There’s many reasons why so many Calgary residents have a dog (or two, or three!) as their primary pet. Dogs are loyal, friendly and are a great companion for adults and children alike. There’s even studies that show that petting a dog each day reduces your blood pressure and increases endorphin levels. However, as with any pet ownership, there are downsides to owning a dog. Vet bills and food costs are among the biggest drawbacks, but there’s one chore that all dog owners dread – picking up the dog poop.
The Importance of Dog Waste Removal
While it’s easily the least glamorous part of dog ownership, dog waste removal is one of the most important tasks to take care of for the following reasons:
- Soil contamination – no matter the size of your yard, you’re always growing something in your garden, even if it’s just a short patch of grass and a couple of flower beds. Your dog will always poop in and around the same places in your yard, and left unattended the dog waste will start to decompose rapidly into your soil. Unlike herbivore manure such as chickens, cows and horses which contain helpful bacteria for soil development, your dog’s waste contains harmful enzymes due to the carnivorous nature of their diet (even if they only ever eat kibble!) which can poison the soil and make it hard or impossible to grow anything.
- Neighbourhood pests – while we humans think that all poop is gross, no matter where it comes from, there are plenty of creatures across Calgary who will see your dog’s waste as a rare delicacy. Leaving your dog poop out for extended periods of time will turn your property into the neighbourhood restaurant for rats, raccoons and other pests, and once they’ve got a taste of your dog’s poop, it’s hard to keep them away. You’ll also find that untended dog waste attracts flies and other insect pests which will run your enjoyment of the warmer months outside.
- Bacteria in your home – finally, no matter how careful you are, you’re always likely to tread on dog waste that has been left out in your yard. This is especially true if you have children, or younger people come to visit. It’s super hard to clean off either bare feet or shoes which means that the dog waste will quickly get tracked through your home. Given the harmful pathogens such as e coli, salmonella and roundworm that hide out inside dog poop, you run the unnecessary risk of illnesses and diseases getting transferred to your household members.
Top Tips For Dog Waste Removal
It’s clear that taking care of your dog’s waste should be a number one priority for all Calgary dog owners, but it takes some planning and consideration to keep on top of it. Here are some of the easiest ways to take care of your dog waste in a timely fashion:
- Follow your dog – by far and away the easiest way to keep on top of your dog’s poop is to follow them around as they do their business in your yard. This approach means that you’ll catch everything (sometimes literally!) and you can also see the frequency and kind of feces that your dog is creating, which can give you an early indication of any digestive problems. However, taking this approach to dog waste removal means that you have to have the time to follow your dog around, no matter the weather, and pick up the poop that might not always be solid.
- Set a schedule – if you’re pressed for time, or if you leave your dog out in a contained area while you’re at work, you can set dog poop pickup as a daily or every other day chore for yourself or someone in your household. This is a reliable way to make sure that all the poop gets picked up before it becomes a problem, and you don’t have to worry about watching your dog constantly as they roam around outside. One drawback of taking this approach is that it’s easy to miss some poop and you can quickly run into some of the problems listed above.
- Create a designated area – no matter whether you choose to follow your dog around or keep to a set schedule, creating a designated space in your yard for your dog to use as a bathroom is a great way to keep on top of your dog waste removal situation. You can make this just as simple as training your dog to use a certain part of the garden when they need to go, or make a physical area with some sort of fence so your dog can roam around as they do looking for the perfect spot to poop. In either case, having that specific area means that you’ll always know where to find the dog waste, and even if you miss some, any potential damage is contained to a small area.
Getting Professional Help
All of this preparation and removal can feel like a lot of work, especially on top of everything else you have going in your life. This is why you should contact Scoop Cut N Shovel to come and clean up your dog waste. Our team of poop cleanup experts will come to your home with a variety of dog waste removal tools and we’ll make sure that your dog poop gets disposed of appropriately. You can choose to hire our team as a one off cleanup to get your dog waste problem under control, or you can pick one of our weekly subscription packages to save money and have someone take care of the problem on a full time basis. Finally, you can save even more by bundling our pet waste removal service with any of our other property maintenance packages such as spring and fall cleanups, summer lawn mowing maintenance and our winter snow and ice removal, giving you the gift of time to spend with your dog all year round.