A BURY mum is appealing to dog owners to clean up after their pets after she says her children's walk to school has become "a massive stinky problem".

The mum of two who has one boy aged five and one girl aged six months lives in the Chesham area, which she claims has become plagued by repeated dog fouling.

The persistence of the issue has led her to label the fouling a health and safety risk for children.

She said:"It should be a nice walk to school, however every day we are faced with a massive stinky problem — dog poo on pavements.

"Quite often it is actually in the middle of the pavement so there is no way of avoiding it and it ends up on the wheels of my pram.

"I am sick and tiered of asking my son to watch where he stamps so he does not end up with it on his shoes."

Signs have been erected around the area spotlighting fines that can be handed out by the council for those caught failing to pick up after their dog.

However the woman suggested that these signs were only having a limited effect on deterring dog fouling, and did not believe the potential punishment is clear enough.

She said: "This should be treated as crime as it is putting at risk the health of very young children.

"Children usually do not watch where they going, and if they end up with a dog poo on their shoes, they will bring it to schools, nurseries and homes.

"They will contaminate the floors with it and then they will play on the same floor five minutes later."

"If you have a dog take some responsibility for it. I do not want to pick up a dog poo and this is the reason why I decided not to have a dog.

"This is not one of incident when a dog was incontinent and the owner forgot a bag. This is a constant abuse from irresponsible dog owners that people like myself are faced with every day."

The woman says that she has approached the council, and has even suggested the installation of CCTV around parks, schools, and some main roads to help curb the problem.

A Bury Council spokesman said: “Everyone hates dog waste left in our parks and pavements – everyone, that is, except the people who leave it there.

“There’s no excuse for it. Responsible pet owners take waste bags with them when walking their dog, and can put the waste in any litter bin.

“Signs are put up as a deterrent and to encourage the public to be vigilant. We target enforcement on hotspot areas where we receive reports of a particular problem.

"If the public have information which would help us catch irresponsible dog owners, such as their name or address, or even what time of day these offences tend to occur, we would urge them to contact us.

"If we have the evidence, we may be able to issue fixed penalty notices or even carry out prosecutions.

“We also do educational talks to school children and work with schools to promote responsible dog ownership.”