What's the deal with dogpoop?

[Shmee]

Does anyone find their dog's poop to be a fertilizer for their grass as opposed to a poison to it?? I find that if I let the poop sit on the ground for a few days, it won't harm the lawn too too much. My lawn recovers quickly when I do this. However, if I leave the kaa-kaa on the lawn to allow natural decomposition, it will yellow the spot where it was layed.

Does anyone find that composting it works to any benefit? I know the natural ph of it is quite acidic and it is ill used as any kind of fertilizer. I'm trying to find something beneficial to use it for as opposed to lining a small plastic bag with.

Also... Would diet effect the quality, good or bad??

I know it's a crappy subject, but, there's got to be a use for this stuff...

Any details on dog doo that I may have missed or questions as such are always welcome...


-Shmee

[Ritz459]

I don't know. I've never picked up our dogs' poop (we have a ten acre property with Blackie and Rose trained to go in the feild, so there is never a need); I just let it decompose naturaly. It's never yellowed (or browned - hahaha) the lawn before. I haven't noticed the grass bursting up brighter and greener, but their poops doesn't hurt it.

If you don't want to pick it up in little plastic bags, they have these sceptic tanks of sorts you can get for dogs. You put the poop into the canister (which is buried under the ground) and it decomposes the poop. Not sure how useful it would be or how well it works, but here is an example of one: Pet Waste Removal: Doggie Dooley In-Ground Pet Waste Digester Systems

I do know that Blackie's urine stains the yard, but Rose and Chloe make little patches of dark green grass crop up wherever they've went to the potty at.

Oh, and that's the pleasure of being in the midst of dog lovers...you can talk about poop all you want and no one thinks otherwise. LOL

[Shmee]

Thanks Ritz!!!
I can't tell you how valuable that information is to me... Yes, my wife thinks i'm a nutjob for finding this as fascinating as I do, but, picking up shiiite for the last 3 years and then some makes ya think about stuff like this I suppose....

Ty again!

-Shmee

[IceyBlueSibes]

I have actually noticed with our dogs, the grass became MUCH greener where the dogs would go potty. We'd pooper scoop every few days, so I think it sat just long enough to fertilize the lawn. The only time I've noticed the grass turning yellow/brown is when they pee. But only certain dogs seem to make it turn color. So I guess it's just their body chemistry.

Funny you should bring that up though. I really do think that the type/quality of food you are feeding has a lot to do with it. Between the Canidae and Nature's Recipe, it seems to be doing our lawn good rather than bad lol

[Sentry]

LOL mastiffs owners end up on poop patrol do to the things the dogs can swallow. It is a subject talked about more than I'd like to admit. lyme for gardens can be mixed in to help with the acid content. Here's a good link you'll enjoy,LOL
Pet Waste Composting

[Punkygirl0101]

I do have some yellow spots, but not too many of them and its definitely not because of the poop. I usually pick up the poop every week, but have been too busy with other things to get around to doing that, so its been about a month lol...and there's nothing bad happening to the grass.

[Rivsky]

River is on a raw diet and if I don't pick up his poop for a while it doesn't stink and simply just turns into that chalky white stuff which is great though doesn't really motivate me to do poop patrols with any regularity!!!

[Dangels]

I've also noticed that the grass seems to get turn a nice dark green color in the areas where my dogs go potty outside. I've never noticed the grass getting any yellow patches from the dogs....

[KidneyBeaning]

What kibble are you feeding? What they eat has a lot to do with what come out of them I feed RAW so instead of having to clean up three to five piles of poop per dog each day...I clean up none. In a day, each will go maybe one time and it is very small. Say like they size a chihuahua would poop Then within a day it turns white and ashy and basically turns into dust.

[Shmee]

Currently feeding Blue Buffalo. I dont have massive piles o'crap in my yard. One thing's for sure, you're never going to stop the flow of it. I have looked into some of the commercial variety composters. I cant get myself to commit to it just yet, but I am curious.

And Kidney, as far as your dogs NOT going everyday? Well.... I know EXACTLY how I feel when I DON'T go EVERYDAY. You might want to check your dog's overall mood and anxiety levels. Might do'em some good to blowout there colon's abit more.

