As a professional dog walker,

there are a lot of things I say every day. Good boy/girl, leave it, let’s go, don’t worry about that. (One of my favorites that actually works for some reason.)

But my favorite saying has to be, “Don’t kick your poop.”

As a lot of you probably know, dogs enjoy nothing more than kicking their feet backwards after going potty. Some are so enthusiastic about it that they launch themselves in the air. And while the majority step to the side before kicking, some insist on doing it right where they poop.

The poop kickers.

I currently have three clients who will remain nameless to protect their owners from embarrassment, that are poop kickers.

Every time they poop I have to remind them, “Don’t kick your poop.”

Sometimes I even have to step between them and the poop to keep it from happening. And I usually take a kick to the shins as a thank you.

Over the years, my poop kicker clients have sent poop flying across yards, driveways, the street, sidewalks, and SPLAT!! onto one innocent white mailbox pole. That was a fun cleanup.

Even when they do manage to kick their poop, I find the pieces and clean it up. After all, they are dogs just doing dog things.

There is a lesson here. An actual moral to this story.

How many times has someone made a mess of something—home, school, work, relationships—and instead of cleaning or fixing it right then, they do something else that makes the mess even worse and more difficult to fix?

They kicked their poop.

So, dear readers, I will leave you with one last piece of advice, from this dog walker to you:

Don’t Kick Your Poop!