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The Law of Averages Says You Will Step In Poop | #ScoopThatPoop

1/20/2014

17 Comments

 
Typist: Bethany
I scoop the poop from our yard every single day. In Rain and in sunshine. In sickness and in health. For richer or poorer. Wait. I'm not marrying the poop. But I do clean up our yard every single day without fail. Once a week or sometimes more, I step in poop. How is this possible? Mind you, I am walking around our very small lot actually looking for poop. Our dogs also tend to poop in the same places in our tiny yard. Yet "ew" and a shoe scraping happens surprisingly often. So the
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Ask Brychwyn and Huxley about that average 1x3 inch poop pile number, not me!
other day, while cleaning up such an incident, grumbling something like "what the?...yuck, I can't believe this happened again, what are the odds?" it occurred to me; seriously, what are the odds? Now I am not very good at math** but I really, really wanted to know about my odds of stepping in dog poop.* Here is what I discovered:
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There's no way that a dog as cute as this poops THAT much... right?
  • Our small city lot is approximately 800 square feet.
  • Three dogs, regularly pooping, with an average three square inch pile of poop, means there would be over one third of a square foot of poop in our yard per day. That's one pile of poop every 32 square feet.
  • So I could step in poop in my own yard every 32 steps! Gross.
But what do you care about my yard. What about the city of Seattle?
  • The city itself is 142.5 square miles and there are approximately 153,000 dogs in the city limits.
  • If all those dogs poop regularly (and their owners don't scoop that poop!) there's 19,750 square feet of poop in the city per day or one pile of poop at least every half mile.
  • So each of the over 612,000 people in the city need only walk a half a mile to risk stepping in a pile of poop. Yuck.
What does all of this mean? Well, for one thing, SCOOP THAT POOP! And even if you step in poop once in a while, you are not the most unlucky person in the world. Do  not constantly fear lightning striking you because the odds are still on your side. But wouldn't it be nice if everyone cleaned up after their dog right away without fail and lightning strikes became our only statistical anomaly? Yes!
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And it keeps your neighborhood looking better, is healthier for people, pets and the environment, is polite to your neighbors... we need bigger signs!
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We're very sorry you sometimes step in poop but we always try our best to cheer you up. Perhaps our cuteness can convince everyone to Scoop That Poop?
*These equations are purely for shock/novelty purposes, are likely not correct and by no means represent real odds. But Jason,**  my dad** and I did try really, really hard to be accurate because there is nothing novel about the filth left behind when dog owners don't scoop that poop!
**Jason and my dad are good at math but they thought I was crazy for wanting to figure this out.

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Thank you to Sugar The Golden Retriever, Oz the Terrier, Emma,MYGBGV, Pawsitively Pets, Lazy Pit Bull, and According To Garth Riley for hosting the #ScoopThatPoop blog hop to raise awareness of the importance of picking up after your dog. Please enjoy all of the bloggers posts linked below, share with your friends and spread the word!
17 Comments
Jana Rade link
1/19/2014 02:55:07 pm

Hubby quite frequently steps in dog poop when going to barbeque, particularly in the dark. And it doesn't matter that I just picked up the yard shortly before that. JD seems to have a knack of depositing his gift just after that and just in the right place.

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:25:54 am

Ah, yes, the convenient timing and placement poop... this is exactly the type of variable that couldn't be figured into my (hence inaccurate) calculations!

Reply
Molly The Wally link
1/19/2014 05:08:46 pm

We always scoop the poop but not everyone does here and it so annoying and worse not nice for the road sweepers. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:27:00 am

Poor public workers... they are definitely above average with their poop encounters when everyone doesn't clean up!

Reply
Emma link
1/19/2014 07:48:49 pm

At least you pick up daily. Nothing worst than a mine field. That would be like you humans never flushing! Yikes, scary thought!

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:28:45 am

I am permanently haunted by the photos of your neighbors yard in your post, Emma. That alone is inspiration to scoop that poop from my yard everyday!

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Taryn link
1/19/2014 09:01:16 pm

My dogs try very hard NOT to poop in their own yard. They much prefer to spread it around the neighborhood for all of their friends to smell. Even so, during grass mowing season, I always manage to step in something. LOL!

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:30:18 am

Those times when I tell myself "the dogs all pooped on the walk so their can't be any in the yard" are the times I always step in it!

Reply
Oz the Terrier link
1/19/2014 10:43:41 pm

Ma and I don't think you're crazy for wanting to try and figure this out! Daddy-dog is a "math man" so I bet he would really appreciate your efforts here. I wish everyone would Scoop That Poop...it is just the polite thing to do - to clean up after yourself and your dogs.
Happy Monday,
Oz

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:31:43 am

Thanks for hosting the hop, Oz, and for inspiring me to get my mathematical brain going... however gross it might be!

Reply
Christina Berry link
1/19/2014 11:57:23 pm

LOVE all the statistics, and your disclaimer! :)

Great post!

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:33:44 am

Thanks, Christina. I was really proud of the math until Jason pointed out that we couldn't account for buildings when figuring out the space in Seattle. So, it's just novelty math! But hopefully novelty math that will encourage people to scoop that poop!

Reply
Golden Woofs: Sugar link
1/20/2014 12:27:51 am

We will do soon do a statistical data too. We live in such a good community too and its incredible to see poop on the ground. What's so hard to pick it up, #ScoopThatPoop. On our previous post and research, many jut find poop as yucky ... well it is part of dog ownership. Lots of Golden Woofs, Sugar

Reply
Jessica @ Life with Duke link
1/20/2014 12:43:56 am

The math doesn't lie! We're not lucky enough to have a lot of our own since we live in an apartment, so I pick up after Duke right away on our walks around the neighborhood. Less chance of stepping in it this way though!

Reply
Ann Staub link
1/20/2014 06:39:48 am

Haha! Well I'm sure your calculations are much more accurate than mine would have been! Not sure I'd know where to start with that one! Very interesting though to figure it out... wonder what it would be like in my city.

Reply
Bethany
2/11/2014 09:35:35 am

It is definitely a lot more poop per mile here in Seattle because we have a very large canine population. As I do in my yard! Thanks for hosting the scoop that poop blog hop.

Reply
Sand Spring Chesapeakes link
1/22/2014 06:33:59 am

intresting statistics and that is a whole lot of poop.

Reply

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