You’re Going to Need a Bigger Bag to Clean up Your Dog’s Tour de France Mess

My husband and I have two dogs.  We have a yellow lab named Blue, which makes perfect sense because we hate Michigan, and a black lab, named Daisy, which is ironic because I kill a lot of those in my garden.

At the bottom of our road there is a bike path.  Every day, my husband walks Blue and Daisy down the path.  Off leash.  While my husband covers about three miles, the dogs likely cover twice that distance because they are free to run.

The bike path is not just for bikers, but there is a yellow line stretched down the middle and a lot of people wearing helmets who speed up behind you yelling things like, “On your left!”

I won’t even get into how much I hate to walk the dogs with my husband when he does this off-leash thing, even though I realize that if the dogs don’t get their exercise they will eat toilet paper or chew up Sharpies all day.  The idea that one of my dogs could chase a chimpunk into the path of someone on a Sunday ride makes me a little anxious.  I know that if I was a biker and I flipped over my handlebars because of a dog, I would be pissed.

Now, let’s consider that it’s not someone on a Sunday ride, but instead it’s a guy who eats, breathes and lives cycling.  Let’s pretend that he’s on the ride of his life and is participating in the Tour de France which, if I’m being honest, is kind of a brutal race.  There are mountains and stuff.

Andy Schleck, either after crashing or before hitting the port-o-potty.

This year’s Tour has been especially tough and has been plagued with crashes, and all of those cracked ribs are not going to feel too great when the riders cover seven miles of cobblestone on the next leg either.

There have been a lot of reasons for the crashes.  Streets crowded with spectators, slippery roads, tight turns and people who don’t put their dog on a leash.  That’s right.  Two bikers crashed because a dog ran onto the track, or, more to the point, because people are stupid.

It’s pretty sad when the pet owner is the one who needs obedience training.

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