Have you ever been so lucky to be walking in our parks and catch the awful smell of a fresh pile of dog poop on the path you’re walking on? Or observed a dog owner standing beside their dog watching them put out a new pile of poop onto the trail and then proceed to walk away without picking up after them? Or had a dog approach you out of nowhere off leash, or owners walking while their dogs are off-leash running around the open trails? I am tired of observing these things along the BPA and at Panther Lake, Steel Lake and Celebration parks. Whenever you ask the owners to please pick up after their pet or put them on a leash, they respond with vulgarity. They also say things like mind your own business, or my dog is nice he/she won’t bite anyone or kill the wildlife that lives on the trail. The law is the law, and if you can’t be a responsible dog owner, why do you have a dog? Some owners even attempt to pick up the dog poop but then proceed to throw the bag into the bushes. The dog-poop bags in bushes perplex me beyond belief. Why pick up after your dog if you’re only going to throw a plastic bag with dog poop in it into the bushes and shrubs?

Listen, irresponsible dog owners: The dog feces you don’t pick up winds up rotting on the ground for months and gets scattered all over our parks. Dog waste on the trails is not only obnoxious and gross, it can also be dangerous, making its way into our water supply if not disposed of correctly. Dog poop is not natural. If you think that, then why not allow human waste on the ground? Also, the wildlife that lives on the trails has to compete for space and resources your dogs are taking over. I have personally seen bunnies and birds killed because you let your dog off leash to chase them around and destroy their nests. Some dog owners even encourage this behavior and think it’s a fun sport for their animals. To the irresponsible dog owners who say how nice their dogs are, and they won’t bite a kid, another dog or person: There is no excuse to be irresponsible with your pet, and there are plenty of off-leash parks in our neighborhoods you can use. How about being kind to the environment and the people who have to live here in Federal Way? Why should we have to put up with your selfishness and irresponsibility?

William Medina, Federal Way