Had to think then
I'd never heard of 'dog toffee', and it took 5 minutes for it to click you were on about dog eggs
Manchester man fined £1,440 after neighbours couldn't open windows for stench of dog toffee
A man from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, allowed dog toffee to build up in his garden over the summer months to the point that his neighbours couldn't bear to open their windows. The UK has had a scorching 2018, and air con isn't something we tend to invest in, so you can imagine the Atmosphere. Alan Morse, 46, who owns …
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Monday 29th October 2018 19:04 GMT Anonymous Coward
Diabetes often has various side-effects, including depression. So it could be that it is a genuine reason - can't face getting out of bed, let alone taking dogs for a walk and a shit in the park like un-depressed people. So dogs go in the garden. Meh, he can sort it out mañana, when he feels better, but hey, what does it matter, what does anything matter?
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Tuesday 30th October 2018 00:39 GMT Adrian 4
Lucky you.
I can't stand upright without something to lean on. Makes shovelling shit (constant change of balance and newtonian reaction from flinging it in the wheelbarrow) practically impossible. Same problem leaning down and picking things up. It takes 10 times longer than another person. And no, I'm not overweight.
The only practical method is to shuffle along the floor on your bum dragging a sack behind you. Not impossible, but I can sympathise with his reluctance to get it done.
Depression might have stopped him getting a labourer in to do it on the first warning. Maybe a £1440 fine will push him to do it. Or maybe he can't afford one now and will have to do the shuffle thing.
If there's something to blame him for it's owning three bull terriers whilst apparently being unable to exercise them properly. Now that's unreasonable. I guess the council should have taken them away.
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Wednesday 31st October 2018 13:07 GMT Dr. Mouse
If you can't look after a dog, and that includes picking up after it then you really shouldn't have a dog.
I agree.
You do need to look at the larger picture, of course. For instance, if the diabetes was causing depression, which then caused him to be unable to clean up, taking the dog away is counterproductive and would probably make him even more depressed.
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Thursday 1st November 2018 12:38 GMT CrazyOldCatMan
WTF has Type 2 diabetes got to do with it ? - doesn't stop me doing anything
It has stopped me eating sweets.. (But very little else.)
It's also responsible for me heart attack (which definately, really, really didn't have anything to do with my bottle-of-red-wine-a-night habit..Honestly..)
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Monday 29th October 2018 12:53 GMT msknight
Action should be faster
My mother used to live next door to neighbours who did this. It was a serious impact on her ability to enjoy her own property. That and the late night parties, of course.
The fine and the length of time it took to get to that point, are not enough, in my humble opinion. Should have been a damn sight faster to get the bloke dragged into court.
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Monday 29th October 2018 13:24 GMT Eponymous Cowherd
Re: Action should be faster
Had a neighbour who did this. He also didn't fix his fence when it started to fall apart, so Fido used to leave his mutt muck in our garden too.
One day I was busy cleaning this up when the mutt appeared through the fence. I called it over and liberally anointed it with the bag of its shit I had in my hand at the time.
The fence was fixed surprisingly quickly after that.
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Wednesday 31st October 2018 10:06 GMT Alan Brown
Re: Fido used to leave his mutt muck in our garden
"Don't punish Fido. It's not his fault."
Our mutt (and most mutts I know of) used to roll in whatever foul-smelling thing she could find (usually a dead hedgehog or cat shit), so being rubbed all over in one's own shit is less likely to be seen as punishment by Fido and more likely to be seen as a favour.
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Monday 29th October 2018 14:05 GMT Velv
If this mess is building up in his garden then is there not a case to investigate his general care of the animals? According to the linked article the fouling was in a "terraced house’s yard" - not exactly a roaming estate where the dogs could run free for hours of exercise.
An inspection by the RSPCA might spur a little more care out of him.
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Monday 29th October 2018 14:40 GMT Anonymous Coward
An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
When I lived in an otherwise pleasant suburb of south Brum, a family moved in next door and soon acquired a selection of bad habits, including something Rottweiler-related.
During the day the dog would frequently be tied up in the back garden with neither food nor water, and no one in the house.
There'd be a bowl of drnking water at the start of the day, which would almost immediately be knocked over, and the dog would then howl for hours on end, having no access to either food or water.
Nothing I tried with RSPCA, Council, whatever, could persuade anyone to come out and observe (and, ideally, intervene).
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Monday 29th October 2018 16:58 GMT Shadow Systems
Re: An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
At the AC, re: the dog next door.
When I was still just a kid knee-high to a LawnGnome, my neighbor did similar treatment to their dog. I complained about it, tried to get them to stop, but they evidently didn't GAF. I got tired of their indifference so made it a habit to climb over the fence, untie the dog, give it fresh water & food, & play with him for as long as my free time after school allowed. Then my family got a dog, I pried up one of the boards in the fence to let him come over, & the three of us would play fetch & Frisbee & all the stuff kids like to play with a happy dog. When the neighbors were due to come home each day I'd take him back home, make sure he still had water & food, but did *not* tie him back up. Back through the fence, shove the board back in place, & meet the neighbors at their own front door.
"You know, eventually your dog will decide *YOU* don't love him enough to count as proper masters, at which point he'll come to those he *does* consider to be acting in his best interests."
