Dog Poop Bags
saw these bag containers last week for the first time in a park in the 10th district. very glad to see something being done about the dog poo but do wish there were more containers then just the 2 ( its a major 24 hr gassi haunt) and while you are at it please put a few up around the EKH building too! you cant walk there you have to skip around till the end of the road! will see if i can put up a pic of it later so you see what i mean …
Thank goodness someone is trying to do something about the dog crap problem in this city, a problem that there is really no excuse for. The fact that most sidewalks dont have grassy strips and that so many people love dogs may be the reason that there are piles of dog crap- and just as worse- dog piss on every right angle imaginable. Not enough parks to take the dogs? Ok, well, make that YOUR problem, dog owners, not everyone elses. Start picking up the stuff, or kick it into the sewers.
For such an advanced and affluent society, it’s a wonder to me that most people seem to think it’s OK that there’s so much smelly dog crap on the streets. I should be able to walk down the street, and not have to look down most of the time, to make sure I don’t step in it. And then there are the flies. Those little bugs that eat that stuff, then land in your eyes as you walk down the street. Or land in your kebab (which many Austrians I know wont eat because they are “too messy”- what more messy? eating a kebab with veggies and fresh bread, a fatty schmeckt gutes wurst, OR spending your evening cleaning off your shoes because you forgot to look down walking home), or wurst. How have people put up with this? Is it because they love their dogs too much to worry about leaving a public walkway even the least bit sanitary? There is constantly the stench of new dog piss at the front door of my apartment, for example. ( not just MINE, lots of people live here) you can see easily that dogs have been led to piss there. Are these stray dogs? I think not. I think many dog owners are just not responsible enough. Building owner doesnt seem to care either, just leaves it, not bothering to hose it down. God forbid it be his responsibility. Call me a fool, call me whatever you want. I’m just an idiot auslander who is not capable of understanding the situation here. How outrageous, someone is up in arms over wanting cleaner sidewalks…! Forgive me for being a stupid idiot.
Do I think these new poop bags are a good idea? you bet. But are people going to use them? That remains to be seen.
In a society where people wait for the green light to cross the street- even at 3 in the morning when there are no cars coming- why can’t they pick up after their dogs?
While i’m at it: ever sat outside to eat ice cream at Zanoni in the summer? Eating that tasty ice cream and smelling the strong horse crap from the street- a winning combination.
I think i might be starting to realize that dog and horse crap might just be a part of the culture, and I should live to accept it.
Someone please let me know how wrong I am?!
and the next issue: Screens on windows- so you can open you windows in the summer at night, with the lights on, and not spend your evening swating insects. (maybe i’ve just got it all wrong here too)
again- someone put me in my place, tell me I am all wrong. It should be a good one.
Dave, you’re all wrong. Dog crap is what makes a city a metropolis, since only small-town people worry enough about what their neighbours think to clean up after their dogs. Horse crap signifies that it’s a cultured historical European city worthy of sightseeing by horse-drawn carriage :)
Relax people. It’s a joke. I’m a Viennophile and I’m as European as you can get.
Honestly though, I don’t think it’s that bad in Vienna. You should see India. There you can add cows, pigs, camels, monkeys and humans to the dogs and horses.
Alejandro- thanks for putting me in my place, though I still don’t understand. I’ve been to many cities throughout the world, and in my experience, the level of cleanliness is directly related to how the country is ranked in the world economy. I’ve never been to India. But Austria is certainly more well off. In India, I would probably expect to see things like that, and far worse. Please do not compare a 3rd world country to Austria. cows, monkeys, etc.
Montreal, New York, London, Barcelona, the list goes on, of cities that are well off, like Austria, not villages, where you know that people clean up after their pets, because most normal people seem to either care about others or have respect for property. I’m not a small town guy, I’ve lived in cities much bigger than Vienna (I like Vienna very much – except for a few things like the dog crap). So if dog crap is what makes a city a metropolis, then the people trying to do something about it prefer a city to a metropolis? Just try to accept the fact that for a country like Austria, one of the world’s most well-off places, dog crap all over the streets just does not belong. Imagine what a great place it would be, if the amount of dog shit and piss was kept to a miminum? (and if the people working at Billa would recognize a customer now and then, and maybe smile one in a while?! ;-)