When I walk my dog, rather than scoop up her poop with a plastic bag wrapped over my hand, I carry a small spade or trowel. I dig a shallow hole (not in a neighbor’s lawn), drop it in, and then cover it with about an inch of soil. It seems a better solution than adding it to a landfill wrapped in plastic.
Does anyone think I shouldn’t do this for some reason? It might not serve as the best fertilizer, but I’m sure it decomposes in a short time and becomes part of the soil. If I’m wrong about this, please let me know.
It depends on how many people are doing this in the same area … here’s a related 'Dope “Is it OK if I let my dog pee all over somebody else’s shrubbery?” …
What does “not in a neighbor’s lawn” mean? On your own property? In a park? Highway median?
Do you do this often? And often enough in the same place? Have you ever dug up one you’ve buried just a few weeks ago? Or someone else’s, now that you’ve shared this quickie solution to all dog waste for everybody? Is there any grass left at all in your favorite spot, or is it all turned over, washing away in the rain, leaving a little island of dog turds?
You did ask, so I’ve offered this position. If everybody did that …
“But everybody doesn’t do that, just me …”
If everybody did that this would be the result. Animal waste really doesn’t disappear as quickly as you believe. Would you like a citation? “How to Shit in the Woods”, by Kathleen Meyer specifies how people kayaking in Maine tend to run ashore on tiny islands to quickly take a dump and bury it. The soil of these islands is eroding away. However, the human turds remain. Enjoy your walk.
Making rounds at the office right now.
Turds will degrade and become part of the soil faster if they are left on the surface; weather, bacteria, and insects work pretty quickly. Burying it is to help stop the spread of disease and to prevent people and other animals from having to look at it and/or step in it, but burying it slows down the ‘dust to dust’ action a great deal.
Overall, on a somewhat popular trail, digging up cat-holes made by other people is not all that uncommon … so it is likely better to remove the stuff and send it off to a landfill if that is a reasonable option.
Yes, that book in particular has a chapter called “frosting a rock” which is exactly what you think – spread the brown stuff thinly on an exposed surface like frosting a cake and let the sun’s UV rays do their killing work* on the pathogens within.
*(or their occasional “mutating into horrible new forms” work)
There are dog poop bags available that promise rapid biodegredation. All the councils around here use them, but I’m sure they are also available for purchase privately.
Reducing landfill is not a benefit of your method, because, you know… You’re putting the dog poop into the land…
Years back I had a Doggy Dooley which is a septic system for dog waste. Dig a hole about 2’ deep and 15" across. There’s a plastic cap that fits into the hole. Just drop in the waste with some of their enzymes and it liquifyed and leached into the soil. Used it for years. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002DI35E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_w8EQzbB3DHFG3
Do you all remember white dog turds? I don’t see them anymore. I don’t know, it seems like an anachronism. I guess the law has taken care of that. But when do the white dog shits go back to in urban memory? It’s when they get so old they have had all their elements displaced and turn white.
The white dog turds were caused by the addition of bone meal to dog food. It isn’t used these days due to a bunch of factors like Mad Cow disease, not being a good nutritional balance for dogs, poisonous food products from China, etc.
Thanks for this! I have two dogs and will always have dogs so this would be a great thing for the backyard as I can just scoop it and drop it in. At the moment, I use a paper bag or cardboard box and throw that away.
I hope it works for you. I currently live in a rural area on 5 acres, so it just sits.
I have a Great Dane, two horses and two donkeys, there is poop. So much poop.
Same method I use.
One of the best things about living in the desert is that the dog poop is always hard…
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Some jackass walks their dog on the lawn at my condo and they don’t pick up their dog shit ! I didn’t see it and stepped in it ! My city just passed a law if a dog owner doesn’t have some poop bags on them when walking their dog(s) on city property the person can get a fine . Wolf and fox scat will degrade a lot faster than dogs poop ,dog poop get very messy and take time to break down and degrade . You need to check with your town or city to see if you’re allowed to put dog poop in the trash .
My husband has been tossing the poo from 2 small dogs over the fence into an empty brown grassy field behind our house. I’m not a fan of this behavior, but I also don’t like wrapping the poo in biodegradable plastic and landfilling it. Pretty sure there’s nothing biodegradable about that scenario. I’m fascinated with the Doggy Dooley as a solution, but as our backyard is very small, it’s got to be completely odor-free. Now if I could get rid of the grass with burnt pee patches, I’d be set.
Any recommendations on some lawn solution that can survive repeated exposure to dog urine? It doesn’t have to be grass, but it has to be something the dogs are willing to pee on as they don’t like the river stone in place near the foundation.
The spots are caused by the high nitrogen content of dog urine burning the grass through over-fertilization. If you are out there with the dog you could put some water (maybe a quart or so) on the spot where doggie did his business with a hose, watering can, jug, bucket, whatever, to dilute the nitrogen and prevent the burn spot.
If you use fertilizer on your lawn, stopping using it may help prevent some of the dog spots – switching to a low nitrogen fertilizer like Milorganite or other organic fertilizer may help.
Perennial ryegrass is more resistant to dog urine than Kentucky bluegrass. Perennial ryegrass sprouts very quickly, within a few days, so keep a bag of the seed around and just toss a bit on the spots as they appear. For quickest results, look for a bag of seed that contains only perennial ryegrass, not the typical sun and shade mix of fescue, rye, and KY blue.
Probably too late in the year now unless you are pretty far south, but if you decide to do a lawn restoration in the spring, fescue is also more resistant to dog urine burn then bluegrass, so a mix of perennial ryegrass and fescue will work well but the fescue takes a couple of weeks of watering to sprout.