Curb Your Dog

The phrase goes back to 1930s New York. "Curbing" your dog meant walking them off the sidewalk and into the street gutter to do their business. The city was already drowning in horse waste at the time. Dog mess on the sidewalk was one problem too many.

The first known signs appeared in November 1937, when the Department of Sanitation posted twenty five of them around the city.

The voluntary system eventually gave way to an actual law. By the mid 1970s, New York had over five hundred thousand registered dogs, and public frustration over the sidewalks had reached a breaking point. The Canine Waste Law took effect on August 1, 1978, requiring owners to pick up after their dogs.

Decades later, New Yorkers are still calling 311 about it. Complaints have grown every single year since 2020. Brooklyn generally leads the city.

February 2026 was the worst month on record by a wide margin. Over a thousand complaints in a single month — more than three times the same month the year before.