Politicians want to force the owners of the city's 12,000 dogs to register for compulsory DNA tests, so that any careless deposit on a pavement or in a park can be tested and traced to the animal responsible - triggering a hefty fine for its registered owner.
"In this way, Dresden will once again be one of the cleanest cities in Germany," said Roland Putzger, the leader of the local council.
"You hardly get out the door and the obstacle course begins," reported the German television news programme, Tagesschau.
"The way to the supermarket, the way to work and the way to the bus stop are all smeared with dog dirt."
But the fear that the dog's deed will no longer remain anonymous could be enough to conquer the problem, said Karl Jobig, a Christian Democrat politician in Dresden.
Mr Jobig and his colleagues were so fed up with dodging the obstacle course that the matter was raised at an advisory council meeting. To their surprise, the DNA suggestion received a majority vote.
It is now proposed that Dresdeners will have to register their dogs for "genetic fingerprinting" to be collected from blood or saliva.
The notion that this might infringe "canine rights" has been dismissed by Saxony's data protection commissioner, Andreas Schurig, who ruled that as dogs were not human they had no rights over their data and could not object to the compulsory tests.
The proposal will be binding if it receives a majority vote at a Dresden city council meeting in May.
DNA from registered dogs would be collected from blood or saliva for the "genetic fingerprinting" service. (Wikimedia file)
Councillors at Dresden City Council in Germany would like to match doggy-doo left by pets on the sidewalk and in parks, against a  database storing profiles for all of the city's 12,000 registered dogs. Karl Jobig, a  politician in Dresden, was surprised when his proposal received a majority vote.

"In this way, Dresden will once again be one of the cleanest cities in Germany," Roland Putzger, the leader of the local council, told ''''.

DNA from registered dogs would be collected from blood or saliva for the "genetic fingerprinting" service.

's data protection commissioner, Andreas Schurig, ruled that dogs had no rights over their data and could not object to the compulsory tests.

The proposal will be binding if the council passes it by majority vote in May.