What is wrong with people?

What an interesting day. My wife as out walking Lottie and Bomber this morning and was accosted by a man about our dogs daring to pee on the street in front of his house.

Thankfully my wife can handle herself. The guy ranted at her about how disgusting he thought it was and asked how we'd feel if he peed outside our gate.

He'd obviously never been out in the wee hours of a Friday night and seen what drunks do when they've had too many pints and their bladders are bulging.

My wife dished up an XXL serving of sarcasm and said "well I'm deeply sorry", turned on her heels and walked off - hopefully leaving this man feeling like the complete and utter tool that he obviously was.

Last year when we first got Lottie, someone also left a typed note in our letterbox saying "please clean up after your dog"

This was particularly galling as we like to think of ourselves as responsible dog owners and we carry biodegradable plastic bags designed specifically for picking up after our dogs. Bizarrely this seemed to be neither here nor there to our ill informed anonymous note writer.

The funny thing is I do sympathise with the note writer to some degree. There is nothing quite as gross as stepping in some particularly pungent dogshit. Cleaning up after ones dog isn't terribly onerous nor is it particularly difficult to do. It is something we've done from day 1 and will continue to do.

Dogs peeing however is something we have little control over.

What I take issue with is cowardly nature of both people. If I'd been walking the dogs with my wife would this gentleman have approached us? I doubt it. As for dropping anonymous notes in our letterbox, that is simply beneath contempt.

So lets ask the question - if dogs peeing (Lottie tends to discretely pee in the gutter) on the street was banned, where would dogs go to spend the canine equivalent of a penny?

Would we need to fit them with daipers? Perhaps the council could set up public dog urinals and offer dogs special training sessions on how to use them??

Clearly this is an issue that will polarise people and there is no single simple answer. As a dog owner I get that. What I don't get is the completely gutless and tactless way that some people have chosen to communicate the issue.

New Zealand has a reputation as being a clean and green place that is safe and easy to live in. Our attitudes towards animals however is terrible. The more I know about people, the more I like my dogs.