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\n Illustration: Emma Erickson\n <\/p>\n
Welcome to \u201cApartment Department,\u201d Curbed\u2019s advice column by Clio Chang. Join us every other Wednesday for questions about making peace with noisy-sex neighbors, the nuances of roommate fridge etiquette, and whatever else you might need to know about renting, buying, or crying in the New York City housing market.<\/p>\n
Got a problem? Email\u00a0clio.chang@nymag.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dear Apartment Department,<\/p>\n There\u2019s a person in my building who routinely doesn\u2019t clean up after his dog. Ever. In the years that I\u2019ve lived in my building, I\u2019ve seen him on an almost weekly basis let his dog do his thing and leave it right on our block. He\u2019s an older teenager \u2014 maybe 18 or 19 \u2014 and I\u2019ve talked to him and his dad about it. Nothing\u2019s changed. At this point, I\u2019m curious about public shaming. Is it too aggro if I post a sign in our lobby along the lines of: \u201cTenants of [THIS GUY\u2019S APARTMENT], please be a good neighbor and clean up after your dog! \u2014 Signed, Your Neighbors!\u201d I swear I\u2019m an otherwise normal-tempered person!<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n Ready to Shame<\/p>\n Dear Shamer,<\/p>\n First of all, I need you to know that you are not alone. When I wrote about pet owners\u00a0failing to pick up<\/a> after their dogs during the blizzards this winter, tons of people \u2014\u00a0dog owners and non\u2013dog owners alike \u2014\u00a0were frantic about this kind of behavior. It\u2019s not an exaggeration to say the people who leave their dog shit on the sidewalk are threatening the very social fabric of our city!<\/p>\n You\u2019re in a unique position where you actually know the person who is doing this. This is an incredible opportunity to try and understand what is going on in the mind of someone who doesn\u2019t clean up after their dog. (And, of course, to hopefully get them to change their ways.) Talking to your neighbors was a good start \u2014\u00a0and aggravating that it didn\u2019t do anything. To aid your cause, I reached out to Jonah Berger, a marketing professor at University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School who wrote a book called The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone\u2019s Mind, which sounds exactly what you\u2019re trying to do. \u201cTry to find out why he is so reticent to clean up the poop,\u201d Berger said. \u201cIs he just lazy? Is there no easy place to throw it out? Does he forget to bring poop bags? Or does he not understand why it\u2019s important to clean up afterwards?\u201d Once you know his reasoning, it\u2019s easier to apply your own: \u201cIf the issue is he doesn\u2019t understand why it\u2019s important, ask him how he would feel if no one cleaned up after their dog and the neighborhood was filled with poop.\u201d This may seem obvious, but I think teenagers are, by nature, vaguely sociopathic and sort of immune to social norms. So maybe this person really doesn\u2019t know that what he\u2019s doing is disgusting and rude.<\/p>\n If this doesn\u2019t work, then is it time for the sign? I will say most of my colleagues were sort of thrilled at the strategy. There\u2019s a real bloodlust percolating in the city among non\u2013dog owners and more upstanding dog owners, I think. The experts I spoke to, however, agreed that it was a bad idea. (Sorry!) Publicly shaming your neighbor will probably feel amazing, but that doesn\u2019t mean it will work. Colin Wayne Leach, a psychology professor at Barnard College who has researched the effectiveness of public shame, says that the sign could \u201ceasily backfire if the shamed party sees it as more like disparaging public humiliation.\u201d The problem with this kind of thing is that people are more likely to react defensively rather than with a desire to improve themselves. Leach suggests posting a less pointed message: \u201cEveryone, let\u2019s all be good neighbors and keep our neighborhood tidy by cleaning up after our dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n But don\u2019t lose heart. Another option is to call in the city and ask for a dog-waste bag dispenser on your block. (The problem is so universal that New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin has sponsored a bill<\/a> to install dispensers on all of the city\u2019s public trash cans.) We\u2019ve also seen people install their own, if you\u2019re feeling more DIY. This would probably help keep the block clean as a whole, but if your neighbor\u2019s issue is a lack of decency rather than a lack of bags, then it won\u2019t actually change their behavior.<\/p>\n A more narc-ish route, and something I would advise only after multiple conversations with your neighbor, is to inform your landlord that there is constantly dog waste on the block \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s their responsibility to keep the sidewalks in front of their property clean. (You don\u2019t actually have to say who it is, just that there is constantly poop in front of the building.) Let your management company put up the scolding sign on your behalf!<\/p>\n