Pooping pooches face poop scoop

DOG-owners have been warned to pick up their dog’s dirt – or face the poor pooping pooch being vacuumed up along with their mess.

Town officials in the Flanders commune of Hazebrouck have had enough of having their eyes glued to the pavement to avoid stepping in the mess left by pet owners so have stepped up publicity to get owners to clean up their acts.

Posters have been put up all over the Nord Pas-de-Calais town showing a street cleaner set to suck up a little pug in their giant vacuum and his colleague with a dog half-in the tube. Another has the dog and its owner “wanted” for fouling the streets and another with .

The posters, designed by the mairie and the animal welfare group SPA, carry the slogan “We shouldn’t let it get like this!”

However, rather than dog owners buckling down or, rather, bending down to pick up their mess many have taken to social media to complain about the shortage of green spaces for their to foul or the lack of council plastic dog bag dispensers.

Animal rights champions have also suggested that the posters threaten to pick up the owners rather than the dogs.

One unexpected result of the poster campaign has been a number of requests by owners for their dogs to appear in the “wanted” posters.

The mairie said it had organised a free distribution of dog bags and would set up extra dispensers in the town.

Owners face a €35 fine for not picking up their dog’s mess and the mairie has had several agents given legal authorisation to fine owners.

* Amazon sells packs of six rolls of 20 dog bags for €6.50, while Cdiscount has four rolls of 20 for €1.99.