[Guest]

For the benefit of those users of this forum who were born in the 80's or 90's, I'll explain: In the 70's there was lots of hard white dog poo around. In those days you didn't need chalk to draw a hopscotch court or giant willy, you simply picked up the nearest dessicated dookie and drew with that instead. But like so many icons of our glorious childhood days, they have quietly disappeared, without explanation. Why is this? Theories abound, but many of them have the ring of unsubstantiated hypothesis or outright urban myth about them. Some people put it down to the declining popularity of poodles, dog food content, calcium levels in the water supply, or the fact that dog turds were left lying around longer without being cleaned up. I am unconvinced. Something fundamental has changed in the world, and I mean to find out what it is. The sheer number of half-baked theories surrounding this issue strongly suggests a government cover-up. What are they hiding? Early signs of impending environmental catastrophe, or alien invasion? I need hard science, people!

[Guest]

This is one of the unforseen side effects of the Great Color Disruption Conspiracy. Everyone has been brainwashed through a widely perpetrated false world-view that magical changes cannot sweep the universe unnoticed. Well, it takes a sharp mind to notice the subtle effects. None of the Authorities guessed that the "White Poop Effect" would be detected. Now watch the responses -- they will be flippant and clever, but will *not* provide you with the true facts. The Conspiracy is deeply rooted

[Guest]

Interesting theory. Certainly film and photographic evidence would suggest that the whole world was sepia toned around the early 1900s, changing to greyscale. Bursts of colour were observed occasionally in the 1940s but were not a regular occurrence until the 1960s. Colours were still pretty lurid and didn't really settle down properly until the 80's. Certainly I remember colours being brighter when I was a child. Maybe dog turds were the last things to change and the white appearance was really just a late case of grayscale.

[Izzy]

Well, do we know why the dog poo was white in the first place? Removal of that = normal colored poo.

[Guest]

Well, do we know why the dog poo was white in the first place? Removal of that = normal colored poo.

Good thought, and this is why we need your perspective. This is typical of why people of different generations can never communicate; to us it was normal coloured, so from our point of view the question is more one of "why does dog poo remain brown these days?" Different normality.

But your question is where I think humankind is stumped. At the time, we all accepted it as a fact of life. Sure, we thought "Why does dried dog poo go white?" in the same idle way you think "Why is the sky blue?". But we were quite happy not to have a definitive answer on the subject and maybe now it's too late * . But maybe somebody kept a sample in their freezer and can now do a chemical analysis on it.

* It just goes to show that you could accept magic, if magic were an everyday occurrence. What if magic made dog poos go white?

[Guest]

I don't know about the source of the change, but in South Park episode #209, Mr. Hankey (The Christmass Poo) becomes ill when a film festival comes to town and ruins his ecosystem. He turns gray and is on life support, but never becomes white. I only bring this up as current cultural reference to the phenomenon you have noticed.

While that is the stuff of fiction, it got me thinking. The change in dog poo could be a sign of global warming. Less rain+more heat=faster drying. The poo just doesn't have the environmental conditions it used to have. To back this up, there was a tremendous amount of post-winter poo in my back yard this year. Shortly after the massive amounts of snow melted, there was a week of gentle, warm weather that seemed to catalyze the transformation. These conditions produced a rather lot of the white poo you miss so much.

I think if the government were to advertise this change, they might have better success getting people involved in environmental issues. It just really brings it all down to earth, you know?

edit: I just saw something that suggested there is little or none of the bone meal content in dog food that there used to be (Mostly due to Mad Cow Disease). The calcium left over when the poo dehydrates and the organic matter is used up by nature is said to be the missing link.

Edited May 27, 2009 by Grayven

[Guest]

Ahh so it is a sign of impending catastrophe, in the form of mad cow disease and global warming. Chalk Smear another one up for humankind's self destruction.

[Guest]

I read a couple of opinions of what may have caused it. The bone theory, and the quick cleanup theory. Both may be true. If white dog poo is a result of a dog eating an excess amount of bones, it might take time for it to turn white. Dog owners nowdays seem more skeptical about feeding their dogs bones from the dinner table, because of the scare stories of dogs choking on them. I myself feed my dog any kind of bone. I clean my yard every spring after the snow melts, and find at least 4-5 piles every year. As far as I know it don't come out white, but rather takes some time to turn white. So maybe both theories fall into place, in my yard anyways. It is possible I miss some piles from the previous year, so it sits there even longer. I would think that if it was a result of some dramatic climate change, Al Gore and other Global Warming people would use that as further proof, unless they have, i geuss I don't know.

