No one wins in Toronto 'poop and scoop' case

CBC News ^ | May 21, 2014 | The Canadian Press

[rickmichaels]

An Ontario judge has scolded feuding neighbours for acting like children in a lawsuit centred on the dirty deeds of a dog in their ritzy pocket of Toronto.

The justice writes that the "high point" of the civil claim made by one set of homeowners against their counterparts across the street was a "poop and scoop" that was apparently dropped by the dog owner in the rival neighbours' garbage can.

Evidence from a security camera of the dog urinating next to the bushes on the plaintiff's lawn in the posh Forest Hill neighbourhood was also submitted — and, as Justice Ed Morgan writes, the case went "downhill from there."

Court heard the beef stretched over several years and included complaints about the defendants parking their car in front of the plaintiffs' house, standing and staring at the residence or walking by it with an audio recorder to catch conversations.

Morgan writes the defendants — a psychiatrist and his wife — seemed to relish picking at the "sensitivities" of their neighbours — an oil executive and his wife — even going so far as to pretend to snap pictures of their house.

But the judge dismissed those peeves as not being worthy of a legal dispute and writes that what the couples need "is a rather stern kindergarten teacher" and not an appearance in his Superior Court hearing room.

"There is no claim for pooping and scooping into the neighbour's garbage can, and there is no claim for letting Rover water the neighbour's hedge," Morgan wrote in his ruling released Tuesday.

He scarcely concealed his distaste at the whole affair between two pairs of "educated professionals," plaintiffs Paris and John Morland-Jones and defendants Gary and Audrey Taerk.

"Despite their many advantages in life, however, they are acting like children. And now that the matter has taken up an entire day in what is already a crowded motions court, they are doing so at the taxpayers' expense."

Noting that the dispute drained both couples of "tens of thousands of dollars" in lawyers' fees, he declined to order either party to pay the other.

"Each side deserves to bear its own costs," Morgan wrote.

[longfellow]

The Lone Ranger shouldn’t have to pick up after Tonto. He’s old enough to take.....Read that wrong sorry.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The best, wittiest scheme to discourage unpoliced dog dropping in public parks was by a town in the Midwest, who equipped one of their parks employees with a pressurized “peanut butter gun”.

Figuring that dog owners tended to follow the same routes, the objective was that each scumber would get a squirt of pb, and the next time the owner took their dog for a walk, it would scarf up its own leavings.

Thus so horribly grossing out their owner that they would in future clean up the mess left by their canine companion.

By all accounts it was a smashing success. Or snacking success, as it were.

[HangnJudge]

it would scarf up its own leavings.

Best... Answer... Ever...

Ding, Ding, Ding, we gotta winnah

[Chode]

at my last house the neighbor owned an antique store around the corner but would have his wife's ankle biter crap on the lawns on our side of the street(sometimes within a foot from my front door thanks to a 30' lead) when there was county property across the street from their house and state property across from their antique store

i caught him one day and told him pointblank, the next time i find crap in my yard i'm gonna start taking my Rotty EVERYDAY to pizz on all his antiques outside store...

that was the end of that

[Sans-Culotte]

I don’t understand these people. I always pick up after my Corgi. And I throw the bag in my own trash can.

[Rodamala]

Absolutely brilliant, this peanut butter gun. I hope it is an assault style gun, with a high capacity magazine.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Sorry to disappoint, but it’s like a pressurized weed sprayer, though I imagine quite specialized to pump such a viscous substance. And creamy only, not crunchy.

A home version would be simplicity itself. Just a calking gun, an empty tube, and cheap generic pb. Though I wonder if squirrels would be a problem, just taking the pb and leaving the “cracker” as it were.