I currently live in a townhome community and pick up behind my dog with a plastic grocery bag. This seems silly as I’m taking something inherently biodegradable and sealing it in plastic for eternity. When I buy my house with a yard can I compost dog poop? Is there a more environmentally friendly way to dispose of it?
Note- he’s a large greyhound, so this is no small quantity we’re talking about here.
eat it… all of it.
eat me… all of me.
ill assume you mean that in the american sence and are telling me to get fucked not propositioning me
A suggestion from Mad Magazine, many years ago:
Gift wrap the poop, and leave the package on the bus.
You can try one of these:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?siteid=12&pCatId=570
We used one years back with some success. But it was always full of slugs, yechh! And in the winter we had to keep the snow off to be able to open the lid and make deposits.
Now we clean up and dump the material in paper grocery sacks and they go in the trash.
You could gift rap it and go to the mall and set the packages on the trunk of your car and all those bad people will steal them and get poo for christmas.
I…uh…mulch my 85 pooches droppings by setting the mower lower in her poop spots. Since that area is usually more lush and green, it grows at 3x the rate of the rest of the yard and needs a brush cut.
Haven’t picked up poop in 8 years and never have stepped in it either.
One of the interesting facts I picked up from Simon Winchester’s excellent book, The Professor and the Madman was the fact that in the 19th century they used to collect dog poop from the streets of London and use it in the manufacture of bootblack (for polishing shoes).
Not sure I’d recommend it now – I like our wax- and “creme”-based polishes. And it gives a whole new outlook on why Londoners looked down on bootblacks.
If that’s the only thing you have to say, you should keep it to yourself. Most of your posts in this forum so far are remarkably unhelpful, and this one is downright insulting. You will not be here much longer if you continue in the same vein.
I understand your feelings, but but two wrongs don’t make a right. If you feel the need to insult someone on the SDMB, you will do so only in the BBQ Pit.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
How’s about a serious answer?
When my German Shepard/wolf mix was still alive, (a rather large and umm…productive animal), I’d use my handy-dandy post hole digger to dig a hole about 3 feet deep (depending on how ambitious I was feeling) out under our big fir tree and dump the aforementioned waste in. When it got close to the top, I’d cover it with dirt and dig a new hole. A certain amount of work, but then having animals isn’t maintenance free is it? Just be sure to mark your digs so you don’t dig in the same place twice.
Or you could invest in a large quantity of gift wrap.
rodmunch, I predict a very short tenure for you hereabouts.
We’re out in the country, and our dogs usually poop in the woods, so we don’t scoop at home. But we use these nifty poop scoopers all the time when we travel. They’re biodegradable (even the wire!), the wire makes it easy to scoop one-handed, they close up nicely, you don’t see the poop once it’s inside, and they’re clean and handy. We love 'em!
:smack: Forgot to say – scroll down the page on that link, about halfway down, to “Dispoz-a-Scoops.”
So, in some sense, the Brits couldn’t tell shit from Shinola 
According to Washington State University, you shouldn’t use dog (or cat) manure in a compost heap. Although it will enrich the soil, it can spread diseases and parasites.
Dispoz-a-scoop sounds like a winner. Or you could just use other bio-degradable plastic bags if you can find small ones.
You can, but you shouldn’t. There are various pathogens present in dog faeces, just as in human faeces. They aren’t all killed by composting and worse yet you can’t stop insects from feeding on it and then flying around the neighbouhood. Treat dog crap like human crap. You wouldn’t compost used nappies, don’t compost dog crap.
I figured that out after a minute of staring and wondering why you’d want to run dog poop through a wood chipper, seemed like more of a mess to me!
“There are various pathogens present in dog faeces, just as in human faeces.”
What pathogens? It’s true that both dogs and humans can have intestinal infections but most don’t and most that do have symptoms. What specific pathogens are we talking about?
“They aren’t all killed by composting…”
It depends on how you compost. If you use enough moist greens (e.g., grass clippings), you can get plenty hot enough to kill any pathogens.
“…and worse yet you can’t stop insects from feeding on it and then flying around the neighbouhood.”
