t been to Holland, just Belgium, France and Germany, but that was the one thing I immediately noticed: dog poo was everywhere! It was like walking through a minefield. Sidewalks, roads, fields–everywhere you went, there it was in all it’s smelly, sticky, glory. Maybe it’s not a Dutch thing, but a Northern European thing.
nice post, tammy & glad you were *inspired* by my foto..lol i had a feeling you’d relate to this, same as i do with you about fireworks..my crusade continues and ya know, i don’t *expect* it to change things, but if i make someone think twice about where they let their dog do business then i’m happy enough..meanwhile i get a sense of community accomplishment every time i stick a flag in..by the way, i’ve bought out all dutch flags at blokker so now i’m on the solid colors – found in the party section at AH…
@Simone – haha don’t hold back, girl!hehe Have you moved yet? I’ll try not to hate you for being able to escape!
@Melissa – That’s the thing that gets me! We have big grassy areas too, even ones designated for dogs, but they still let their dogs shit on the sidewalks! Grr.
@Sonya – It’s the same here. No place is safe! If our dogs go on grassy areas where children play we clean it up, it’s gross but it’s less gross than thinking of some kid rolling around in it :/
@Jules – I could totally stick the flags in but tbh, we have so many nosy neighbours and god only knows what kind of stories they’d make up, so I’m not going to bother.
@DutchBich – We don’t leave any of ours either. Unless it’s in a designated grassy doggy area, then if people want to walk there it’s at their own risk haha
Being a Dutchy I completely agree with you. My family has always had dogs but we would never leave their shit lying around on the street. Not even before there were laws against it. It stinks… big time.
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I don’t think I could bring myself to stick th flag in there. I never see it on the street or sidewalks. There is a big grassy area in front of our building though that is full of poo.
Juless last blog post… Friday Reality Check
Oh man,what a huge problem this is! I cant let the boys play out in the grassy area by our house anymore because it’s covered in dog poo. I just do not get it..how f-ing hard is it to clean it up? I also hate how they take the dogs into stores. You cant walk in grassy areas anymore,you have to watch out on the side walks and they act like this is no big deal. I hope they start seeing those flags and think about what they are doing and how nasty and lazy that is.
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I saw that she was doing that! LOL! I have to say around my place it’s not so bad on the sidewalks, but I think that might be because we have a huge field where the dogs are allowed to go. So people at least will take them there. But I have been in other cities where you had to play dodge the shit bomb.
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Yup, that’s the Dutch for you.
Their all about their rules and regulations and make a big fuss about it.
Yet I never encountered more people in my life who ignore, circumvent and cheat around any rules they can, because the rules are for everyone else but not for them personally.