I walk in a neighborhood near a golf course and see the pickup truck in the photo to the left. The name of the business is Scoop Soldiers, cleverly appealing to those who like the military. In urban areas, there is a lot of competition to be the best pooper scooper. I had dogs growing up, but do not remember picking up their poop from the backyard. They were mostly small dogs, and we had a big backyard. But these days I think it is an environmental no-no to leave your dog’s poop in the yard. The townhouse homeowners’ association where I live provides dark green plastic poop bags in a dispenser on the property and had trouble obtaining them one time because apparently most of them come from China. Anyway, read on if you want to learn about a subject that most of you never talk about.
According to Wikipedia, a pooper-scooper or poop scoop is a device used to pick up animal feces from public places and yards, particularly those of dogs. Pooper-scooper devices often have a bag or bag attachment. Poop bags are alternatives to pooper scoopers, and are simply a bag, usually turned inside out, to carry the feces to a proper disposal area. Sometimes, the person performing the cleanup is also known as the pooper-scooper.
History
The invention is credited to Brooke Miller of Anaheim, California. The design she patented is a metal bin with a rake-like edge attached to a wooden stick. It also includes a rake-like device to scoop the poop into the scooper and a hatch that can be attached to a garbage bag that fits onto the base. The generic term pooper-scooper has been included in dictionaries since the early 1970s.
Legislation
A number of jurisdictions — including New York City — have laws requiring pet owners to clean up after their pets:
A person who owns, possesses or controls a dog, cat or other animal shall not permit the animal to commit a nuisance on a sidewalk of any public place, on a floor, wall, stairway or roof of any public or private premises used in common by the public, or on a fence, wall or stairway of a building abutting on a public.
Authorized employees of New York City Departments of Health — including Animal Care & Control, of Sanitation or of Parks and Recreation can issue tickets.
Such laws are often nicknamed "pooper-scooper laws," though the laws only stipulate that dog owners remove their dogs' feces, not the method or device used, thus using a hand-held plastic bag to remove feces complies with these laws.
Health concerns
Dog droppings are one of the leading sources of E. coli bacterial pollution, Toxocara canis and Neospora caninum helminth parasite pollution. One gram of dog feces contains over 20,000,000 E. coli cells. While an individual animal's deposit of feces will not measurably affect the environment, the cumulative effect of thousands of dogs and cats in a metropolitan area can create serious problems due to contamination of soil and water supplies. The runoff from neglected pet waste contaminates water, creating health hazards for people, fish, ducks, etc.
In Germany an estimated 1,400 tons of feces are deposited daily on public property. A citizen commission in 2005 overwhelmingly recommended a plan that would break even at about seven months. DNA samples would be required when pet licenses come up for renewal. Within a year, a database of some 12,500 registration-required canine residents would be available to sanitation workers with sample-test kits. Evidence would be submitted to a forensics laboratory where technicians could readily match the waste to its dog. The prospect of a prompt fine equivalent to $600 would help assure preventive compliance, as well as cover costs. In adult dogs, the infection by Toxocara canis is usually asymptomatic but can be fatal in puppies. A number of various vertebrates, including humans, and some invertebrates can become infected by Toxocara canis. Humans are infected — like other paratenic hosts — by ingestion of embryonated T. canis eggs. The disease caused by migrating T. canis larvae results in visceralis larva migrans and ocularis larva migrans. Clinically infected people have helminth infection and rarely blindness.
Environmental concerns
According to the article “Dog Waste Facts” at poop911.com, dog poop is NOT good for grass because it is not a fertilizer like cow manure. Contrary to popular opinion not all poop is created equal. Dogs have a high protein-based diet that creates a very acidic excrement or waste product. Far more info than you ever wanted to know about your favorite furry friend’s business, right? But it’s true. Cow manure is in fact good for vegetation because it in fact started out that way. Dogs diets are very different. Most dog foods today are composed of beef, chicken and/or pork products, creating a high acidic waste product that is not good for grass and can leave your back yard not looking like much of a yard at all.
One gram of dog waste can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which can contaminate waterways and cause illnesses in humans. Dogs are very significant hosts of bacteria that are harmful to humans.
Believe it or not, dog waste can take a year to fully decompose, leaving your lawn brown and patchy. But regular dog poop cleaning can turn it around in just a matter of weeks.
Parasite Prevention
Until they learn to wash their paws (hey, at least cats make an effort) regular scooping can protect you from parvo, trichinosis, whipworms, hookworms, roundworms, giardia, coccidia and other troublemakers.
Burying Dog Poop
According to Bob Schildgen’s April 8, 2017 article “Is It Better to Scoop or To Bury Dog Poop? in Sierra, the national magazine of the Sierra Club, it's not a good idea to bury dog waste. It's a point source of pollution that can spell big trouble for soil and water quality, and even human health if it's buried too close to vegetable gardens or waterways. Dog excrement contains nasty pathogens. It also has nutrients that can encourage the growth of fish-suffocating algae if released into rivers or streams.
