The question was:
How come I never see anyone walking his or her dog in the street anymore? When I had my dog I only walked him in the street and so did everyone else on East Fourth. We let them crap between parked cars or in front of someone’s driveway. No, we never picked it up, because that was not a law back in 1969.
Firecrackers blew the stuff up, when it froze we shot it with hockey sticks, and it was the basis for the game “doody man” that we always played on the block. In “doody man” one would have to step in dog crap and then try to tag someone else before they reached the street lamp in front of 403 East Fourth.
Do you know all the games kids can’t play today
because of the “clean up after your dog” law.
It’s outrageous I tell you. Outrageous!
Ok, so people walk their dogs on the sidewalk because it’s easier to clean it up there. Rather than in the street where you might get hit by a car or a delivery guy riding a bike while you’re bending over. Who would want a pizza all over their back while cleaning up after their dog?
OK, understood.
Dogs follow the scents of other dogs, and for about thirty years now people have been walking their dogs on the sidewalks instead of the street. So like the deer trails upstate on my property, dogs follow “dog trails”.
OK, understood.
A dog today would rather crap on grass instead of a cold tar street. Well, maybe our dogs were different and were trained from the beginning to only shit in the street. My dog would sometimes end up with a bottle cap stuck to the hair around his ass. Was that wrong or just normal in 1969?
OK, somewhat understood.
But getting back to 2009, I have to tell you that most everyone I see picks up after their dog. From tough looking gang members to old ladies, most people seem to obey the law.
Oh right, when it snows…
Now when it snows something else happens. The stuff ends up all over the place, it’s like 1969 all over again. Except it’s all on the sidewalks instead of the street. Is it the same dog? Is it the same person just sweeping it “under the rug” like I used to do when I had my own apartment?
Well, maybe so, and that’s not really understood.
Ron
Free Counter
6 comments:
When we walked Sweetpea she always did her business in the street between two parked cars for a little privacy. And we didn't walk her in the street, we just trained her to go in the street.
Now we are lazy and we just let her go in the front yard.
She still looks at the curb for longingly.
Ron, just a quick thank you for giving me a huge laugh when I read this story this morning! I had such an awful weekend and this brightened me right up- especially the "doody man" (and let me also mention flinging doody at your friends from a stick). PS - out here in the NJ burbs people do the same thing, dogs pooping all over the grass. I wanna just kick these people's asses. -Joe
How funny. When I tell people today about the firecracker in the dog poop they look at me like im nuts. But that was a standard kid game on our block!
Hi Alaina,
Now you know what growing up on this block does to someone's mind. But I know you have the whole clan from your house to remind you of that every so often. Especially Christmas Eve.
I have been waiting over 50 years patiently for those old photographs of East Fourth when it was a dirt road along with corn fields around it. Neil promised me in 1975 he'd let me borrow them. If you have any pull with your family to get some of those and scan them in, I would love to put them on the blog.
I guess they are from when the Casey's lived there.
Thank you for reading!
Ronnie Lopez
399 East 4th.
mopar195@yahoo.com
Dogs in my country do it on grass too. Maybe car tyres drive over the crap.
Ron, Who could forget Firecrackers in fresh dog crap? You had better be able to run fast or you might just end up covered with it. Looking back on this I can only wonder what the car owners must have thought when they found bits and pieces of poop all over their cars. But when you think about it, why pick it up when you can BLOW it up?
Paul McNally
Post a Comment