Who says you can't have a dog downtown?

Before moving downtown, I wasn't sure how easy it would be to find places for my dog to do his business. After all, the current downtown is not necessarily dog friendly. The nearest nice park to my loft is called Grand Hope park and they have a no dog policy. Who could turn away my cute puppy? So, when I first moved downtown I tried walking Ernie there. To my chagrin, a security guard asked me if I could read. Then he pointed to the sign that stated in small print "No dogs allowed." What? But there are statues of cast iron dogs inside this park, I exclaimed. He just shrugged his shoulders. With both of our tails between our legs, we shuffled out of the park to do our business elsewhere. So, we both quickly discovered all the little patches of grass around our loft where daily relief could be found. Unfortunately, so did the hundreds of other dog owners in the area. Pretty soon, the nice green grass became patchy greenish brown grass, and later, dotted with mini chocolate soft serve swirls everywhere. I mean, come on people! Who allows their dog to defecate and then just leaves the excrement lying around in plain site? I can understand the occasional accident where the owner is caught bagless, but this is ridiculous. Clean up after your dog people! This should be common courtesy, but I guess that's too much to expect from the average person. Ernie now splits his bathroom time between several patches of grass in the vicinity and pads on our balcony. It seems to be working out pretty good for him. The key is getting your dog to understand the daily routine...the rest will just fall into place.