New Twist on the Meaning of "Doggy Bag"

Tired of finding dog poop in front of your house?

Here's an idea for folks who regularly suffer the neglect of dog owners.

Give them doggy bags. Every day. Make a colorful little clothesline and hang plastic doggy bags out of newspaper wrappers, right near their favorite spot.

A Brooklyn woman who got fed up with finding feces among the foliage in the tree pit outside her home has been collecting the blue, yellow and clear plastic bags from her own, and her neighbors', morning newspaper deliveries.

Every day she neatly ties the recyclable bags— two, three, six, and sometimes as many as a dozen wrappers -- on a three-foot line that's strung between two poles in her tree pit. The line (see photo) is made of weather-resistant plastic woven material. (In her case, the poles were set up by the City when they planted a new tree after Hurricane Sandy uprooted an older one.)

And don't forget a nice big sign, laminated to be weather proof, that reads, "Doggy Bag." 

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The Perfect Fit: Newspapers of Record

The New York Times and the Wall St. Journal newspaper wrapper bags are perfect for this task. They are not too big. They are also not too small. They tie easily. They are free, and, depending on your subscriptions,  a new supply might arrive every day. Their elongated shape is reassuring for the squeamish or germophobic person. They're generally opaque, so one doesn't have to look too closely; it's not yucky if you are standing there holding the bag while schmoozing with a cute neighbor or tying your toddler's shoelace.

They are waterproof. And, they are tough enough to carry just the right amount of weight.

Functional Urban Art After a Fashion

The newspaper wrappers arrive randomly in different colors and, when neatly tied and symmetrically arrayed, they're almost visually appealing, in a Brooklyn kind of way. And like much urban art, the doggy bag display is morphing, durable, rooted in the community, and expressive in its messaging. In regard to the latter, the message of this urban art might be translated as a nonverbal nudge, "Yo folks, now clean it up, how hard can this be?"

Green Solution to a Brownish Problem

Also, the display is functional.

"It's reduced the mess on the whole block," says the anonymous resident. However, she added, "Sometimes I don't have enough bags to meet demand."

The doggy bag clothesline has proven particularly effective during a New York winter, when already nasty-looking dirty snow piled on the sidewalk gets truly disgusting after a dog has done its business and the walker or owner hasn't cleaned up properly. "The block was cleaner during those long snowy weeks than in previous winters," said the bag hanger, referring to the frosty winter of 2013-14.

Dog walkers — especially those who forget or run out of scooper bags, are carrying too much stuff in their pockets,  or who need more bags because Fido has a delicate stomach — know that the bag tree is there, and come by to grab one.

Of course, the whole system depends on the availability of the free bags, which in turn depends on newspaper subscriptions. It's an ecosystem. That is, if you cancel your subscription to the physical newspaper, then you won't have your daily cache for canine recycling.

To date, the bag tree has not yet received a ticket, despite the fact that it's on a landmarked street, and the Landmarks Commission gets persnickety about anything that doesn't look "of the era," in this case late 19th-century. This is a stroke of luck or kindness. Blue plastic bags were not in vogue in 1898.

Pros and Cons

The pros of the doggy bag clothesline are obvious: a cleaner environment; happier dog walkers; happier neighbors and less suspicion and animosity toward people walking their dogs near your home. It's a relationship-builder, too, as the project requires some collaboration amongst neighbors to obtain a sufficient number of plastic bags every day.  Indeed, not even the most erudite amongst us can find a half dozen newspapers to be delivered, the old fashioned way.

The cons are varied. The canine clothesline needs upkeep. What do you do when you go to Florida for the winter? Owners of dogs might come to rely on it.

And, you have to check for holes in every bag, because otherwise, well, you know.

New York City does have a pooper-scooper law dating to 1978,  which requires all dog walkers to pick up their pet’s waste in all public areas or risk a $250 fine. But that doesn't mean everyone follows it. Au contraire. New York's streets thankfully aren't as doggy-dirty as, say the streets of Buenos Aires. Still, who hasn't rued taking a step without looking, and then tracking schmutz into the car or house?

So, aside from setting up a nanny cam to catch your local pooper-scooper outlaw — "who would leave that there????" —try the doggy bag clothesline solution. It's both eco-and neighborhood-friendly. And, for the fastidious and double entendre-lovers amongst us: you'll never, ever use the word "doggy bag" in a restaurant in the same way again.

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