A stylish lady, swathed in winter furs, walks gracefully down the urban sidewalk, led by a Boston terrier. She carries in one hand the leash that connects her to the dog, and in the other a paper bag and a pooper scooper.

When the dog stops to do his business, she waits patiently with her scooper ready for action. Finished, the animal prepares to move on but the lady has a task to do. She stoops over, scrapes the poop off the pavement, and deposits it in the bag. Then, her dignity intact, she proceeds on her way.

This scenario, repeated all over America by all sorts of dog owners, is one that I never expected to see. During most of my life, I was accustomed to walking through, around, and sometimes into, dog leavings on city sidewalks and streets.

It would always be that way, I was convinced, and there would never be anything I could do about it. My shoes would always be at risk of tracking home dog leavings with their noisome smell.

Yet, that situation changed and virtually everyone with a dog now observes the new rite of life in public. If peaople violate this practice, they are subject to social disapproval. Strong social backing would embolden me to reprimand anyone who neglected what is almost universally seen as their duty.

That this change in public mores took hold, and did so in short order, still amazes me. How did it happen? What influences had to accumulate to bring about such an unexpected transformation of public conduct?

The answers to these questions I do not know. Nor have I ever seen in writing an analysis of a social change that may not be among the most important in American history but is surely of interest.

It would probably take a sociologist with special knowledge to track the attitudinal shifts that led to this change. If there was a large-scale public campaign, backed by big money, I remain unaware of it.

I suspect, rather, a series of small changes of values. Gradually, people may have come to care more about the beauty of their environment than they did about the laissez- faire freedom of dog walkers to allow their animals to soil it with impunity.

Another benefit of the current norms is that they require dogs to be leashed. No longer does one commonly see these animals wondering around on their own the way cats still do. Now each dog must be attached to a human being clearly identified as responsible for the dog’s behavior.

So maybe we can attribute to the environmental movement the readiness of people to clean up after their dogs. In any event, I count it social progress; America is the better for it.

What still surprises me is the lack of any embarrassment felt by pooper scoopers. After all, it could be seen as humiliating for dignified people to be shoveling into a container their dog’s daily offerings.

But during a recent weekend in Manhattan, I observed locals galore carrying out this chore with aplomb. They seemed not to find anything undignified in wielding the scooper. My parents, however, almost surely would have.

I cannot imagine either my mother or my father submitting to this ritual. Nor would most of their friends have done so. That was a different era, when middle-class Americans behaved more formally in public.

It speaks well for our contemporaries, I suppose, their flexibility in accepting change. As a beneficiary of their readiness to adopt the current norms, I feel thankful that steaming messes no longer lurk in my path.

For the most part, however, dog owners probably do not have much awareness of operating in a changed environment. Young people, especially, may simply accept without reflection the current situation as the long established norm.

However, I find it valuable to reflect on the ways in which society changes. Long life offers a fine vantage point from which to take note of transformations. Looking back to your childhood, you can see how things that seemed securely fixed in place have become dislodged and you can ponder the reasons why that happened.

The French do not have it exactly right when they say “plus ça change, plus la même chose.” (The more things change, the more they stay the same.) There are ways in which society changes and brings in something definitely new.

Looking at things from the eminence of many decades can enable us to evaluate change and to distinguish between the desirable and the undesirable. On rare occasions, when acting in organized groups, we may have the opportunity to influence society’s acceptance or rejection of looming change.

The lady in fur with her terrier represents a step forward. Though I may observe her with a certain detachment and even amusement, I still appreciate what she is doing for me and other pedestrians like me.

Richard Griffin