[Guest]

I read a couple of opinions of what may have caused it. The bone theory, and the quick cleanup theory. Both may be true. If white dog poo is a result of a dog eating an excess amount of bones, it might take time for it to turn white. Dog owners nowdays seem more skeptical about feeding their dogs bones from the dinner table, because of the scare stories of dogs choking on them. I myself feed my dog any kind of bone. I clean my yard every spring after the snow melts, and find at least 4-5 piles every year. As far as I know it don't come out white, but rather takes some time to turn white. So maybe both theories fall into place, in my yard anyways. It is possible I miss some piles from the previous year, so it sits there even longer. I would think that if it was a result of some dramatic climate change, Al Gore and other Global Warming people would use that as further proof, unless they have, i geuss I don't know.

Al Gore is in on it. The only reason he made his little movie was because everyone knows that nobody takes him seriously. He's just part of the conspiracy.

[Brandonb]

So this is about white dog poo... wow

I'm thinking... this white poo was dry right? I do remember seeing it when I was very young, so I'm assuming that the white dog poo was an occurrence that took place out in the open. In open dog parks, or wide open dog parks in general?

So what if the white came from the way that it dried? Does anyone know if the dog poo only turned white when in a place that endured direct sunlight? (so there was a bleaching effect from the sun that had an influence on the ingredients that the dog consumed?) Or if the white poo also occurred in heavily shaded areas also?

Just a thought. But it would be nice to know if the poo universally turned white, or if there were distinct conditions...

[Guest]

So this is about white dog poo... wow

I'm thinking... this white poo was dry right? I do remember seeing it when I was very young, so I'm assuming that the white dog poo was an occurrence that took place out in the open. In open dog parks, or wide open dog parks in general?

So what if the white came from the way that it dried? Does anyone know if the dog poo only turned white when in a place that endured direct sunlight? (so there was a bleaching effect from the sun that had an influence on the ingredients that the dog consumed?) Or if the white poo also occurred in heavily shaded areas also?

Just a thought. But it would be nice to know if the poo universally turned white, or if there were distinct conditions...

If someone has a child in Junior High, this sounds like an excellent science fair project. At least the judges would be excited to not have to judge yet another mouse/maze project.

[Guest]

So this is about white dog poo... wow

I'm thinking... this white poo was dry right? I do remember seeing it when I was very young, so I'm assuming that the white dog poo was an occurrence that took place out in the open. In open dog parks, or wide open dog parks in general?

So what if the white came from the way that it dried? Does anyone know if the dog poo only turned white when in a place that endured direct sunlight? (so there was a bleaching effect from the sun that had an influence on the ingredients that the dog consumed?) Or if the white poo also occurred in heavily shaded areas also?

Just a thought. But it would be nice to know if the poo universally turned white, or if there were distinct conditions...

Sadly, we didn't realize the white dog poo crisis until after it had all gone missing. There is very little existing research on the subject, if any at all. I fear there may not be enough true white poo left to gather reasonable data.

[andromeda]

Hahaha

I had to go out in the backyard to check it out.

My dad was puzzled asking where I was going. "Um... nothing... you know... what ever..."

Well I'm happy to announce that almost all them were white, some of them with black parts on them.

Our two little dogs (Vicky and Emma ) are eating the left overs and they are eating a lot of bones too. We have never fed them dog food. Their diet is very versatile though. They also like to eat corn and sunflower seeds that makes their poo grainy. They also eat boiled eggs and they catch mice for a desert. They strangled a cat a while ago (poor kitty) of course that was too big of a bite for them, but it was hard to yank the cat out of Emma's clenched yaws.

I agree with the theory that white poo occurs when dogs are being fed with bones.

Edited May 31, 2009 by andromeda

[plasmid]

We have a testable hypothesis! This calls for a double-blind randomized placebo controlled trial. After all, we don't want the dogs to have a placebo effect changing the color of their poo. And we certainly don't want scientists who aren't blind gauging the color of the poo.

One wonders, though, is this specific to dogs? Cats bury their poo so we don't really have the data for them. On the random Nature TV programs I've seen which on occasion have had scientists hunting for stool samples of exotic animals, they always want to collect fresh stool for analysis, so I've never seen any old poo from other animals. Perhaps someone keeps a pet rabbit or something that doesn't eat bones and could give us some insight on the complexion of the pellets over time.

