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Dog Poop: How To Best Manage Your Dog’s Pooping Habits

With pets, poop piles are as inevitable as death and taxes. Even though we don’t like to think
about It, waste management goes with the pet ownership territory. Picking up after our dogs when we walk them is a good way to enhance our relationships with neighbors, especially if Sparky has chosen their front yards in which to make a deposit. If piles of pet poop get you down, try some of these suggestions to keep from being overwhelmed by your dog’s wastes.

1. Feeding a highly digestible, high-quality food will reduce the volume of stools your dog passes. Many dog foods create a soft mess when digested by your dog. Also, if you have suddenly changed to a soft food then this may also pose a problem.

2. A long-handled scoop and rake will make the poop-scooping chore go faster. Using bags or any other quick-fix will more likely have you cleaning up leftover mess.

3. If the poop is piling up faster than you can get rid of it, investigate any local services that perform poop scooping. Occasionally, pet-sitters also will do poop scooping as a sideline to their pet-sitting services. Check the Yellow Pages under Pets or Pet-sitters, or inquire about such services at a local pet store.

4. Purchase cardboard doggie-doo pickup pouches at your local pet store. Their unique shape enables you to pick up your dog’s waste and fold the container closed for disposal.

5. If your dog deposits small amounts of stools on his walk, use zip-closure plastic food bags to pick up the waste.

6. If your dog has trouble holding it if you are working late or when you can’t get home at lunchtime to walk him, investigate using a dog-walking service. Check the Yellow Pages under Pets or Pet-sitters. In many small towns and neighborhoods there are many local people and students who offer this service as a way of income.

7. If your dog eliminates before you have a chance to come home and take him for a walk, try placing some newspaper covered with an absorbent doggie pad near his favorite potty place to prevent soiling your carpet or floor. Absorbent pet potty pads or training pads are available in pet stores.

8. Check out your local pet store or a pet supplies catalog for complete doggie waste removal systems that keep your backyard from smelling like a doggie dump.