Dog owners know they have a legal responsibility to pick up dog waste, regardless of the weather or conditions on the ground. It is irresponsible and just gross to leave this behind anywhere, whether it’s a sidewalk, a patch of grass or a snow pile.

At the same time, all property owners are legally required to keep their sidewalks clean, as well as 18 inches into the roadway, and this would include removing dog waste from their sidewalks. All 311 complaints related to dog waste are investigated daily. And we do issue summonses to property owners for dirty sidewalks -- 5,929 this calendar year alone, although that was for any kind of dirty sidewalk, not just dog waste.
• https://www.nyc.gov/site/dsny/what-we-do/cleaning/sidewalks-gutters.page

Summonses for dog owners are much, much more difficult to issue, because our enforcement officer would have to catch the owner in the act of leaving a pile behind. We have done many special patrols in areas with high rates of 311 service requests for dog waste, and they have yielded almost zero summonses. In 2024, we did a 3-day stakeout in Mott Haven that yielded just one summons. Then, in 2025, we did special weeklong patrols in Washington Heights, Harlem, Morningside Heights and Flatbush – all in response to 311 service requests – and none of them yielded any summonses.

The chances of someone not picking up after their dog while an enforcement officer is watching is very, very slim. So slim, that we issued just two summonses for failure to remove canine waste in 2025. It is clear that people only leave piles behind when they know no one is watching.

We are not alone here: Some jurisdictions around the world require owners to submit DNA samples, which are then used to enforce rules requiring people to pick up dog waste. Bolzano, Italy requires this, as do some housing complexes in Des Moines, Iowa, and San Francisco considered it more than a decade ago. This is not something we are considering, but it shows you just how limited the options are. We are, however, exploring the use of mobile cameras to increase enforcement against these careless residents, as well as adding dog waste bag dispensers to some litter baskets.
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/17/italian-province-orders-all-dogs-to-be-dna-tested-in-poo-crackdown
• https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2022/03/01/pooprints-dog-poop-dna-technology-des-moines
• https://www.vox.com/2014/2/21/11623728/san-francisco-losing-edge-in-disruptive-doggie-doo-technology

Finally, we have also done – and continue to do – several ad campaigns and educational outreach on the issue of dog waste. But really, every dog owner knows what they are supposed to do. In consideration of their neighbors, they should do the right thing and pick up after their dogs.
• https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/new-york-city-launches-major-anti-littering-campaign-for-first-time-in-15-years/