There’s something special about the bond between a family and their dog. Maybe it’s the unconditional love that both sides hold for each other, or maybe it’s something about the warm cuddles on a winter’s night. However, as all Calgary dog owners will testify, there’s a lot of work that goes into owning a pup, and the worst chore of all is dog waste removal. Many families have a rota for who has to go clean up after the dog outside, and this becomes especially important when the season turns to winter and everyone is trying to spend as little time outside as possible.
Why You Need To Keep On Top of Dog Waste in Winter
While it’s important to keep on top of your dog poop situation at any time of year, it’s even more essential to take care of it during the winter months for these reasons:
- Keep pests away – the snowpack and freezing temperatures stop your dog’s waste from dissolving and degrading, meaning that left alone, they’ll form a tasty attraction for nearby critters. The tough part about having a yard which attracts feces-eating animals is that once they’ve located your house as somewhere to eat, it can be incredibly hard to get them to move on, even if you’ve removed all the dog waste. Having these kinds of critters around your property can lead to another set of poop issues, as well as concerns around diseases transmitted that can lay dormant during the cold months until everything comes back to life in spring.
- Maintain a clean house – no matter who’s turn it is to go outside with the dog, there’s always snow, ice and slush being tracked into the house after the chore has been completed. If you leave dog waste out in the yard, it can easily get mushed under foot, meaning that it can also get brought into your house. Keeping a clean house in winter can be tough, so don’t let dog poop become a part of the problem.
- No spring clean up – finally, while it can be tempting to leave the dog waste outside all winter long because it’s too cold to stay outside longer than necessary, you’ll suffer the consequences when spring rolls around. The frequent Calgary snow storms will hide your dog poop, and then give it plenty of time to melt and dissolve into your soil as the snowpacks thaw. Dogs are carnivores which means that there are multiple poisonous toxins in their poop that you don’t want leaching into your garden.
Keeping Ahead of Dog Waste During Winter
The most obvious way to keep your property clear of dog poop without spending any money is to follow your furry friend around when you take them outside to go poop. This will make sure you’re on hand to catch all the waste as it happens, but it can take a while, especially if you’ve got a dog who likes to take their time. There are other options to help you and your family keep on top of your pet waste: during Calgary’s winter:
- Fence off a section – the easiest way to help keep your dog waste problem under control in winter is to section off a part of your yard with some fencing to limit where your dog can go. Once you’ve set up this fenced off area, you’ll need to train your dog that this is where they can go poop when you take them outside. You can then let them out to do their business, and then quickly go pick up after them when they’re all done, limiting the amount of time that you need to be outside.
- Create a schedule – you can create a more lenient schedule of who is going to pick up the dog poop and when, but this strategy requires you to have a close eye on the weather. You’ll want to make sure that someone has taken care of the dog waste before each incoming snow storm, and you probably don’t want to leave it more than a day or two between clearings.
- Basement bathroom – if your home is large enough to have a basement and your dog only needs to go to the bathroom infrequently, then you might want to consider setting up a basement bathroom for your dog. While you won’t be able to train it to use a litter box like a cat, you can still put down newspaper and old towels in an emergency so you can keep things clean without having to go outside.
Work With The Professionals
If all of this sounds like too much effort, or you really don’t want to be outside longer than possible during the cold Calgary winter, then it’s time to talk to the dog waste experts at Scoop Cut N Shovel. Our team of poop professionals will come to your house once a week and clean up all the dog waste that we can find. Our subscription packages vary by the number of dogs that you have (and thus the amount of dog waste we need to collect!), but you can save money by signing up for our longer terms packages; up to 30% off our regular rates when you sign up for a year round package. If you just need a kick start, you can get a one off clean service to give you a blank state to start your winter dog waste project.
Bundle To Save More
Once you’ve gotten the idea of how nice it is for someone else to come take care of your dog waste problem, you should then check out Scoop Cut N Shovel’s other property maintenance services. We take care of everything, from your spring set up to fall clean up and everything in between. Our best value is when you use our year round property maintenance package and let us do all the heavy work for you, leaving you free to enjoy your home, and your family dog.