How Do You Pick Up Your Dog's Poop?

[ramama]

We're getting a dog in a few months and need a method for picking up poop. Children also need to be able to do it with some degree of independence. Please, no hand in a plastic baggie suggestions LOL I'm a little squeamish about it and don't think my children could do that reliably!

[nd_deadhead]

- Ice cream pail with a plastic bag liner
- garden trowel
- scoop poop into lined bucket; dispose of bag.

I might get the kids gardening gloves to wear just for this task - at least for the hand holding the bucket.

[Sailor]

The have plastic scoopers made for this purpose at pet stores. If it's just for the yard, those are very handy. For walks outside the house, it's less convenient to use a scooper. In which case, your handiest option is the bag over hand (sorry).

Hey, if you feed raw, the poop has no small, is always small, and hard. So, not that gross.

[tine1973]

hmmm - well - on walks it is the plastic bag method, but in the yard I usually just use a little shovel and a bucket to carry it over to the Doggy Doolie. Really, it depends how you are going to dispose of it!

[mistymama]

Well I've been using the hand in a plastic grocery bag method since I was a kid - but now that we use our own bags at the grocery store (and have for years) we had to find a new option.

I bought one of those plastic pooper scoopers from the pet store and just use that. I had one before and got so grossed out because poop would stick to it *gag* but now that we feed raw the poops are solid and don't stick so it's no big deal.

[Piglet68]

I plan on using the scooper and bucket method myself - AND i'm going to flush it down the toilet. Most environmentally friendly way I can think of to dispose of it!

I try to use as little plastic in my life as possible and would love some ideas on alternatives to baggies when out walking. I know there are biodegradable baggies you can get, but it will still end up in the landfill. I suppose I could dump them in the toilet when I get home...and I'm planning on feeding raw so hopefully it won't be so messy!

[nd_deadhead]

I was able to teach my Lab to poop on command. He was HUGE, so I much preferred him to poop in our yard! I'd run him around in the yard for a while, tell him to poop, and I'd wait until he did before we went for a long walk. Only rarely did he ever go while we were on a walk.

Our current dog doesn't work that way - he typically goes 2 or 3 times while on a walk (even if he normally goes 1 or 2 times in a whole day!). There's no getting around the plastic bag for him.

[CvilleC]

I use something like this to clean up in the backyard: http://www.shanestack.com/shop/index...-flypage-28833

I like it b/c shovels tend to scrape the poop along and pick up pieces of grass as well. This is efficient and easy to use. In the summer, I scoop regularly and toss it into corners of the yard that aren't traffic areas. I looked into the doggie dooley, but we have Virginia red clay that makes it difficult. I heard feeding dogs raw makes poop turn into dusty-chalky stuff pretty quickly. I keep thinking about training her to go in a designated spot in the yard, but laziness has kept me from doing so.

I don't know of any other way beside bags to pick poop up on a walk. I try to be certain that she goes before we take a walk. I hate that feeling of hot poop through a bag as well, and I never fully trust it!

I did read about a spray that "freezes" poop, but I don't know if it is environmentally friendly or if it would be worth the pain of lugging around that bottle.

[Adele_Mommy]

I like these for walks: Dispoz-a-Scoop

No more environmentally friendly than a regular plastic bag of course, but they do successfully allow me to avoid feeling the poop through the bag!

[paulamc]

We use something like this in the yard. Plastic bags on walks.

http://www.amazon.com/Firstrax-Poop-...5286987&sr=8-4

[CarrieMF]

I suppose I could dump them in the toilet

I'd double check on whether the bags should go in the toilet. Even if they're biodegradable they'll probably block the toilet or lines up. If you have a septic system they could cause major problems there too.

We use a shovel/rake at home. We don't take our dogs for walks.

[GiantGi]

I dont. My DH does it. LOL...

Seriously though, he does the shovel and bucket method. I really want to get one of those pooper scoopers but for some reason I have a hard time shelling out $20 for something to pick up poop with. I guess I should splurge.

[Melaniee]

Tell me more about the doggie dooley thing, do you all like them long-term? You don't have to move it around? And bonus, it comes with a poop-grabber!

[Piglet68]

Hey, guess what? I was reading this thread and saw an ad at the bottom for these:

Flushable Doggie Bags!

When I mentioned flushing poop collected on walks I didn't mean with the bag - I would empty the bag and then dispose of it (biodegradable). But that seemed like a messy proposition. This product looks like EXACTLY what I need. Anybody heard of these before?

[Geigerin]

This is going to sound silly, but....we don't clean up after the dog.

We have a Great Dane, but he's on a raw diet and doesn't leave much mess. Most of it gets washed away with rain this time of year, or I mow over it. This past winter, it was covered with snow a lot.

This sounds really gross, but I'm in our yard all the time and manage not to step in it. It's great fertilizer for our yard. We tried teaching the dog where to go by getting a hormone post for the back corner of the yard. Mostly, it was just stinky and didn't change his behaviour.

Come August, when the rain goes away, we will start picking up again, but we just scoop it from the middle of the yard and throw it in one of the gardens along the garage.

I'm sure this will also change when we have little ones running around, so that was probably no help....sorry!

[Kristine233]

I scoop with a plastic scooper or rake it. It all gets tossed into a dedicated poop pile in the back yard. I mix in leaves and other lawn clippings and it breaks down nicely. The leaves hide any smell.

We're considering doing away with all of our grass except just a bit for teh dogs to do thier bussiness on, so it may change. We have a VERY TINY backyard adn we can barely grow what little grass we have. We're ready to just cvover it all with landscaping.

[Momily]

Originally Posted by nd_deadhead

I was able to teach my Lab to poop on command. He was HUGE, so I much preferred him to poop in our yard! I'd run him around in the yard for a while, tell him to poop, and I'd wait until he did before we went for a long walk. Only rarely did he ever go while we were on a walk.

Our current dog doesn't work that way - he typically goes 2 or 3 times while on a walk (even if he normally goes 1 or 2 times in a whole day!). There's no getting around the plastic bag for him.

Funny, I have the opposite preference. My dog only poops on walks (came to me that way), so I can pick it up right then and dump it in the trash. In fact he almost always poops at the same point on my way home from a long walk where there is, coincidentally a trash can.

Somehow picking up one poop at a time doesn't phaze me, but the idea of hunting it down in the yard, and maybe missing one and stepping on it grosses me out to no end.

To each their own.

[Sol_y_Paz]

pooper scooper. Then go outside trash just for this purpose.

[bluey]

Poop Patrol claw thing. Then into the garbage. I make sure he only goes in the front yard - easy enough since he's kind of a robot about it - because the kids play in the back and that icks me out

What I'd really like is someone else to do it for me

[inkslinger]

We have a chihuahua/jack russell mix, and she usually just goes on puppy training pads in the house. We pick it up and flush it. She doesn't go a whole lot and when she does they're very small.