But I can’t stop insects from feeding on the much larger quantity of dog poop that just lies on in the street or on lawns between rainstorms uncomposted. Should I run all over my neighborhood scooping up the poop of the dogs of my less fastidious neighbors? I can tell you that flies do not land on any of the dog poop in my compost heap. I cover it.
“Treat dog crap like human crap.”
Flush it down the toilet?
“You wouldn’t compost used nappies…”
Actually, I suspect that some used disposable diapers might make good compost. I understand that the fluid-absorbing material in the diapers is the same stuff that you can buy at an exhorbitant price at the garden shop to add to your potting mix.
“… don’t compost dog crap.”
My dog, like IScarlett67’s dogs, usually poops in the woods (or at least in an overgrown flower bed) and when the neighbors’ dogs poop on my lawn I use Shirley Ujest’s method of poop dispersal. So far, no one on my block has shown any sign of catching anything from dog poop. Maybe we’re just made of sturdy stock out here.
Warning: dont put dog poo on worm farms. The vermicide given to the dogs will knock off your worms.
Composting is the way to go (despite what WSU says). Keep a good cover of lawn clipping on top of the compost.
A host of helminthes, huge numbers of faecal bacteria, a range of ingested bacteria that are just passing through. The same pathogens that are found in human faeces, as I said above.
Not even close. Best you can hope for in a mormally run compost heap is about 70oC. Above that almost all microbes shut down, they aren’t killed, and so the temperature falls again. That is nowhere near high enough to kill even E. coli, much less the more heat tolerant bugs and helminth eggs. I don’t know who told you that piece of misinformation, but I wouldn’t trust them in future.
Ever heard of maggots? Beetles? These things crawl through compost heaps, they are a normal part of any composting system. They then travel the neighbourhood.
[quote]
Flush it down the toilet?[.quote]
If you wish, or bury it, or any of the other acceptable ways of dealing with faecal material.
And my Grandad smoked his whole life and never got cancer. That shows that it’s safe to smoke. Gotta love that classic argument.
Aside from that piece of ignorance, how would you know? Has no one on your block showed any signs of food poisoning? No stomach upsets? No worms in the kids on your block? I am firstly worried that you keep such close tabs on the medical files of all your neighbours. I am also amazed that this is the only population in North America where the children never get stomach upsets or Helminth infections. Have you considered writing this up, with your evidence, and publishing it? It would be a truly astounding to the medical world.
I would suggest that you are just incapable of determining the cause of your infection, like the rest of us non-pathologists. Unlike the rest of us you don’t seem to understand this.
“Can I put cat litter in the composter?
No, cat and dog faeces may contain diseases
and toxins”
www.hounslow.gov.uk/environmental/ recycling/autumn_compost.pdf
“Q. My dog produces lots of feces. Should I be adding all or any to my compost pile?
A. Since dog and cat feces contain bacteria and pathogens that are harmful to humans, it’s not a good idea to add either to your compost pile.”
http://www.enature.com/expert/expert_show_question.asp?questionID=14451
“Keep dog and cat droppings out of your garden and compost pile. While many animal manures make valuable soil amendments, parasites carried in dog and cat feces can cause diseases in humans.”
http://gardening.wsu.edu/stewardship/compost/petpoop.htm
“Is it safe to add cat or dog feces to a compost pile?
No, both cat and dog feces contain pathogenic bacteria. Compost cat and dog feces separately using CBPA. This will accelerate the composting process, eliminate odor and suppress pathogenic bacteria.”
http://www.ecochem.com/t_compost_faq.html
“What can’t be composted?
Cat & dog faeces.”
http://www.getcomposting.com/guide.htm
“DO NOT COMPOST…Dog faeces”
http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/environment/waste/composting/what+can+i+compost.asp
“Do NOT compost…Dog faeces…Disposable nappies”
http://www.hdra.org.uk/organicgardening/compost_1.htm
I am astounded that anyone needs to be told not to compost human faecal matter.
For the love of Mike, listen to the experts and not **Yeah.
Do not compost dog or human faeces. It contains pathogens and is dangerous to compost.**
Sheesh, 300 years after Snow we still need to tell people to dispose of poo poo where it can’t contaimite food or water. It’s true, ignorance does keep fighting back!