Dog keech*

A miserable, cold, wet day. Just the day for an occasional rant.

This quirky, happy little sign is to be found in the car park at Newburgh beach, a popular spot for dog walkers from far and wide. It clearly gets across the message that dog owners must clear up after their pets, after all only 11 people have been fined in the whole of Aberdeenshire over the last 5 years.

How come then, that on my morning walk through the village and along the beach, I came across 93 piles of dog keech, some big enough to be worthy of a bear, and 27 little black bags full of the stuff which had been casually abandoned? Have these people no sense at all of personal responsibility and of the health risk that they create for our children?

* keech, a fine old Scots word for shite.