When walking your dog, it's always a good and polite idea to carry a water bottle with you to wash up after they finish answering the call of nature. Even with foresight and a well-behaved dog, however, you can't always totally control where they decide to handle their business depending on where your walk takes you.

Novelist Takahiro Yasuno (@takahiroanno, author of short story "Circuit Switcher") recently spotted a public device that many on Twitter are rejoicing as a breakthrough for dog walking, and in particular, when they have to urinate.

Yasuno came across it the neighborhood of Daikanyama, located in Shibuya, Tokyo.

It's a pole with a pictogram of a dog peeing on it, and instructions that translate to "Please let your dog pee on this pole." Below that and near the button that says "PUSH", it explains further: "Push it, and water will flow and wash it away."

"Yesterday I saw this "Dog Pee Pole (that washes with water) that took me by surprise."

The device is called "Suisen Oshikko Pole", or the "Flushing Pee Pole", and was developed by the Shinken Industrial Company, and the water used for flushing stops after a set amount of time. The reaction online indicates that Yasuno's photo is the first many are hearing of it, even in Japan.

The photo quickly took off online, and in the replies you can see that a lot of people appreciate the design and convenience of the pee pole--with even some people pondering using it for themselves: