BostonZest

Dealing with Your Block's Dog Waste Pick Up Scofflaw in Boston

A while back we received an email from a reader of our City Paws newspaper column who loves dogs but is having a real problem with one irresponsible neighbor with a dog. Rather than properly disposing of bags of dog waste, this person is leaving the bags on the sidewalk where they multiply for days at a time.

The vast majority of people with dogs do pick up and properly dispose of dog waste. Many of us carry a container of pick up bags right on our leashes, like the ones shown in the photo above. However it only takes one scofflaw on a block to give all dog people a bad name.

Our block has had our share of scofflaws and, in addition to picking up after them ourselves, we have joined with neighbors to identify the culprits and try to deal with their behavior.  

 

Proper Disposal of Dog Waste

First you should know the legal grounds for a complaint to authorities in any case that involves disposal of dog waste. If you go to the city’s webpage on the topic, you’ll find links to the regulations.

While written in legal language, the city ordinance requires that those who are out and about with a dog:

1. Must remove all feces left by the dog on public property and on any private property that they do not own or occupy.
2. Must be able to show that they have a means of removal with them at all times. That means carrying a supply of pick up bags, not the one or two you thought you might need.
3. Must transport, “... such feces to a receptacle or other place suitable for the disposal of waste, trash, or debris.”

Sadly, if the irresponsible person happens to be over age 65, he or she is exempt from the ordinance and may get away with not picking up after a dog. However they still can't leave bags of dog waste in front of a building.

Action Steps

If you have a similar problem, first try to identify the person responsible, note their address and a description of the dog or dogs. Spread the word to neighbors to help with this step. In one case on my block, it was a woman who stood in her doorway and let her dogs out, off leash, to do their business every morning.

Call Animal Control with the address and a description. If the dog is licensed, they may be able to identify and warn the scofflaw. If you can give them a sense of a pattern of walks or the times when they might catch the person in the act, it might encourage them to send out an officer.

In the case of bagged dog waste, contact Inspectional Services and they can cite the building for improper garbage disposal.

Finally there is the 311 line by phone or the 311 app on a smartphone. If you and your neighbors keep sending in complaints, the city will be forced to respond. Having multiple complaints from other abutters will strengthen your case.

Unfortunately experience has taught us that confronting someone who would do something like this is unlikely to help. This type of behavior often seems to point to a wider issue of a person who is lacking in appropriate social skills or who is arrogant enough to believe that rules do not apply to them.

      

If you carry an ample supply of bags, (we buy them by the thousand!) you can offer one to someone when it looks like they are not going to pick up after their dog. Our favorite way to address this situation is to say, “You dropped something!” When they spin around to see what possible treasure they lost, we offer a pick up bag.

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 
(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our City Paws newspaper columns.)

Organize Your Furry Family Members

It’s amazing how much stuff a dog or cat requires. Food, treats, leashes, collars, halters, medications, shampoos, toys, travel crates, and other equipment can take over a good part of a small city home. 

Whether you have an older dog or a young pup, organizing their stuff will make everyone’s life easier.

The Right Place

A neighbor noticed the hook on our front door that holds our Poppy’s halter and leash. Not only does this spot put these tethers where we use them on a routine basis, but they are also exactly where we would want them in an emergency.

A friend with cats once had to do a fast exit when an alarm sounded. That required finding her cat carriers and getting the cats into them. That experience made her rethink where she stored the bags between trips to the vet.

We have a travel toiletry kit that holds everything we need for routine dog care or first aid. It also holds Poppy’s heartworm and flea medications and a few items we like to have along when we travel. That bag goes with us when we hit the road.

At home, dog toys live within Poppy's reach in the bottom basket of a three-tier storage stand near Ed’s desk. The upper levels hold a supply of pick up bags and bottles of water that we grab to go on walks. 

Nearby, a covered wicker basket holds a supply of oversized towels for when we arrive home with a wet dog or to put down to protect our furniture and rugs when Poppy enjoys a chew treat.

Food Storage

When you live in an urban setting, rodent control is a factor in many decisions. In city homes, consider storing dry dog and cat food in secure, rodent-proof containers. Most of our dog’s food is kept in our freezer, but treats and some freeze-dried food like her Dr Harvey's Veg-to-Bowl is kept in glass mason jars.

Paperwork

Our puppy paperwork is in two places. Paper copies of important documents are in a notebook we can take to a veterinary emergency hospital at a moment’s notice. A second set of documents and complete records of all her medical care is scanned and stored in the cloud so we can access it from our phones. This can be of great value if you ever have to visit a veterinary hospital other than the one that already has your records.

Take a look around and see if you're happy with the organization of your dog or cat supplies, food, and information. And, if you have a great idea on this topic you'd like to share, you can add it to the comments below or send it to us @BostonZest on Twitter. 

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our City Paws newspaper columns.)

Different Cooks Have Different Styles of Meal Planning

For us, meal planning becomes far easier when the local farmers market swings into town with an evolving selection of seasonal food. Our food selections for the week start at the market. We call it our “walk-the-market, chat-with-farmers, buy-what-looks-great, and plan-for-what’s-coming” method of shopping. We visit one or more farmers markets a week.

If this walk-around, scout-the-best-system doesn’t suit you, consult a seasonal vegetable chart available from a site like www.farmfresh.org. There you can enter your zip code, select the harvest calendar, and see a full-season chart of what’s expected to be fresh each month. If you combine this with social media updates from your favorite farms, you can plan your meals from your desktop.

Star of the Day!

When asparagus appears on farm stands, we plan meals around that short-lived, local season. Yes, we can buy asparagus other times of the year. But, while nice, the asparagus that appears in the mass market just doesn’t compare to what sprouts from rich Hadley, Massachusetts soil.

In season we tend to eat the freshest crops we can find, as simply as possible. This might mean steamed asparagus with hard boiled eggs and a hollandaise sauce on the side. At other times of year, the star of supper might be tomatoes, corn, or Brussels sprouts.

Watch the Sales

Sometimes we plan our week around something we found on special when we shopped, or at a good price because of a seasonal supply at our fishmonger or butcher shop. In winter we watch for sales on organic vegetables and fruit.

The price for the Faroe Islands salmon (above) was exceptionally good. Penny bought enough for two portions for one meal and leftovers for another. She sous vide cooked our Faroe Islands salmon to 115 degrees and then seared it in a blazing hot pan.

The leftovers became part of our salad bowl-for-two the next day.

Look at Your Schedule

There are weeks when Penny will have time to cook a few meals and weeks when her schedule means that there will be a bit of cooking and a bit of takeout to get us through some busy days. Shopping and cooking take time. If you try to cram both into an already full week, you’ll only add stress to your life.

 

Two of Penny's new, favorite, inspiring cookbooks are Scandinavian Comfort Food by Trine Hahnemann and A Change of Appetite by Diana Henry.  

Find a New Recipe

Most cooks have a handful of meals they make all the time without a formal recipe in sight.

If you are ready for a change in routine or if you have a special occasion, pull out a cookbook or visit a favorite food site and find a variation on one of your family favorites.

If your beef meatloaf is met with yawns, find a recipe that uses a different meat, spice, or glaze. Instead of your usual lasagna, find one that features a new vegetable, sauce, or cheese.

Here’s where it’s important to know which cookbooks, websites, and resources will give you well-tested recipes that work the first time you follow them. Food sites that include recipe testers’ comments along with the recipe are favorites around here. Two sites we trust are www.Epicurious.com and www.LeitesCulinaria.com.

Some cooks accomplish meal planning on the run by standing in front of the open refrigerator and seeing what’s on hand. Others plan a week by having special days like meatless Monday or Sunday roast. You may write out the week’s plan on a blackboard or ad lib around what you found in the marketplace.

All these forms of meal planning are great, especially if, by the end of the week, you and your family have had a nutritious, balanced diet that included a lot of whole grains, fruit, and vegetables.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 
(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

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T-Shirt Weather for Dogs, Too!

Summer is t-shirt time around here. Not only for us humans, but also for our Westie Poppy. 

We have told you about how we use a t-shirt as an extra layer of warmth in winter. This time of year, we use it as a way to keep Poppy cleaner and drier on wet and muddy days. 

How dirty does a doggie t-shirt get? 

This dirty!

We always say it is easier to clean the dog t-shirt than the dog. So, while we will dip her feet and wash down her legs after a messy walk, we just hang the messy t-shirt to dry over the tub.

Ed has come up with a great solution to brush and shake all that gunk off the shirt without making a mess around the house. He puts it into a plastic shopping bag for clean up. Once the loose sand and dirt is off, it can go into the wash for a final cleaning. 

