Where is the Poo?
While walking home today it occurred to me that Beijing has no dog poo. There are so many dogs in modern China, but I never see any poo. It’s true that this is not the noblest of questions, but I’m not the noblest of people.
Everyday I see people leaving my apartment building with their ugly, fat, white dogs. And yet I have never once seen poo anywhere. Perhaps owners let there dogs go on the grass, where people are not supposed to walk. Perhaps we are not supposed to walk there because those areas are poo traps.
Yet it seems so odd. I’ve never seen anyone walking around with a newspaper or bag, reaching over and picking up the soylent brown. In fact, usually the dogs are off their leashes when they make their natural deposits. Or at least I assume that’s what they are doing. I’ve never paid particularly careful attention. In Brooklyn there are dogs pooing everywhere. So I find myself confused and mildly disturbed in this new-sneaker heaven.
I’ve never stepped in poo here, and I’ve never seen it. The dogs are small, but must they not poo?
So I ask you: where’s the dog poo?
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Jeremiah responds:
Posted: January 28th, 2008 at 9:01 pm →
My wife went to law school in France and this is one thing that definitely she says compares favorably between China and Europe.
I’ve seen the old guys out in our neighborhood squatting behind their little dogs with old newspapers or strips of cardboard playing “catch the poop.” Good for them.
Rebekah responds:
Posted: January 29th, 2008 at 10:58 am →
And the bigger question is: where is the baby poo going? I have seen babies squat on the sidewalk and take a dump, but never stuck around to see if the parents take away the remains, however, I have never come across any crap on the walkway…I am wondering about this too. Thanks Josh, for bringing this up! He he
b. cheng responds:
Posted: January 29th, 2008 at 4:50 pm →
haha, while your sneakers don’t need to be afraid of poo in most cases, its far from a sneaker heaven, the moment a pair of white shoes come out of the box, its like they instantly turn a shade of cream, but, end rant…
For the most part, dog owners are pretty good at picking up and taking care of their pet’s poo, especially in the nicer areas. However, if you’re looking for poo, I live in a hutong and there’s plenty of it around. I think its something to do with the difference between nice grassy areas and the cold, grey streets that make people in my area less likely to clean up…
Eric responds:
Posted: January 29th, 2008 at 7:47 pm →
my theory is that there’s a pretty good cleaning up effort on the part of the city.
on my 5 am treks home, its not hard to find people in uniforms sweeping the street.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis responds:
Posted: February 1st, 2008 at 5:59 am →
In my day you used to get white dog poo. Whatever happened to that ? It seems to have become extinct. Now it’s just yucky brown stinky stuff. Bring back White Dog Poo !!!!
Scott responds:
Posted: February 1st, 2008 at 9:37 am →
I know in my neighborhood, for some reason the ‘poo’ is on the little walls that are next to the sidewalk. I guess people think it is a dog trail? I see kids walking on these same retaining walls, and they just happily leap over the stuff. And I thought people who sat on the newspapers were avoiding dust.