AFTER counting almost 200 dog poos in just one alleyway Poole council is spray painting them bright green in the hope dog walkers get the mess-age.

The experimental measure is being used in the 700m alleyway been Sterte Road and Poole High School after council officers discovered its shocking state following a complaint.

Although they are cleaning any mess on the path itself, the dog mess on the grass verges has been sprayed with green vegetable paint and will be left there for a week as a stark reminder of the scale of the problem.

Environmental and Consumer Protection Services officers have put up new signs and will also be visiting the area daily during that time to talk to dog walkers, hand out information leaflets and drum home the message – pick up after your dog.

“We want to draw their awareness to how bad it is,” said principal officer Nick Hill. “It’s a bit of an experiment.”

After two years of council officers visiting problem areas, and not catching anyone in the act, he said it was time for a new approach.

He added: “After seven or eight days we’ll get the cleaning team down here – but they won’t be able to use the sweeper unfortunately – they’ll have to do it by hand, at quite considerable expense to the local authority. Then we’ll be monitoring it to see if it’s had any effect.”

Among the information being handed out to dog walkers is that dog mess can cause the infection toxocara canis, which can cause blindness. If you’re caught not clearing up after your dog you’ll get a £50 fixed penalty notice.