[KidneyBeaning]

Originally Posted by Shmee

Currently feeding Blue Buffalo. I dont have massive piles o'crap in my yard. One thing's for sure, you're never going to stop the flow of it. I have looked into some of the commercial variety composters. I cant get myself to commit to it just yet, but I am curious.

And Kidney, as far as your dogs NOT going everyday? Well.... I know EXACTLY how I feel when I DON'T go EVERYDAY. You might want to check your dog's overall mood and anxiety levels. Might do'em some good to blowout there colon's abit more.

Blue Buffalo is a quality kibble...and with quality kibble there is less poop to clean up.

My crew does do their deed at least once a day...most of the time not more than once. Im not sure if you are familiar with the RAW diet but with RAW there are no fillers, grains, or anything else that a dog really does not need. The body uses all of what they are eating so there is little waste. Therefore, smaller and less frequent poop

[Shmee]

I am familiar with RAW and BARF diets the only problem I have personally with them is the effort and intensity required to administer. I know they're great for the dog and yadda yadda, but the mess isn't something I really want to deal with after it's all done and gone. Secondly, I have issue with the level of aggression that a diet like that would place my dogs in. Meaning, when I give them a simple piece of rawhide, they get very possesive/aggressive with one another. My male is especially difficult with this, even at 24lbs. So between the mess, price and effort, i'll stick with the kibble

-Shmee

[KidneyBeaning]

I’m not against kibble at all...I just prefer RAW, like you prefer kibble.
After a while you can get it down to a fine art and prep time for me is no no longer than it was to put kibble into bowls and add supplements/medication. I don’t feed veggies so I don’t have to deal with all the mess of chopping or processing them. That's a plus and there are other ways to feed a RAW diet such as grinding...and some choose whole prey.

I understand what you are saying about the possessive/aggressive issue...my male eats on a towel in the kitchen floor and my two females eat in their crates...they have the doors open but would always drag their food in there. So now I just put it in there for them

I've found the price to be little to nothing....I have several hunters in the family and I get free venison, rabbit and elk meat. I have friends with goats and sheep so I get free goat and lamb meat. You do have a point with the mess and effort however It's just something I have become accustomed too, I guess. I prep everything in my garage because that is where my dog's deep freezer is.

Your pup in your avatar is mighty cute, BTW

[Rivsky]

Originally Posted by KidneyBeaning

Therefore, smaller and less frequent poop

I honestly have to say I didn't notice a significant change in the amount Riv poops once I switched him to a 100% raw diet. I find he goes twice a day regardless, usually when we're out for a run- so maybe the exercise is getting things moving for him!!

I too didn't find any change in the level of "meaness" in him once switched. Just last night he was struggling to tear some skin off of a pork hock which he hasn't had before and I took it off of him to get it started for him and had no problems at all with him giving it up to me. I do admit though I don't make it a practice to routinely take food off of him just for the sake of it though, but he is used to us walking past him when he's eating and doesn't have any issues with it.

[King Pup]

I like to have as little to do with dog poop as possible. It can contain a wealth of diseases and germs and it's very easy to pick up those organisms even if you're careful. Dog and cat poop can contain toxocariasis which can stay dormant in the body for years and come out years later, sometimes in the eye causing possible blindness.

My dad recently discovered a dark spot on his eye, which he could see on his field of vision. He went to get it checked out and after taking samples of the spot and doing tests they found it was toxocariasis. They told him he could have picked it up even decades ago as a kid, from doing something as innocent as touching a surface upon which a cat had walked and then touching his eye. He was on antibiotics and steroids for weeks and it would have caused possible blindness had they not caught it.

Call me overcautious, but as a professional dog walker I make a point of using hand sanitizer every time I pick up a poop, even if I'm sure none got on my hand. I see people using old plastic shopping bags to pick up dog poop and it makes me cringe! Those things usually have small holes in the bottom. You have to be really careful - for example if you have long fingernails and "scrape" the last of the poop off the sidewalk with the bag, it's easy to puncture the bag and get traces of poop on your fingers.