Even if you could persuade folks to carry a trowel hefty enough to bury dog poop, you'd have no control over where it was interred. And with total U.S. dog waste estimated at more than 9 million tons a year, that's a lot of digging.
The only realistic solutions? (1) Pick up the excrement, preferably with a biodegradable waste bag, tie it shut, and place it in garbage destined for a landfill or (2) scoop it up or bag it, take it home and flush it unbagged down the toilet. But first, check with the municipal sewage treatment plant to make sure this practice is allowed. Don't put dog-doo-tainted bags of any kind into home or municipal compost and never flush dog excrement into a septic system.
Dog Poop Pickup Tips
According to the April 20, 2018 article “Dog Poop Disposal: Tips for Properly Cleaning Up After Your Dog” at petcentral.chewy.com, below are some tips for picking up dog poop.
1. Don’t Turn Your Walk Into a Crapshoot
Ensure you always have dog poop bags with you when you are with your pet, whether you are going out for just a few minutes to stretch your legs or a nice long walk.
Make sure your bags are large enough to contain all the feces, especially if you have a large breed — which can require multiple bags. Be sure to pick as much of the waste as you can, including the small pieces that might have fallen outside the main waste pile.
It’s always good to have a backup bag, just in case one of your dog poop bags breaks.
If you see someone without a poop bag, you can always offer one of your extras, which is a tremendous help for the person who left home without one.
It’s a good idea to buy poop bags in bulk so you always have enough on hand.
2. Be Aware of Your Dog’s Bathroom Habits
Does your dog go No. 2 as soon as they sniff the first patch of grass they see? Or maybe your pup needs a 20-minute warm up before finding the perfect spot to go potty?
By keeping track of your dog’s bathroom habits, you’ll be able to predict when they go and even where they go, particularly for pups who are repeat bathroom offenders in the same location. Ensuring you know your pup’s habits means you can be ready when the call of the wild calls to them.
3. Wipe Up Afterwards
In case of bag tears or some unfortunate mishap where you or your dog come in close contact with the poop you’re picking up, a generous supply of wet wipes can come in handy.
It is great to have something moist with you to wash your hands. If dogs have longer hair around their tails or back legs, the wet wipes can also be used to clean the hair if anything gets on it when they eliminate.
4. Go Hands-Free
For less frequent cleanups in your yard, use dog poop scoopers, rakes and bins, which enable you to sweep up the poop without having to bend down or come within arm’s reach of the mess.
How to Dispose of Dog Poop the Green Way
According to the article “How to Dispose of Dog Poop the Green Way” at petfinder.com, biodegradable or flushable poop bags may be used.
Powerloo
Another way is the Powerloo, a revolutionary invention that is taking both national and global pet industry markets by storm. It is an outdoor, flushable toilet for the safe and sanitary management of dog waste. It has been seen on Animal Planet, CNN, Fox and in USA Today and ranges in price from $997 to $1,397.
Waste Digester
A waste digester, such as the Doggie Dooley is about the size of a bucket, which you bury in your yard. You open the lid, put the dog poop in, add an enzyme and water once a week. The waste liquefies and returns to the earth.
Doggie Dooley Septic Style Dog Waste Disposal System offers an efficient and hands-free way to clean up pet messes in the yard. An enclosed galvanized steel tank with a large, built-in overflow tube is easily opened when the polyethylene plastic lid is pressed with your foot. This system comes fully assembled; just place in an area with good draining soil. Shovel stool into the system and add water along with a Doggie Dooley Waste Terminator Tablet once a week to break down the dog waste. It can hold the waste of up to two large dogs or four small dogs.
Composting
This is a very green method that comes highly recommended by environmentalists — as long as you do it right. Cityfarmer.org shows you how to make a composting system. It works like a waste digester, but if you choose, you can add yard waste to it, and use it as fertilizer —– but only on non-edible plants. The compost should never be mixed in soil that’s growing food.
Worm farming
Worm farming may be the most natural, practical and green way to get rid of dog poop, and you can even do it without a yard. It also can be a way to dispose of your organic kitchen waste, such as potato peels and apple cores. Worms eat the waste, digest it and eliminate the odor. The worm poo can be used as a soil conditioner, and the liquid that drains from the worm farm can be used for fertilizer in your yard or garden — but not where you grow food. Wormtec, an Australian company, recommends the Worm Swag because it’s so compact and easy to use, especially for novices. According to Wormtec, if you feed the worms both pet waste and veggie waste, you should also provide a high carbon source such as newspaper or leaves. Thus, disposing of dog waste with a worm farm also helps you go green with other types of waste, naturally.
Or you may want to get into the pooper scooper business yourself. According to Simply Hired, the average pooper scooper salary is $73,535 per year.
Where you people are going to dispose this junk and do you have any ideas from where to sell junk cars for cash?