Sir, - Simon McAleese suggests (July 24th), that dog-owners should "ensure their dogs excrete at the edges of the pavements". A hygienic system would involve the urban councils creating enclosed sandy "dog-poo zones" at the edges of parks, with a poo-bag dispensing box at the gate to the sandy place. Such a system is used in Finnish urban areas with considerable success.
In Finland also, dogs are strictly leashed when walked in urban areas, and they are not allowed to run freely in parks. Each time I return to Ireland, I am amused to see dogs roaming the streets freely, the owners being too lazy to walk them on a leash. - Yours, etc.,
Niall O'Donoghue, Tampere, Finland.