Most Calgary residents enjoy the winter months in the city (or at least have found a way to tolerate the long cold months!), but those with dogs at home have a different view of the season. The continual build up of snow and ice on your property, combined with the freezing cold temperatures, means that getting your dog to go to the bathroom during winter can become a struggle. It can also be difficult to stay on top of dealing with your pet waste during the winter, but there are plenty of ways that you can take care of this problem.
Why You Need To Deal With Pet Waste
Let’s be honest about it, dog poop is gross, and having to clean it up is one of the worst things about owning a dog. It’s possible (but socially unacceptable) to leave it if your dog poops on a walk or at the park, but when it’s around your property, leaving the dog poop out for long periods of time brings a whole host of problems.
An Open Dinner Invitation
As disgusting as it sounds, there are plenty of critters out there who think that your dog’s waste is a tasty snack. Rodents like rats and mice will be attracted by an easy meal that sits out on top of the snowpack, and once one arrives on your property, they’ll bring the whole family. Very quickly, you’ll find yourself with a rodent problem that will be nigh on impossible to take care of during the winter months, and your property will have been marked as an excellent restaurant by the pests of the neighbourhood.
Poisoning The Snowmelt
All Calgary homeowners are reliant on the snow melting to water their garden ahead of a productive spring growing season. While you’re waiting for the spring rains, this is how your garden gets a deep watering at the start of spring. Leaving dog waste to decompose into your snowpack means that you’re poisoning the water supply. Dogs are carnivores, and their digestive tract produces poop that contains harmful chemicals to your soil (this is why you’ll never see dog manure products!), no matter what you feed them.
An Unfortunate Smell
The last main problem of not taking your pet waste problem in a timely fashion is the smell. There’s something about the freshness of the winter air in Calgary that makes everything feel clean, but that also seems to carry strong scents further. While your dog waste might freeze during the cold snaps, you’ll know immediately when the weather starts to warm up as your whole property will reek of dog waste, which will also act as a neon welcome sign to your neighbourhood rat population.
Taking Care Of Business
Now that it’s clear that leaving dog waste over winter in Calgary is a terrible idea, you need to make a plan about how to tackle your poop problem. It’s not as easy as it sounds, as you’re also fighting your own issues of it being freezing cold, dark and slippery outside. All these factors make it hard to motivate yourself to go and take care of business, but fortunately there’s some simple strategies to help:
- Designate a toilet area – even if you have a reasonably sized yard, there’s nothing worse than playing the game of “where did my dog go poop?” especially when it’s dark and cold outside and you’re tired after a day at work. Fortunately, dogs are creatures of habit and can be trained to poop in a specific area of the yard (or you can fence an area off and bring them there when it’s time to go). This means you know where the poop is and you can scoop it up quickly.
- Have the right tools – as with any property maintenance task, it’s all about having the right tool for the job. It’s probably beyond time to invest in a claw handled pooper scooper so you can grab the pet waste without having to bend and get close to it. Find one with serrated edges so you can gather any type of stool, and be sure to keep it inside (after washing it after each use) so the smell doesn’t attract critters.
- Make it a rotating chore – unless it’s just you and your dog at home, you have a house full of other people who can help spread the burden of dog poop cleanup in winter. You can either take turns by day or by outside visit, meaning that everyone shares in the misery equally.
Get Professional Help
If it is just you by yourself, or the people at home are unable (or unwilling!) to help with dog waste removal, then it’s time to contact Scoop Cut N Shovel’s expert pooper scooper services in Calgary. Our team of poop professionals will come to your property on a scheduled basis and pick up and dispose of all the pet waste that’s been produced since our last visit. We offer a variety of subscription packages depending on the number of dogs you have and the frequency that you need us to visit. You can also hire our expert pooper scoopers to come to your property year round to help protect your spring and summer garden against the dangers of dog poop.
Bundle And Save
Once you’ve spent a winter with professional dog waste experts taking care of your dog’s business for you, you may begin to wonder what other parts of your year round property maintenance chores could be farmed out to the experts. The answer at Scoop Cut N Shovel is pretty much everything. You’ll find subscription packages for spring and fall cleanups, summer time lawncare, and even snow and ice removal services for your driveway and walkways. The more packages you sign up for, the more you can save, leaving you free to enjoy all the benefits of each season without the seemingly endless list of property maintenance chores.