Spring may be the season of snow and mud in Minnesota, but earlier this month city administrator Tim Peterson pointed out a third substance that emerges in spring: dog poop.

"We've had a lot of complaints about dog poop in Veterans Park," he told city councilors on April 4. "It was also brought to my attention today that our two parks staff each spent four hours cleaning up dog poop around the train park," he said, referring to Fauley Park, a relatively small park that lies between the West End and Highway 33 at the stoplight.

Peterson did the math and so did we: that's eight hours of city staff time picking up after other people's dogs.

"I'm not going to tell you the amount they cleaned up," he added. "It was ridiculous."

For resident businesses in Cloquet's West End, dogs and their business are a problem. Nearly every delightful historic building here does not come with green space, so pet owners usually choose the closest swatch of grass to bring their dogs when the whining starts. Some of them seem to think that in winter, because it's cold outside and there's snow, that it's OK to allow their pets to use the bathroom on the sidewalk.

The same goes for other people's property or even the great outdoors. Walking your dog is great, but dog poop isn't.

The solution to this problem is simple. Pet owners, do the right thing. Pick it up, put it in a bag, put the bag in a garbage can somewhere.

Otherwise we may have to resort to the old-

fashioned door-knocking my father told me about, where you fill a bag with excrement, put it on someone's front porch and light it on fire, hoping they stomp it out.

Of course, they have handled it with more humor in Duluth, where the ad campaign reminds us: "There is no poop fairy."

If you're looking for more information or a good laugh, there's a great poop fairy video from a Duluth campaign at https://vimeo.com/355427843.

In the meantime, don't forget to bring a few bags the next time you and Spot go for a walk.