Watch your step: Vancouver’s dog-poop hotspots revealed in city data

The City of Vancouver receives complaints about a lot of things, but one issue in particular just stinks.

Data from the City of Vancouver suggests some neighbourhoods may be riskier than others—for your shoes.

Between 2018 and 2025, the city received 688 complaints or “requests for service” for dog poo that hadn’t been picked up.

Based on the latest two-year period, here are the areas where you’ll most want to watch your step:

• Downtown: 12.4 per cent of complaints
• Victoria-Fraserview: 8.8 per cent
• West End: 7.7 per cent
• Hastings-Sunrise: 7.2 per cent
• Kitsilano: 7.2 per cent
• Renfrew-Collingwood: 6.7 per cent
• Kensington-Cedar Cottage: 6.2 per cent
• Mount Pleasant: 5.2 per cent
• Strathcona: 5.2 per cent

“It’s unsightly. It’s gross,” said Kim Rosenmayer with Vancouver Animal Services. “You could, you know, step in it, sit in it.”

Dog owners say the problem isn’t always about cleaning it up, sometimes it’s how the waste is handled.

“The most annoying thing I find is when they pick it up, put it in bags, and then just throw those bags randomly, and you’ll find them in alleyways,” said one frustrated dog owner.

Dog feces are not just unpleasant, the city says they can also be hazardous because they contain unhealthy pathogens.

“The parasites don’t just live within the poop when it’s sitting there,” added Rosenmayer.

“Even after you may think the rain washes it away, the parasites will persist in the ground for weeks or even months beyond that.”

The fine for trying to sneak away without properly disposing of dog poop is $250.

There is some good news, however. After years of high complaint numbers, the city recorded far fewer requests for service last year, as the figures below illustrate:

• 2018: 100 complaints
• 2019: 86 complaints
• 2020: 106 complaints
• 2021: 118 complaints (peak)
• 2022: 69 complaints
• 2023: 75 complaints
• 2024: 76 complaints
• 2025: 52 complaints

“It still happens. We still need to improve,” said Rosenmayer.