The global pandemic has affected the people of Alberta in many different ways, but it’s also had a major impact on the canine population as well. As most of the city’s working population began to work from home, many people decided that they needed a four legged friend to keep them company. Within a few months, the city’s pet shelters were empty, and the dog population of the city exploded.
It’s always said that with great power comes great responsibility, and nowhere is this more true than when it applies to dog ownership. For many of the new dog owners across the city, there will have been a sharp learning curve about dog poop clean up, especially if you took on multiple pups. It’s a tedious and often smelly task, but one that you need to keep on top of for a multitude of reasons.
The Perils of Poop
It’s fairly obvious that leaving your dog’s waste outside is going to make your garden smell pretty gross after a while, but there’s many reasons why when it comes to poop clean up Calgary dog owners need to take extra care:
- Harmful toxins – the world of animal poop can be a confusing one. On the one hand, we’re told that collecting waste from animals like chickens, horses and cows can make for excellent manure and fertiliser for our vegetable gardens and flower beds. On the other hand, we’re told to get dog and cat poop off our lawns as soon as possible as they break down into harmful and poisonous toxins. The difference is the food that’s consumed. Herbivores break down plant based material into poop that contains helpful bacteria and degrading microbes. Carnivores have a meat based diet (even if you feed them dry kibble!) and their digestive tracts require more acids to break down the complex proteins. Leaving pet waste on your yard will slowly leach harmful toxins into your lawn, and can even seep into the city’s water system.
- Unwanted visitors – dogs have a fantastic sense of smell, which is why you’ll notice your pup peeing all over the place whenever they go on a new walk. This is their way of claiming territory, and the same thing applies to poop. Untreated dog poop will act as a beacon to other dogs in your neighbourhood, who will either come over to investigate, or will add their own waste as an aggressive way of claiming territory. You’ll also find that other animals, such as rats and mice, actually feed upon dog waste, so leaving it out on your yard is an open invitation to bring rodents and pests onto your property. Once they’ve arrived, it’s incredibly hard to get rid of them.
- Human contact – if you’ve got small children, you know that they like to explore with their hands and their feet. Younger kids will likely be fascinated by dried dog poop and will want to pick it up and bring it inside, while older kids will be more focused on the game they’re playing and less about what they’re running through. In both cases, if you leave dog poop out on the lawn, eventually it’s going to end up in your house and those harmful toxins end up in your home.
Strategies for Dog Poop Clean Up
When it comes to pet waste removal Calgary dog owners have a duty to clean the doody, and there’s several strategies you can employ to make your life easier:
- Fence off an area – if you have a big lawn, or you don’t want to spend time playing “hunt the dog poop”, then you need to fence a section of your yard that your dog will use as a private bathroom. This will make sure that no other animals will get in as well as concentrating all of the dog poop in one area of your yard. This is an expensive option, and only works if your dog only ever goes outside when they go to the bathroom.
- Follow them with a bag – if you only have one dog, or if your dogs are smaller, you can get some good exercise and outside time by following them around with a baggie in hand. This allows you to be sure that they’ve gone to the bathroom, and that you’ve picked up every last piece of poop. It takes a while and you’ll need to make sure that you’re paying close attention if your dog spends a lot of time outside.
- Invest in a pooper scooper – a pooper scooper will be the best investment you make if you have to be out at work all day and your dog spends all day outside. You can go for the simple model which resembles an internal dustpan and broom, or the more sophisticated model which looks like a claw to help you get all the poop out of the grass. This is a good halfway house between fencing off part of your garden and following your dog round with a bag, but it becomes a daily chore to do, and it’s easy to miss poop especially when the leaves start to fall.
Get Professional Help With Scoop
While it’s possible to do your own poop cleanup, there is another way that will save you time and money: team up with Scoop’s expert dog waste removal services. Members of our professional dog waste removal team will come to your house during the work and clean up all the waste we can find. We’ll even take it away with us so it doesn’t sit and ferment in your brown bin!
We have a wide range of packages to choose from, ranging from a one time cleanup service, aimed at people either moving or in or moving out of a property, to our monthly subscription which saves you money on weekly clean ups. You can also save even more when you wrap up your dog waste clean up service with our year round property maintenance packages, so call today to start saving yourself time and money on your pet waste removal.