[andromeda]

Hahaha

I had to go out in the backyard to check it out.

My dad was puzzled asking where I was going. "Um... nothing... you know... what ever..."

Well I'm happy to announce that almost all them were white, some of them with black parts on them.

Our two little dogs (Vicky and Emma ) are eating the left overs and they are eating a lot of bones too. We have never fed them dog food. Their diet is very versatile though. They also like to eat corn and sunflower seeds that makes their poo grainy. They also eat boiled eggs and they catch mice for a desert. They strangled a cat a while ago (poor kitty) of course that was too big of a bite for them, but it was hard to yank the cat out of Emma's clenched yaws.

I agree with the theory that white poo occurs when dogs are being fed with bones.

I asked a friend of mine about the poo color with her dogs and she said that they are all colored. The difference between her dogs and mine is that her dogs are fed with dog food, even though they do get chicken bones sometimes. So... it's possible that there are artificial colors and flavors in the dog food and that's what's preventing the color of the poo to turn white!

[andromeda]

We have a testable hypothesis! This calls for a double-blind randomized placebo controlled trial. After all, we don't want the dogs to have a placebo effect changing the color of their poo. And we certainly don't want scientists who aren't blind gauging the color of the poo.

One wonders, though, is this specific to dogs? Cats bury their poo so we don't really have the data for them. On the random Nature TV programs I've seen which on occasion have had scientists hunting for stool samples of exotic animals, they always want to collect fresh stool for analysis, so I've never seen any old poo from other animals. Perhaps someone keeps a pet rabbit or something that doesn't eat bones and could give us some insight on the complexion of the pellets over time.

Well rabbits are herbivorous so it wouldn't be a valid control.

We should have a dog fed with:

a.) vegetables and grains for a while (a week) - there are dogs that love veggies!

b.) with bones

c.) dog food

d.) bones and dog food combined (this is to determine whether the dog food is responsible for the "odd" color of the poo, of course if we determine that bones are the ones that provide the chalk color of the poo)

Actually I think that the best thing would be to feed the same dog... poor dog

Edited June 1, 2009 by andromeda

[Prof. Templeton]

I see several people have said that they remember seeing the mythical white poos when they were young, and they want to know "what has changed?" I offer the obvious. You have. You are no longer a child and can no longer see all the mythical entities that only a child can, like fairies, leprechauns and white poos. I hypothesize that white poos still exist in places when only a child can find them and utilize their magical properties. I'm not sure if we can "rediscover" white poos simply by acting childish; they may have passed on for all adults except for a select few. We need to employ the minds and spirits of children to truly determine if the white poos have actually vanished or have only vanished from our aged sight.

[Guest]

After carefully analyzing this thread, I have arrived at a working hypothesis that dogs and birds radiated from the same common ancestor, the "caninaves albafaexis". It is common knowledge that bird poop remains unabashedly white. However dogs have apparently evolved since the days when I squandered my youth sorting through white dog poop around picnic tables in my nearby park looking for discarded bottle caps for my collection. Ah, the nostalgia, those were the simple times: milk delivered daily to the doorstep in recycled glass bottles, the junk man with his horse-drawn cart making his weekly rounds, dogs roaming freely and depositing their distinctive calling cards unfettered. It is my theory that we have so tainted the ecosystem, so suppressed the canine identity with our techno-politically correct pooper-scoopery, that man's best friend has lost one of the most iconic symbols of his ancestry.

Edited June 5, 2009 by seeksit

[Guest]

Well rabbits are herbivorous so it wouldn't be a valid control.

We should have a dog fed with:

a.) vegetables and grains for a while (a week) - there are dogs that love veggies!

b.) with bones

c.) dog food

d.) bones and dog food combined (this is to determine whether the dog food is responsible for the "odd" color of the poo, of course if we determine that bones are the ones that provide the chalk color of the poo)

Actually I think that the best thing would be to feed the same dog... poor dog

Actually, you wouldn't need to feed the same dog, seeing how the "white poo" trait was apparantly universal.

On a side note, speaking to the gentlemen of the previous generation, when you "recycled" this "chalk", was it white the whole way through, or just on the outside?

[Guest]

On a side note, speaking to the gentlemen of the previous generation, when you "recycled" this "chalk", was it white the whole way through, or just on the outside?

All the way through. It was crumbly yet cohesive, crunchy yet maleable, fragrant but not intense; it was the stuff of legend.