They told me to piss off & mind my own business, so I came back home, pulled the board aside, & waited. Sure enough, two days later he nearly killed himself gnawing through the rope to escape, came over to my side of the fence, & *refused* to go "home". I eventually just left the board askew so the neighbors would figure it out, bought a second dog house for him, & essentially adopted him as my own. The neighbors complained, claimed I stole their dog, but I explained the situation to the police & the nice copper told them to fek off.
My dog Lou & "their" dog Max lived to be rather fat, happy, & flatulent old muts, content in my back yard, & going through the fence to take their shits as if *KNOWING* it would piss off the people that started it all.
If you ever run across someone mistreating their pet, complain about it, ask them to stop, but ALSO do right by the critter & try to make them happy. If their owner proves to be worthless in the critter's eyes, you may wind up with a new furry friend!
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Tuesday 30th October 2018 09:53 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
I had neighbours in the not too distant past who were hobby husky breeders. They had three gorgeous huskies, locked up 24/7 in small caged pens in their back garden. Huskies are extremely energetic, but not once did I see those dogs get walked, not once, not ever. They also had two or three nasty little rat dogs who did live indoors, but would barkbarkbarkbarkbark incessantly when they were let outside until the very second they were back indoors.
Not long after I moved in one of the huskies broke free during some gales and jumped fence into my garden. In hindsight, he was probably so ecstatically happy because that was perhaps the only time he ever saw somewhere different. It was only some time after I 'responsibly' took him back it dawned on me they were nothing but prisoners.
Eventually the dogs disappeared and they moved away, rather suddenly too. I sincerely hope there's a special place in hell for such people.
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Tuesday 30th October 2018 12:52 GMT BebopWeBop
Re: An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
I can sympathise (with the dogs) - I frequently come across someone with 4 of them (he competes in events that involve the dogs towing a sled on wheels). He only has 2 out at any time - and runs 5-10 miles with each pair every day. They need a *lot* of exercise - unlike my increasingly lethargic terror (admittedly he is getting on for 14 years old)
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Thursday 1st November 2018 12:47 GMT CrazyOldCatMan
Re: An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
"You know, eventually your dog will decide *YOU* don't love him enough to count as proper masters
Same *very* much applies to cats. They will *not* stay somewhere where they are not happy. And, unlike dogs, they don't have the pack instinct..
Which is why I'm quite pleased that our 7 cats seem to enjoy living at our house and show no signs of wanting to leave. Conceding to their every whim might have something to do with that though..
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Tuesday 30th October 2018 05:30 GMT julian.smith
Re: An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
I had a similar problem with a neighbour who had 2 barking dogs in a very quiet location.
After preliminary testing with a hand held air horn, which resulted in some behaviour modification but not a total cessation, I had a remote controlled 104dB sounder installed facing their property.
They were dog owners but not completely stupid or untrainable.
It took time to train them to understand that ANY dog noise was followed by about 20 seconds of VERY loud noise from the "Dog Horn"
They left - years later, their house remains unsold. Karma's a bitch.
Tranquility was restored.
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Wednesday 31st October 2018 10:11 GMT Alan Brown
Re: An inspection by the RSPCA might ...
"Nothing I tried with RSPCA, Council, whatever, could persuade anyone to come out and observe (and, ideally, intervene)."
A howling dog for hours on end over a prolonged period (days/weeks) comes under the purview of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Section 82 (Statutory noise nuisance) if the council refuses to take action on statutory noise complaints under the same act.
There's case law on this one and section 82 has surprisingly sharp teeth.
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Thursday 1st November 2018 12:44 GMT CrazyOldCatMan
An inspection by the RSPCA might spur a little more care out of him.
[Cynical Mode]
Which the RSPCA will ignore unless there is political or monetary capital to be made out of it..
(Yes, yes, I know they have changed Chief Execs recently and the new one seems to want to get back to their stated purpose (to look after distressed animals) rather than to concentrate on making money and bribing^W influencing politicians but I'll wait to see if anything *actually* changes).
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Monday 29th October 2018 17:33 GMT Anonymous Coward
Fined £900??
Then maybe he's onto something and the council should go clean it up for him. Where I live if you have a public nuisance like letting your grass grow uncontrollably, not shoveling the sidewalk, leaving junk in the yard etc. the city will send you a letter and give you a few days to correct the problem. Otherwise, they warn they will come out and do it for you and bill you (at what I'm sure is an exorbitant rate) and tack on a fine. Not sure what the fine is since I've never had this happen, but I'm sure it is a lot less than £900 or $900!
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Monday 29th October 2018 21:13 GMT mark l 2
I grew up near Radcliffe and it was often nicknamed dog sh1t valley by people who lived in neighbouring towns. I assumed it was just an insult because they thought it was a bit scummy, but apparently it has had that nickname for sometime and it came about because their used to be a tannery down by the river Irwell which runs through the middle of the town. And part of the tanning process used dog sh1t which would give off awful smells.
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Monday 29th October 2018 23:40 GMT Nick Kew
Am I the only commentard with exposure to the UK rentals market?
If not, why do I see no anecdote of being shown round a property full of dog mess, while the lettings agent claims he can't smell anything (and after the office has assured you "no, not shabby at all")?
Sure, our rentals market has improved a lot, and that sort of place is thankfully no longer the norm. But there are enough of them around that I'd expect most fellow Brits to have encountered them from time to time.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
