Sunderland dog owners told 'YOUR pet, YOUR responsibility, NO excuses'

There is an old Monty Python sketch in which a mass-murderer, upon arrest, says: "It's a fair cop. But society is to blame."

To which the arresting officer replies: "Right. We'll arrest them instead then."

It was a joke, but some people out there do appear incapable of accepting responsibility for something that is squarely, obviously, definitely, unquestionably etc... their fault.

Failing to clean up after your dog has fouled the paths and highways of England qualifies as an offence. It's certainly offensive.

Worse, the offending second-hand Winalot is often deposited on a pavement with a centrality which would usually require a compass and set square.

Could it be stray dogs? Possibly, but when was the last time you saw such an animal?

Catching the dog owners in the act, as it were, is problematic. They usually claim to have "forgotten" clean-up bags in the way I used to "forget" my homework.

Hence only two of them have been fined in Sunderland in the last year; a disappointingly low figure.

You would imagine that sympathy for dog owners with such a dizzying level of pig-ignorance would be extinct. Not so.

In addition to their own feeble protestations that they really aren't to blame, we hear the inevitable blaming of the council. All councils actually. It's a fair cop. But the council is to blame.

To wit: "There aren't enough bins". Oh please.

Even if more dog bins are required, there is no excuse whatsoever. In fact, if dog bins didn't exist there would still be no excuse whatsoever.

Bag it up and take it home with you; or don't have a dog in the first place. Happily most dog owners do clear up, but as always...

It's quite incredible that any of this needs to be pointed out. It stretches credulity that anyone imagines there is an excuse.

Still, for those incapable of accepting responsibility, the no-bins "argument" is all they have.

If these people are ever in the dock for assault, would they implicate the council for not providing enough space for them to freely swing their arms?

Don't rule it out.