 

More T-shirt Tips!

• There are t-shirts for dogs. The black one in the photos is a 16 inch size that fits our 17 pound Westie perfectly.
• We have also used t-shirts made for small humans on our dogs. A pony tail tie will work to fit the shirt to the pup's waist.

• Rolling up the sleeves and tacking them with a stitch will make sure your dogs doesn't trip over or get caught-up in a long sleeve.
• We highly recommend a pre-soak in a product like Nature's Miracle, if a shirt smells doggie. 

  

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny Cherubino 

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The Sleeping Bag Chronicles

We love visiting beaches in the shoulder seasons. Sometimes this means we have some surprisingly warm days, but often it means we deal with a bit of cold and wind. 

For those days, Penny has found a solution. Or rather, she has taken a lesson from some wise neighbors at the beach.

Last April she was sitting inside reading while sharing the window seat with Poppy. It was too cold and windy to be out on the deck where Penny would spend every waking hour if she could. 

Through the window she saw two women come out from one of the other apartments, spread sleeping bags on the chaise lounges on the deck, zip themselves in, and start to read. Brilliant Women! Women to be emulated!

This year we arrived with a cold weather sleeping bag. 

Not only does it work like a charm on cool windy days, but it also opens into a queen size comforter, if we want to use it that way. This one is a nice, soft, flannel fabric and doesn't have any of the noisy, crinkly nylon that many other bags have.

When the sun warmed up the deck, the sleeping bag was still welcomed to keep toes warm and to serve as a comfy cushion.

It was "Poppy Approved" for sharing ...

Both outdoors on sunny days and inside on rainy ones.

You might consider this as a great gift for anyone with a beach house, especially if they love to spend time outside in spring and fall or on chilly summer nights.  

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2017 Ed Cherubino  

Tips for Important Photos and Videos of Your Dog or Cat

Last week we suggested some uses for your phone beyond fun photos and videos for you pets to put on social media or share with family and friends. (Dog Lovers, Use Your Phone for More than Photos)

You should always have one great picture of your dog that you could share if your companion is lost or separated from you. Beyond that, we suggested using photos to communicate with your veterinary team, dog walkers, pets sitters, and other caregivers.

Tips For Photo & Video Communication

● Practice your photo/video skills before you need them.

● Set up an online account with services like Google Photos, iCloud, or YouTube and learn how to use them to upload your photos and videos, send links to someone who needs the information by email, or show it on your phone in person.

● If movement is part of the symptom, try to take videos with the animal walking towards you, away from you, and across the screen to give the doctor more points of view

● Create an album for specific ongoing issues. For example, if your dog is showing signs of seasonal allergies with goopy eyes, take photos of them for a few days and after treatment is underway. After surgery or a procedure take an initial photo of the scar or wound so you can compare it as days go by to be sure healing is taking place and redness is diminishing. 

● Do your best in stressful situations. We don’t know if we would have been a great videographer when our first Westie Sassy was having seizures. However, we know it would have been wonderful to have been able to show the veterinary team exactly what her seizures looked like.

● Ask your veterinarian if they would like to be sent a video of a symptom prior to a visit and what they would charge for that type of consultation.

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our City Paws newspaper columns.)

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Tracking a Boston Marathon Runner

Here's how to track a friend or any runner competing in the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, 2019.

First, don't forget the many phone apps (like Apple's Find My Friends) that let you locate people. If your runner is carrying a smartphone or an Apple Watch and sets the device to allow you to track him or her, you can use it to follow their location during the race. What's more, you can use it to meet up in the crowded family area after they have finished their run.

Mobile Phone Alert System

The Boston Athletic Association has set up the AT&T Athlete Alerts program. It allows you to receive updates on a runner’s progress.

Where are the Leaders & Crowd Favorites?

For a rough idea of where the race leaders are in relation to your viewing position, you can always watch the sky for the helicopters that hover above them.

For favorites, you must rely on the roar of the crowd as they approach. Or you can track your favorite by using the mobile alert system.

Related Posts: A collection of tips for Marathon Weekend, some are from past years and we'll be updating them between now and Marathon Monday.

Parking Your Car for Boston Marathon Weekend

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Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

 

Details:
Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) Website     
Words: Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2011 Penny Cherubino

 

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