If you walk dogs around the streets of Dublin, you’ll encounter many obstacles. Cars parked on the footpaths, wheelie bin chicanes, and many more. However, nothing is as irritating as broken glass. A cut paw means a trip to the vet and, in some cases, the dreaded cone of shame for your canine friend, who was just minding his own furry business until he or she got sliced open.
Sometimes this stuff gets cleaned up by the council, but more often than not it gets pushed into the wall outside someone’s house and it stays there. Clearly, the person to blame here is the mindless malcontent who thought it was fun to smash a bottle or a glass without thinking of the consequences, but we all have a responsibility to look after our neighbourhoods.
If you see broken glass outside your house, don’t just tut and think how dreadful it is that some ruffian has done something so empty-headed. And don’t assume that someone else will come along and clear it up, because most of the time they won’t.
Instead, take out the dustpan and brush and – while cursing under your breath at the idiot who caused the problem – pick it up and bin it. You’ll be doing your street, road or avenue a service, and you can bask in the warmth of knowing that there’s a Labrador or German Shepherd or Yorkshire terrier that isn’t cut to ribbons and mournfully limping around with a plastic cone around its neck.
Ideally we wouldn’t have to tidy up other people’s messes, but unfortunately that’s not the way the world works. So, spare a thought for Dublin’s dogs as they make their way around town, and do your bit to ensure that the glassholes don’t do any more damage.
Andrew Mangan runs the Arsenal website and podcast Arseblog and Arsecast. Do you have something you'd like to Sound Off about? Email 300 words to magazine@irishtimes.com with Sound Off in the subject line
