Follow my lead, urges Marie

BEST of friends . . . Marie with guide dog Bailey

A BLIND guide dog owner is urging Shaw residents to clean up after their canines.

Marie Howarth (26), of Moss Hey Street, Shaw, said she regularly has to deal with dog mess on the streets of Shaw.

She is now urging pet lovers to be considerate owners and scoop up the poop every time.
Marie, who was born with a congenital eye condition and lost her sight aged six, has had guide dog Bailey for the past four years.

She said she can tell when Bailey needs to go by his stance and cleans up after him every time.

She is urging fully-sighted owners to follow her example.

Marie, a fund-raiser organiser for the Manchester branch of Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, said: “If you have a dog, it should be your responsibility to clean up after it.

“It shouldn’t be a matter of only cleaning up if there is someone around watching you.

“I clean up after Bailey every time, whether I’m in the middle of Manchester city centre or in my local area.

“If it takes me two minutes, most sighted people can do it even quicker.

“I don’t know if it is because Shaw is just a smaller area that I’ve noticed it a lot more round here.

“But I think most residential areas have this problem a lot of the time.”

Miss Howarth raised the issue at the recent police surgery and members of the Royton and Shaw Neighbourhood Policing Team are supporting her appeal.