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Having a dog is amazing. They’re not called man’s best friend for nothing and puppies will brighten up most people’s days, no matter how gloomy. They do come with some minor setbacks—nothing that’ll put you off them as they’re too cute for that—but things that you’d probably rather not deal with. We’re talking about toilet training here. Once you’ve trained your little fluffy friend to go potty in the yard, you’ll still have to clean it up. It’s definitely better than in the house, but a chore all the same. Here’s how to handle dog poop in the yard. (And in case you need it, here’s how to get rid of dog poop in the house.)
It is much better to get your dog to go potty in the yard, so you may be exasperated to read that you also have to deal with their mess outdoors. Aside from the smell and the potential hazard for someone to step in, dog poop is also classified as an environmental pollutant. You certainly don’t want that in your backyard.
Another plus of removing dog poop from your yard is that you can pay attention to your furry friend’s digestion. If you’re squeamish, you might hate this idea, but it could spot an underlying health issue if you notice a change in their poop. It’s all part of looking after another living being!
The best thing to do with dog poop in the yard is to remove it right away. If you leave it, it’ll spread the smell, and you risk kids or other household members stepping in it—and then you have to deal with removing dog poop from shoes. This is arguably the worse job, so, as with so many other things, prevention is better than cure. Here’s how we do it:
- Keep an eye on your pooch when they’re in the yard, especially after they’ve eaten, just before bedtime and first thing in the morning. Once you see them go, pop outside yourself with a doggy-bag and scoop up their mess. Using a biodegradable bag is best, here.
- Or, set a time each week and head out to the yard with a dog waste bag and shovel. Then collect all of the poop at once and safely move to the outdoor garbage can. This way you can limit the number of bags you use and be sure you have time set aside to clean up the yard.
- If you prefer, you can also compost the poop so you don’t increase your carbon footprint. It might seem yucky at first thought, but there’s no reason not to do this unless you really don’t want to start composting. Please note, that per the EPA, this compost is not meant for any plants you plan to consume.
- If you aren’t wearing gloves, be sure to wash your hands after.
If, for whatever reason, you want to dissolve the dog poop in your yard rather than scoop it up, there are some methods available to you. The first is to use commercially available dog poop dissolver, which is usually enzyme based. There may be times when dissolving dog poop is the easiest thing to do, but using biodegradable poop bags is probably simpler.
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