Poop MIA đź’©

Fun Stuff
1

Please bear in mind this is in the “fun” category and that taking a dog out for a walk requires poop-scooping; not negotiable.

We find ourselves frequently doing a certain type of sit; multi dog (3+), often large or even giant breeds, at rural homes with a lot of surrounding (mostly securely fenced) land belonging to the HO and where the owners often advise against or prohibit taking the dogs out on leads, often the dogs won’t all fit in the car! We are two sitters, which means we can’t watch the third+ dog all the time whilst out exercising them. Inevitably this means that dog 3 knows this and makes a specific effort to wander to an unobserved part of a field for a sneaky dump. We’re talking large dogs remember, not Chihuahuas.

So, the outcome is that I (for the husband abhors poop and it is the single rule of our sitting adventures that I am exclusive poop monitor at all times) find myself field walking, usually in the rain, in the 24 hour cleaning frenzy period at the end of a sit, looking for poop. I just collect anything that might be poop - wild animal poop, worm casts, clumps of mud - and return with carrier bags full of individually bagged items. The horror of an owner returning and happening upon a pile I have missed is unbearable to me; the prospect of a “didn’t clear up after my dogs” review might kill me.

I just want to hear that I’m not alone…

2

It gets difficult at dusk, now also with autumn leaves in the grass. And then on occasion I have only been able to find cold poop in the area where I had seen the dog doing its business.

3

@Saltrams Yep - walking up and down the large garden in straight lines 2 metres apart scanning the ground!

At my current sit they have a new toy, a robot mower. I live in fear of it mowing right through an undiscovered poop and having to be cleaned! The dog has a dog flap, so can access the garden 24 hours a day.

4

If there’s a yard, I take the dog out and pick up right after. If there’s a dog door to the yard, I check at various times of day, depending on what their human says is their routine. Before I leave sits, I do one last check, in case I missed anything.

I don’t like to leave poop lying around for long, because it attracts flies.

I did a sit where the dogs had been trained to sleep in the garage and to pee and poo on pads overnight, so in that case I picked up their poo and changed the pads every morning.