Dorchester councillor relaunches campaign against dog mess

David Taylor has repeatedly spoken out against irresponsible dog owners in the town who leave their pet’s mess on pavements and at beauty spots in the town.

A particular area of concern has been the old Poundbury area and Poundbury Hillfort.

Cllr Taylor said that he has been contacted by parents with pushchairs who are regularly finding their wheels left covered in mess that has been left on the pavement, or who are being forced out into the road to avoid it.

Michelle Every, mother of one-year-old Jack and six-year-old Harry, said she was regularly having to avoid dog mess left on the walkways around her home in Normandy Way and on the routes into town.

She said: “It makes it very hard because you have to go around it with the pushchair so you have to go in the road in a lot of places around here. It’s awful.”

Michelle said it was particularly bad along Poundbury Road as it was a such a busy route.

Cllr Taylor said he was ‘outraged’ by the lack of responsibility some dog owners were taking for clearing up after their pets.

He said: “Over the years I have been campaigning because of the irresponsible dog owners, not the responsible dog owners.

“They are just going out and seeing their dog has done its business but they don’t clear it up.

“It makes it really annoying for the residents and community of Dorchester.”

Cllr Taylor said he had particular concern for parents and children at this time of year as it was getting dark when some children were being picked up from school and it was harder to see the mess that was plaguing the streets.

He said any parents with pushchairs with them could then drag it back inside.

Cllr Taylor has a particular concern about children coming into contact with dog faeces as he himself was left partially sighted after contracting toxoplasmosis – an infection that can be caused by exposure to dog faeces – when he was younger.

He said: “There is a real danger there potentially.”