Job Done
Poo-free pavements & parks through picking up others’ dogs’ poo
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Dogs are wonderful, dog poo left unpicked up is, as Keep Britain Tidy says: “...the most unacceptable and offensive type of litter on our streets. Our research shows that dog fouling is the issue the public are most concerned about."
We need to move away from the idea that there are “irresponsible owners” and the rest of us. The research evidence base proves this isn’t the case and those of us with dogs need to up our game. Picking up any dog poo we see helps keep places we live in and visit nice and clean and it's a type of 'missed poo off-setting' to make up for the ones we sometimes miss from our own dogs. Even if only a minority of us acted as ‘poo ninjas’, this would considerably improve the problem, alongside other essential elements such as sufficient bins and increased awareness that we should pick up everywhere including in fields and forests.
There could be a very simple way of massively and sustainably improving the situation, creating a paradigm shift in the way the problem is perceived and addressed. Those of us with dogs should pick up any poo we see, because it’s the right thing to do (like picking up crisp packets and other litter), because we’ve got the kit and the stomach for it, and because most of us sometimes “miss a dollop”. It’s impossible to watch our dogs every second of a walk, especially if they are off the lead, so picking up other poo makes up for times we inadvertently don’t pick up. I carried out an informal survey on two Facebook dog group pages, and one respondent commented: “In case one of my dogs has done a poo when I’m out of sight and have missed it ~ I feel that picking up someone else’s redresses the balance a bit.”
This quote from a clearly “responsible” person illustrates why there’s a need to move away from the idea that there are “irresponsible owners” and the rest of us. The research evidence base shows this isn’t the case (e.g. Westgarth et al, 2019) and those of us with dogs need to up our game by picking up dog poo even when it wasn’t deposited by our own dogs. Even if only a minority of us acted as ‘poo ninjas’, this would considerably improve the problem, alongside other essential elements such as sufficient bins and increased awareness that we should pick up everywhere including in fields and forests. Always and everywhere.
The evidence bases from littering, social marketing and other fields support the Job Done concept. The risk of the approach backfiring was addressed in an email to me from Prof Daniel Read, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School and co-author of Using behavioural science to reduce littering (2018): "I think that being seen picking up waste is more likely to encourage others to do so than to encourage free riding. So if those who do not pick up see others doing so, they will see that it is the ‘norm’ and want to do so themselves. I doubt that those who are currently picking it up will conclude they no longer have to bother. To be absolutely sure you would have to test any new system, but I am pretty confident your scheme would not backfire."
We have begun piloting the approach in the Cotswolds, and the immediate effect in a small village was very positive. Comments on the village Whatsapp group included: “Definitely a big improvement, noticed finally after a long walk so .” “Definitely better on path up to [the church].” We also got a very welcome endorsement from Rory Cellan-Jones, the former BBC Tech Correspondent & adopter of the hyper-anxious rescue dog Sophie, who tweeted to his 350,000 followers:
We need to move away from the idea that there are “irresponsible owners” and the rest of us. The research evidence base proves this isn’t the case and those of us with dogs need to up our game. Picking up any dog poo we see helps keep places we live in and visit nice and clean and it's a type of 'missed poo off-setting' to make up for the ones we sometimes miss from our own dogs. Even if only a minority of us acted as ‘poo ninjas’, this would considerably improve the problem, alongside other essential elements such as sufficient bins and increased awareness that we should pick up everywhere including in fields and forests.
There could be a very simple way of massively and sustainably improving the situation, creating a paradigm shift in the way the problem is perceived and addressed. Those of us with dogs should pick up any poo we see, because it’s the right thing to do (like picking up crisp packets and other litter), because we’ve got the kit and the stomach for it, and because most of us sometimes “miss a dollop”. It’s impossible to watch our dogs every second of a walk, especially if they are off the lead, so picking up other poo makes up for times we inadvertently don’t pick up. I carried out an informal survey on two Facebook dog group pages, and one respondent commented: “In case one of my dogs has done a poo when I’m out of sight and have missed it ~ I feel that picking up someone else’s redresses the balance a bit.”
This quote from a clearly “responsible” person illustrates why there’s a need to move away from the idea that there are “irresponsible owners” and the rest of us. The research evidence base shows this isn’t the case (e.g. Westgarth et al, 2019) and those of us with dogs need to up our game by picking up dog poo even when it wasn’t deposited by our own dogs. Even if only a minority of us acted as ‘poo ninjas’, this would considerably improve the problem, alongside other essential elements such as sufficient bins and increased awareness that we should pick up everywhere including in fields and forests. Always and everywhere.
The evidence bases from littering, social marketing and other fields support the Job Done concept. The risk of the approach backfiring was addressed in an email to me from Prof Daniel Read, Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School and co-author of Using behavioural science to reduce littering (2018): "I think that being seen picking up waste is more likely to encourage others to do so than to encourage free riding. So if those who do not pick up see others doing so, they will see that it is the ‘norm’ and want to do so themselves. I doubt that those who are currently picking it up will conclude they no longer have to bother. To be absolutely sure you would have to test any new system, but I am pretty confident your scheme would not backfire."
We have begun piloting the approach in the Cotswolds, and the immediate effect in a small village was very positive. Comments on the village Whatsapp group included: “Definitely a big improvement, noticed finally after a long walk so .” “Definitely better on path up to [the church].” We also got a very welcome endorsement from Rory Cellan-Jones, the former BBC Tech Correspondent & adopter of the hyper-anxious rescue dog Sophie, who tweeted to his 350,000 followers:
The Job Done concept is low-cost, constructive and pleasant and sustainable. It wouldn’t eliminate the tenacious, highly unpopular problem of dog fouling, but it could substantially reduce it.
To read the whole bells and whistles, references and survey results paper, please click on link below.
To read the whole bells and whistles, references and survey results paper, please click on link below.
| job_done_-_a_new_approach_to_dog_fouling.docx |