Unpleasant dog owner

[Ray T]

Went for a walk with our pooch this morning along the Hatton Flight.

First of all I don't think this was fox poo. It didn't smell like it when I cleaned it up.

Yes, our dog has rolled in fox poo before now, apparently it is the dog equivalent of Chanel No 5.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Ray T

[Athy]

Shurely Chanel No.2?

[Hudds Lad]

doesn't look like fox, usually some fur or such in it and pointy on one end, also a bit musky as you say. how rural is the location though, if it's grown accustomed to raiding bins instead it could make it more like dog.

 

that said, my money is on dog, or possibly fisherperson?  

[M_JG]

Could be anything surely??

 

Large bird/swan/goose/badger etc etc etc...

 

It's a clever dog that can perch on a bollard and poo at the same time.

[Hudds Lad]

11 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

It's a clever dog that can perch on a bollard and poo at the same time.

some dogs can be very particular about where they poop.

in my childhood we had a neighbour with a Sheltie that would only poo as it crossed a road, also i had a friend with a Lab that insisted on backing onto trees to poop.

our own Cocker Spaniel couldn't do it in one go, had to waddle about whilst doing the deed, once this lead to me nearly sliding down Nantwich embankment trying to bag-up after her in the dark with a torch. She was fine due to being a 4x4  

[Jerra]

3 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Could be anything surely??

 

Large bird/swan/goose/badger etc etc etc...

 

It's a clever dog that can perch on a bollard and poo at the same time.

Large bird - Ostrich?

 

Swan or Goose - bird droppings have white Uric Acid in the droppings as they don't urinate and have to get rid of the Urea.

 

Badgers - badgers use "latrines" i.e. the have set places generally near the sett which are used for the droppings.

 

My money is on dog.

[M_JG]

27 minutes ago, Jerra said:

Large bird - Ostrich?

 

Swan or Goose - bird droppings have white Uric Acid in the droppings as they don't urinate and have to get rid of the Urea.

 

Badgers - badgers use "latrines" i.e. the have set places generally near the sett which are used for the droppings.

 

My money is on dog.

I suggest you do a Google image search for swan/goose poo.

 

The swans/geese local to us pass something exactly similar to that in the pic.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2020 by The Happy Nomad

[Jerra]

55 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

I suggest you do a Google image search for swan poo.

 

The swans local to us pass something exactly similar to that in the pic.

 

 

Quote

At first I thought that was one of your shots of local swan droppings.    I see it actually comes from the beach explorer website.

 

You make an interesting observation.

 

1. I searched google for "swan droppings" and there were in my search only a few.   They split into two groups the beach explorer and green seaweed ones.  I can see from the seaweed ones they have been in water which might explain the lack of Uric acid.

 

2.  In the absence of photos to explain my conundrum I turned to text.   There appears to be two inescapable facts.   The first is that bird biology means they do not urinate and so the droppings contain uric acid.    The second is that "swanlife" who ought to know what they are talking about say:

 

The cloaca is the opening also used for excretion of waste and releasing eggs. The male swan also has a cloaca; this is used for excretion of waste and allowing the phallus (normally contained in his body) out to enter the female’s cloaca. The phallus is only used for placing sperm inside the female because swans don’t excrete urine –  the urine produced by the kidneys is mixed with the solid waste, so all their waste comes out in solid (or semisolid) form. The waste products in the urine are made into uric acid, which forms the white crystals that makes up the familiar colour of bird waste. The water from the urine is reabsorbed into the blood in the lower intestine.

 

I have over the years of survey work and reserve working come across lots of swans and never come across what you have in your local population.   What kind of habitat is it?   Inland, coastal, running water or still etc.

 

You have now started me off having to research this anomaly clearly something is causing it and I would like (for my own information) to better understand what is going on.

[M_JG]

1 minute ago, Jerra said:

At first I thought that was one of your shots of local swan droppings.    I see it actually comes from the beach explorer website.

 

You make an interesting observation.

 

1. I searched google for "swan droppings" and there were in my search only a few.   They split into two groups the beach explorer and green seaweed ones.  I can see from the seaweed ones they have been in water which might explain the lack of Uric acid.

 

2.  In the absence of photos to explain my conundrum I turned to text.   There appears to be two inescapable facts.   The first is that bird biology means they do not urinate and so the droppings contain uric acid.    The second is that "swanlife" who ought to know what they are talking about say:

 

The cloaca is the opening also used for excretion of waste and releasing eggs. The male swan also has a cloaca; this is used for excretion of waste and allowing the phallus (normally contained in his body) out to enter the female’s cloaca. The phallus is only used for placing sperm inside the female because swans don’t excrete urine –  the urine produced by the kidneys is mixed with the solid waste, so all their waste comes out in solid (or semisolid) form. The waste products in the urine are made into uric acid, which forms the white crystals that makes up the familiar colour of bird waste. The water from the urine is reabsorbed into the blood in the lower intestine.

