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

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

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:

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!

And it keeps your neighborhood looking better, is healthier for people, pets and the environment, is polite to your neighbors... we need bigger signs!

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.

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!