LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It started out as a post on Nextdoor from a neighbor angry that a dog owner didn't pick up after her pet. There were many comments with people weighing in on dog poop etiquette.
This is no new debate, but it never fails to heighten emotions among neighbors. In April, a man in Louisville shot two of his neighbors after a fight over dog feces.
"Nobody likes somebody leaving a pile in their yard, especially if they don't even have a dog," Alan J volunteers at a dog safe area off of Bardstown Road in the Highlands. He works hard to ensure the grounds are poop free.
"It's the lazy people out here in the public who live out here in the neighborhood that for whatever reason think that they are too good to clean up after their pet and it makes all people look bad."
Casey Wells at the Springs at Hurstbourne says her community uses science to keep their poo problem under control, "take the DNA and create a profile so in the future if we see a resident who has not picked up, we will sample it, send it off to the lab and sample it."
If the Poo Prints profile comes back to your pet, you'll have to pay a violation fee. "So typically by that first time, it sets the message that we really want to promote a clean environment for everyone to live in," says Wells.
A simple process with a tangible solution, "the pet owner brings the dog in, we swab the cheek, it's ten seconds, we let it dry, send it to the lab and let them do their work."
It's also illegal, Jefferson Metro has an ordinance that requires you pick up after your four-legged animal. It you don't, you could get cited anywhere from 150 to a thousand dollars.
The Big Four Bridge also banned dogs right after it's opening because of the large amount of waste left on the bridge.
The general consensus, if you're dog is doing it's business, keep a bag handy to pick it up.
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