 

I have over the years of survey work and reserve working come across lots of swans and never come across what you have in your local population.   What kind of habitat is it?   Inland, coastal, running water or still etc.

 

You have now started me off having to research this anomaly clearly something is causing it and I would like (for my own information) to better understand what is going on.

We live about 3 miles from the coast.

 

The swan poop I have seen is about 1 mile from where I live. There is a wildlife pond which attracts them.

 

Still water.

 

[Jerra]

Just now, The Happy Nomad said:

We live about 3 miles from the coast.

 

The swan poop I have seen is about 1 mile from where I live. There is a wildlife pond which attracts them.

 

Still water.

 

Thank you.

[Slim]

5 hours ago, The Happy Nomad said:

Could be anything surely??

 

Large bird/swan/goose/badger etc etc etc...

 

It's a clever dog that can perch on a bollard and poo at the same time.

When I worked just off the Tottenham Court Road in the 1980s there was a dog that covered the walls of buildings with poo. There was much speculation as to how he managed it but manage it he did.

[restlessnomad]

1 hour ago, Slim said:

When I worked just off the Tottenham Court Road in the 1980s there was a dog that covered the walls of buildings with poo. There was much speculation as to how he managed it but manage it he did.

was he an irish setter? (sorry)

Edited December 17, 2020 by restlessnomad

[Bee]

Now there must be some way to blame the tories for this but failing that I reckon it could be badger. 

[Jerra]

29 minutes ago, Bee said:

Now there must be some way to blame the tories for this but failing that I reckon it could be badger. 

As I said earlier unlikely to be badger, they use "latrines" (shallow scrapes) generally near their sett.   Without going into too much detail the texture is wrong as well.

Edited December 17, 2020 by Jerra

[nicknorman]

I’m confused by the title. Was it the unpleasant owner of the pleasant dog, or the perfectly pleasant owner of the unpleasant dog?

[Ray T]

9 hours ago, nicknorman said:

I’m confused by the title. Was it the unpleasant owner of the pleasant dog, or the perfectly pleasant owner of the unpleasant dog?

Owner for not clearing up the mess.

[M_JG]

15 hours ago, Jerra said:

Thank you.

https://w3w.co/slumped.suiting.fury

 

If you are needing the precise location.

[Jerra]

3 minutes ago, The Happy Nomad said:

https://w3w.co/slumped.suiting.fury

 

If you are needing the precise location.

Again Thank you, most useful.

[noone]

It could be construed as thoughtful!...It was left where you could see it,and not hidden in the mud!.?

[BWM]

Very common for foxes to do this, a form of territorial marking. Size and shape are also right and the usual grey coloration may be affected by diet, particularly at this time of year. 

 Have seen terriers do this too.

[The Bearwood Boster]

Cannot believe that not one person realised the scent from the poop was akin to Canal no 5...

[Ewan123]

On 17/12/2020 at 22:22, Jerra said:

As I said earlier unlikely to be badger, they use "latrines" (shallow scrapes) generally near their sett.   Without going into too much detail the texture is wrong as well.

I can't resist, forgive me: They do use latrines but will also drop single ones too, not always (though they often are) in a scrape. Latrines and singles can be well away from the sett as territory markers too. Texture-wise (I'll go into too much detail!) they are usually sloppier than that, though it can depend on what they're eating - I've seen some that are surprisingly dog-like. The real answer comes from the sniff-test. Nothing else has quite the same mustiness to it.

 

Yes, I've spent way too many hours poking and sniffing badger dung ? One of the more glamorous aspects of my job.

 

Quick edit: that all being said, I'd bet against badger in this instance too.

Edited December 24, 2020 by Ewan123

[Jerra]

6 minutes ago, Ewan123 said:

I can't resist, forgive me: They do use latrines but will also drop single ones too, not always (though they often are) in a scrape. Latrines and singles can be well away from the sett as territory markers too. Texture-wise (I'll go into too much detail!) they are usually sloppier than that, though it can depend on what they're eating - I've seen some that are surprisingly dog-like. The real answer comes from the sniff-test. Nothing else has quite the same mustiness to it.

 

Yes, I've spent way too many hours poking and sniffing badger dung ? One of the more glamorous aspects of my job.

 

Quick edit: that all being said, I'd bet against badger in this instance too.

Thank you for that, my experience has always had the latrines near the sett, I know what you mean by not going into detail on texture.   Its good to hear the experience of others.

 

EDIT to add sadly we as yet haven't smellyvison  

Edited December 24, 2020 by Jerra