Cleaning up poop in your yard...

[kmack]

OK, this might be a weird question but I have to ask...currently I live in a city so I clean up after my dog when she poops on the sidewalk. We bought a summer house with a fenced in yard so we have neighbors on every side of our fence. We are there for just weekends or a week at a time, so we are not always around to put out the trash. I am just wondering what to do with all the dog poop I scoop up?? My SIL has woods behind her house so she just throws it in there but I can't do that. I tried throwing it behind our shed but it starts to smell. I have also let it accumulate and then put it in bags and thrown it out in a community trash barrel, but this requires me to carry stinky poop with me.

I guess most homeowners can just put it out with their regular trash, but sometimes we have renters coming in so I would hate to leave them with trash barrels that smell of poo (not to mention I don't really want to smell it when I'm there either!). So please tell me how/if you dispose of your pet's messes - thanks! Sorry for the weird question but I have lived in the city most of my life and have never had to deal with this before!

[SingleWhiteFemale]

Oddly enough, I'm considering getting one of those diaper genies (that normal people use for babies)...

[junkinmytrunk]

Well, funny you should ask. I was using the real, live yellow pages (yep, the phone book) the other day and I happened upon an ad for "PET WASTE REMOVAL". I had no idea such a business existed, as I don't own dogs.

I have no idea of the particulars such as frequency of removal, quantity of poopoos, rates, etcetera, but I figured I'd just put it out there.

[ejs]

We have a small plastic trash can with a snap-on lid. We put a plastic garbage bag in the trash can. When we scoop the poop, we put it in there. On trash pickup day, we put a twist tie on the plastic bag and put it in our garbage can.

We never smell the poop when it's ib the small trash can because the snap-on lid helps prevent odor from escaping.

[EJM]

We have the same set up as ejs. We also individually bag each poop that we pick up immediately after our dog goes, and then put it in the small can so it is essentially double bagged.

Pet waste removal is big business around here, but I couldn't imagine living with that mess in our yard for a few days especially with a toddler running around.

[kmack]

ah, a diaper genie! that could be a good idea.

ejs & EJM - not sure why i didn't just think of buying a separate container for the poop! it's just a pain if we miss trash day and it ends up sitting there.

didn't realize they had pet waste removal services - thanks for the ideas!

[Hello Kitty]

You could look into a doggie dooley system (or DIY it, which is what I did) - they're pretty neat - no smells or worrying about taking it out each week, and you feel good about not sending it off to a landfill. It was super easy to do and took me about a half an hour.

[Emilie]

You could look into a doggie dooley system (or DIY it, which is what I did) - they're pretty neat - no smells or worrying about taking it out each week, and you feel good about not sending it off to a landfill. It was super easy to do and took me about a half an hour.

How did you do it? We have looked at the Doggie Dooley but haven't gotten around to it.

[Hello Kitty]

I found specific instructions online (google: dog waste composting) but basically what I did was dug a 4ft deep hole, threw some rocks in the bottom, lined it with a tomato tower to prevent it from collapsing (which also worked well b/c my hole was cone shaped ;) as I'm not the best digger), added some Rid-X septic digestants (just a sprinkle) and then started adding dog waste.

I add Rid-X every now and then, also, I throw in any errant worms I find when gardening. One hole should keep one dog for a year. Sometimes I throw a few yard clippings in there, but I hardly do anything to maintain it. I probably should go out there and break up the compost at the bottom with the new poo on top.

DH thought it was going to smell and draw flies. It really doesn't. I used a large plant saucer for a lid, and it's obviously not a tight seal, but we haven't noticed more problems with flies or anything. Anyway, I'm really proud of it and it was cheap, easy, and I don't throw pounds of poop in a landfil where it can't decompose.

[Katy]

Take a moment to do a search on this topic as I know it's been discussed before (I recall posting in it and discussing Pooper Scooper services).

[paiger]

Oddly enough, I'm considering getting one of those diaper genies (that normal people use for babies)...

I was thinking about this, too! We just moved into a condo where we have to scoop. We have the little doggie bags that we know, but our trash can still started smelling TERRIBLE after 3 days. I told DH that the diaper genie sounded like a good idea...did you try it?

We don't have room for another trashcan, and really I'm not sure how that's different that what we are doing now since we tie off the doggie bags. We can't compost it, I don't think, b/c the grounds aren't ours. Plus, we go for walks, so we'd still have to dispose of the doggie bags.