Every day at the bus stop I see a few other moms. Sometimes after the kids get on the bus we walk around the neighborhood. They are walking their dogs. I am just delaying the start to my work day.
Today my neighbor texted me to ask if my 6yo would be willing to walk her dog around the neighborhood. "Sure!" we said.
(Obviously I wouldn't let her go alone.)
We walked over to pick up the dog. We got her leash and the "poop bag."
The poop bag is a disgusting concept to a woman 6 years past diaper changing. But I've walked around the block with this dog several times and she almost never poops.
We started off.
We hadn't gotten 1 house when the dog pooped. No matter, I picked up the poop, tied off the bag and left it at the top of the driveway (luckily it was my own house.)
We kept walking.
3/4 of the way around the dog pooped again. I was caught short without a bag. On a quiet day I would have just left it, gone back to my neighbors house, grabbed another bag and then gone back and gotten it. But I had a work call in 5 minutes.
So I grabbed a HUGE oak leaf and scooped up the poop. It was as nauseating as it sounds.
We walked three houses to a house that has two HUGE dogs that often terrorize me when I am running by breaking through their electric fence. I left the poop in their yard figuring it would drive their dogs NUTS to have interloping poop about and we walked back.
I washed my hands 15 times and had my daughter wash hers twice - even though she never got close to the poop.
Then I jumped on my conference call where I related my poop-woe story to my coworker.
"That's why I have a cat." he said. "She goes outside to poop and I dont have to deal with it."
"But don't vets yell at you when you tell them that you have an outside cat?" I asked him.
"No." he said. "Why would they?"
"Because the life expectancy of outside cats is like half the life expectancy of indoor cats." I told him.
"Hm." he said, "I didn't know that. But the way I look at it is - she's an animal."
We switched topics to work related stuff. 10 minutes after we hung up his cat was attacked and mauled by a dog.
Now I feel like I jinxed him.
OMG. That is horrifyingly ironic!!!
Posted by: Liz | May 23, 2013 at 10:26 AM
Oh wow! That is awful. You don't expect a sweet story about a six year old walking a dog to end quite so tragically. :(
Posted by: The Borg Blog | May 23, 2013 at 10:31 AM
Sorry about his cat, but yes, my stupid neighbor's cat comes in my yard, poops in my garden and chases away the birds I'm trying to feed. Keep your cat inside.
Posted by: joeinvegas | May 23, 2013 at 03:12 PM
Oh god I'm a bad person but that made me giggle - only at the irony of course and not the ill-fated feline...
Don't get me wrong, I love cats but when we moved out bush we decided to keep our 2 cats inside for fear of snake bites - the cats had been outdoors all their lives and so in retaliation to us trying to keep them safe they started wee-ing in the house instead of their fancy pants cat litter tray, in particular they have a penchant for the carpet in the kids play room, and no amount of horribly expensive specially formulated chemical has been able to remove the smell or deter them from their wicked ways.
Now I think I may have become a dog person....
Posted by: Suzi | May 24, 2013 at 06:10 AM
I do not let my kitty go outside. She is deathly afraid of outside and claws you if you try to carry her near or out any doors. Sucks about his cat but crazy you were just talking about it.
Posted by: Madtyper | May 28, 2013 at 07:54 AM
That's amazing.
Posted by: Sara | May 28, 2013 at 10:37 AM
Well,wait a second. My neighbor always let her cat go outside. The cat took care of the mice and rats. Isn't that what cats are supposed to do? Isn't that why they get caught up in trees and firemen have to be called to get them down? I don't have a cat but I thought they lived inside and out. Really who else eats the rats in the ivy. I say you have no reason to feel guilty. There. You are absolved.
Posted by: Sandra Sallin | June 08, 2013 at 01:37 AM