The secret is out: Why dog-lovers take the newspaper
By Gina Spadafori
December 14, 2007
You mean it’s not for our Pet Connection syndicated page? Turns out it’s for the plastic wrap put over the paper in foul weather. At least, that’s according to this pretty funny piece by Jonathan Barnes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
[I] judge a plastic bag through the rosy specs of dog ownership. That is, I can’t look at a small plastic bag anymore without considering how well it might hold dog poop.
Until recently I was smitten by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s double-ply newspaper bags, which I found to be quite protective of my hand when I scoop up Sam’s “business.” The Tribune-Review’s newspaper bags, which are a garish red (as opposed to the PG’s clear plastic bags), are merely one-ply. Until a couple of weeks ago, the PG had two-ply bags, which they replaced with one-ply bags, though two-ply bags are an obvious advantage when picking up the dog’s number two.
Yeah, well, try that with a Web site! Newspapers are also great for winter house-training (see previous post) and — little known fact — fit perfectly in many bird cages because the cages are designed to hold sheets of what’s called SAU (Standard Advertising Unit) newsprint (78 picas across, or six 12 pica 2 point columns and can you tell I used to be a newspaper copy editor?) in their poop-catching trays.
And speaking of the Pet Connection, which I was, at the beginning of this post: This week we write about moving cats, moving cockatoos, ticks, largest (Siberian) and smallest (Singapura) of cat breeds and why it’s important (and healthy) to neuter pet rabbits.
Check it all out here.
Take the newspaper! It makes pet-clean-up easier. And it supports the families of many fine reporters and editors like … um … us.
By the way … I prefer grocery-store plastic bags. Or did, before I gave them up. (Fortunately, I seem to have stockpiled a lifetime supply.)
so very very true.
I just can’t bring myself to use the clear bags, though…
Comment by EmilyS — December 14, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
Another good use for newspaper bags is covering a cast on a dog’s leg when the weather is wet, rain, snow, etc. We had to do that one December when my son’s 7 week old Pom jumped off the couch and broke her leg. :(
Comment by ruth ellen — December 14, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
I no longer take the daily paper, but my neighbors do. We trade my extra paper grocery bags for their newspaper bags. Things get a little tight in summer when we have no rain and the papers are delivered in rubberbands (gumbands to the Pgh Post Gazette readers!).
Comment by kabbage — December 15, 2007 @ 8:08 am
Oh! This is hysterical, especially considering I was having a conversation recently (no lie!) about which stores in our area have the toughest grocery bags, and which ones are hazardous for poop pick-up. And then followed with a separate conversation with a different person about how many times we’ve found washed and dried spare baggies in the dryer because we sometimes forget to take out of our pockets before laundry time!
Comment by Cardimom — December 17, 2007 @ 2:03 pm
Gina, thanks for linking to my “dog poop bag” story.
I’ve also written about walking our previous dog, Max, for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05073/470984-51.stm
I’ve written about animals for my blog, Barnestormin, which is:
http://www.barnestormin.blogspot.com
Thanks for the kind comments on my story, folks.
Comment by Jonathan Barnes — December 26, 2007 @ 9:58 am