Normative Signs: The Poetry of "Ought"

Here’s a sign superficially aimed at dogs. It’s situated out front of a shop in Copenhagen. Given the dog’s posture, it is presumably not intended to exclude dogs, but rather to discourage dog owners from allowing their dogs to ‘squat’ in front of the shop.

This is the sort of sign that makes me wonder what the story was. Just how bad does the problem have to be before someone posts a sign like this?

And just how effective is it? Is the kind of dog owner who would let his pooch poop on the porch likely to be deterred by this little reminder?

Also interesting: the sign says “No!” in English (rather than “Nej!” in Danish). Is English now widely-enough understood that normative signs are better off in that language than in the local tongue?

Thanks to Wayne Norman for the picture.