When I lived in Burlington, back in the old days, it was common for people who mostly didn’t grow up there to have a dog. It seemed that many of these dogs were owned by women who were at a stage in their life when it was natural for the mothering instinct to have kicked in but the thought of choosing a mate or significant other to enable raising a human child didn’t fit their lifestyle or career/educational plans. Having a dear and devoted canine fulfilled that need nicely. All this was understandable and didn’t bother me as long as they were happy. The problem was that these dog owners needed to walk their dogs and would dutifuly make their rounds and allow their dog to shit on the ground usually in the grass along the sidewalks. No one EVER cleaned up after their dog back then and really a couple of turds on the winter snow wasn’t something that was all that terrible, I guess. That’s just the way it was. Come Spring as the snow melted the reality of the situation made itself painfully obvious to everyone as the snow melted and the accumulated piles of feces melted and drained down into the storm sewer which everyone was aware drained directly into Lake Champlain. Sometime after that, the city enacted an ordinance that required people to clean up after their dogs. The improvement was dramatic and now one rarely needs to endure the affront of of fresh steamer along the sidewalk. Sometimes government works.