There’s one big reason why Calgary is one of the fastest growing cities in all of Canada. On average, the city gets 300 or more days of sunshine, making it the sunniest place to live in the country. With all this sunshine comes a lot of time to be outside in your yard, whether it’s actively gardening and doing yardwork, or just hanging out with friends and family making the most of the summer sun. It’s also a great time to get your four legged friend some fresh air after being cooped up all winter, but there’s one proviso for having your dog out in the yard with you: the pet waste has to get picked up!
The Toxic Dangers Of Pet Waste
It’s obvious from an aesthetic point of view that leaving dog poop out in your yard isn’t a good idea. First and foremost, it just looks gross left out in your yard, but also the smell will force your friends and family to politely (or with blunt honesty!) refuse your invitations for garden parties and get togethers. However, there are more serious problems with not picking your pet waste on time that have longer term effects than just making your yard look and smell unpleasant:
- Leached chemicals – the first issue with not being timely with your pet waste pickup is that dog poop quickly degrades into toxic chemicals that leach into your soil. These chemicals are naturally occurring in your dog’s digestive system so pose no harm to them, but once they reach your soil, they can kill off your grass and other plants, as well as removing all the healthy insects and microbes that promote healthy soil for future growth. The tricky part about this situation is that once these chemicals have entered your soil, it’s almost impossible to get them out, meaning that you have to dig up and replace the soil and grow new grass.
- Rodent attraction – even if you have a large fence to keep your own dogs in, your yard will still be a central hub for local rodents and pests if you don’t collect your dog poop in time. You’ll be amazed at how easily even large creatures like raccoons are able to shimmy through or even over your chain link to feast on the unintended “goodies” that your dog has left behind for them. Just like the leached chemicals, once you’ve allowed these rodents in, it’s very hard to get rid of them, even once you get on top of your pet waste problem.
- Tracked pet waste – finally, leaving pet waste out in your yard for extended periods of time highly increases the likelihood that it gets tracked into your home by well meaning friends and family who aren’t going to pay attention to every single step that they take out in your yard. You’ll know it’s happened when your home starts to smell of dog poop, but then you’ll spend countless hours working out where they walked, working out how to get it out of the various surfaces in your home and finally having to scrub the poop off the bottom of their shoes (or feet!)
Take Control Of Your Pet Waste Problem
It’s clear to see from these issues that the best way to avoid any issues with dog poop in your yard is to have a solid plan for your pet waste removal during the Calgary summer. There are a few ways to stay on top of your dog waste by yourself. The first and most obvious strategy is to walk around with your pet, pooper scooper in hand, and collect their waste as soon as it happens. This is doable if it’s a weekend or you work from home, but if your dog has free run of the yard during the day, you’re going to end up missing some pieces when you get home after work. The next is to set up a schedule for yourself where you go out each morning and each afternoon and spend some time on a dog poop hunt. This can be made quicker by getting some help from other family members, but this adds to the possibility of pet waste getting tracked through your home. Finally, you can section off a part of your yard as a designated toilet for your dog. This will concentrate the dog poop in one area of your yard so you only have to look in one place. However, this requires time and effort to build, not to mention that you’ll have to spend time training your dog to use that space.
Getting Professional Help
Each of the above solutions requires you to have time and effort to stay on top of your Calgary pet waste removal situation, and for many citizens, both of those are in short supply. That’s when you want to get in touch with our team of dog poop cleanup experts here at Scoop Cut N Shovel. We will come to your house on a regular basis (as agreed upon with you) and effortlessly take care of all the dog poop in your yard, even taking it away so you’re left with a pristine yard for your summer fun. This can be done as a one off clean up session to help you get back on top of things, or as a weekly or biweekly cleanup to put your mind at rest.
Bundle Services To Save More
There’s more to Scoop Cut N Shovel than just dog waste removal. Our team of property maintenance experts can work with you to set up lawn care, fall and spring yard clean ups, regular mowing during the summer and even landscaping advice and planning. Our overall goal is to help you keep your property looking at it’s best all year long, so you’ll find that you’re able to save money on each service if you bundle them all together. Make this the summer that you invest some money in being able to spend more time outside enjoying the many sunny days in Calgary.