The CURE for Dog Fouling

This is my response to all of the media coverage given to the increase in bagged dog waste found on beaches. We need to talk about the CURE and stop just moaning about the PROBLEM!

I have I have known about the dangers of leaving dog waste for years but everyone poo-pooed me (excuse the pun!) plus I was becoming more aware of the added problem of poo bag dumping so I invented the Dicky Bag. It is a fashionable solution to dog fouling; no fines, no bans just trying to engage with dog owners on a more adult level by creating a product which solves the issue of swinging smelly bags of dog waste on what would otherwise be a lovely walk. I am trying to change the general attitude to clearing up dog mess. How many more years will we persist in the futile talk about getting tough with bans and fines? We would need round the clock surveillance in every corner fo the country to catch these people. It’s time to try a new approach? Make being a responsible dog owner fashionable, help me change the way we think and we might just make a difference and see the problem decrease – it’s got to be worth a try surely!

I have made a conscious decision to make the Dicky Bag in the UK (way before Mary Portas made it trendy) and the people who use the Dicky Bag (we call them our Dicky Disciples!) tell everyone they meet that it is the best invention they own. WE are a small husband and wife team, who relocated from successful careers in London to give our kids a better life. WE have remortgaged our house to start this business and so we don’t have money for national advertising campaigns hence the long slow process of going to County fairs around the Country to spread the word or the last 3 years. At last some noise is being made about the problem and now seems a good time to help promote this British made solution.

We want to make being a responsible owner “fashionable” and “trendy”. Our bags aren’t about what goes in them, they are a lifestyle product! Swing a bag of dirt if you want, but personally I think I’m worth more – I wasn’t put on this planet to be my dogs poo slave! However i do insist that i clear up – EVERYWHERE!

I was confused seeing dumped poo bags on my walks around my home in Cornwall. By bagging the dirt the owners had done the worst bit of the job, so why wasn’t the bag getting to the bin? At this point I hear the cry “MORE BINS”. Accept the fact that there are never going to be ENOUGH BINS! I decided to create the solution in the form of an attractive, personal, portable, airtight bin to bridge the gap. If you aren’t carrying the poop bag in your hand and you can’t smell it, then you aren’t tempted to throw it in inappropriate places, and if you know you won’t have to carry a bag in your hand then you would be more inclined to clear up. It seemed obvious to me. I didn’t envisage becoming a campaigner when I started this journey, I didn’t realise I was creating social change. Bringing a completely new concept to a very public problem has not been an easy task. I simply had a good idea for myself and it looked like others might appreciate it too

Dog waste is toxic – as this report from the Marine conservation Society proves. When the physical evidence is washed away by rain or the tide the toxins don’t disappear into thin air, they poison the water table, the streams and the soil. Just think about this for one moment.  If you don’t like standing in it, how do you feel about drinking it!

 

So many people tell me that Dog dirt is natural and dog owners need to understand this is an urban myth. Wolves are native to this Country, Dogs are introduced. The environment can deal naturally with the amount of Wolf dirt it can’t cope with the increasing amount of dog dirt. It seems unthinkable that we used to have open sewers and people were dying of the effects and others still denied it was the cause of the problem. I think we are at the same point now with dog fouling especially with the efforts of Gary Downie from Steet Kleen to bring anaerobic digester to the UK so we can turn waste into energy. If you use a Dicky Bag you can carry bags of dog waste as long and as far as you need to, even in your car, to get them to the appropriate bin for collection.

Dicky Bags are lightweight, AIRTIGHT, hands free bags which store clean pick up bags in the lid and the dirty ones in the bottom. The bags can be washed in a machine and are made so well that our original bag is 5 years old and still working.

WE try to keep a sense of humour with the whole situation so people engage with us for instance I called it a dicky bag because it carries my Richard the Thirds and we have even made a Swarovski crystal covered Dicky Bag which will be auctioned for Marc Abrahams Pupaid event in September.

If you want more information you can see our website at www.dickybag.com or follow me and my Dicky Disciples on twitter @dickybag or on facebook, or use the good old “dog and bone” 01637 874849.