Get your garden ready for the egg hunt

The annual Easter egg hunt is one reason to ensure your garden is clear and clean from the 23 million bacteria that is typically contained in dog waste. Apart from the obvious potential health and safety issues, no one wants to find such a nugget within close proximity to a fabulous chocolate egg. It's likely that the chocolate egg will lose its' appeal - not a bad idea if you're hoping to reduce the amount consumed.

The dooup is the best gadget to have on hand to keep your garden clear and clean, ready for that fabulous egg hunt where the children will be even more thorough when exploring the garden. Waste and residue waste left behind can remain active in soil for up to three years, so if dogs frequently toilet in the garden, this is a time for you to advise children to refrain from putting their hands anywhere near their face until they have washed them thoroughly after the hunt.

If the dooup had been around previously, perhaps these warnings would not need be so severe, after all, it's so much more than a pooper scooper; it clears, sprays, stores and seals the waste away. With each collection, the affected area is sprayed with garden, animal and child friendly sanitising fluid to prevent the spread of the bacteria - and all with a simple push!

Now for a little science bit:- 

 

“For as long as the dog has been man's best friend, dog waste has posed a menace to man's nose and foot. Now science has revealed a more unsavory truth: It's an environmental pollutant.

In the mid-1990s, scientists perfected methods for tracking the origin of nasty bacteria in streams and seawater.

In the US, dogs help to raise bacteria levels in beaches so high that visitors must stay out of the water. Goaded by such studies, some cities have directed as much as $10,000 in the last few years to encourage dog owners to clean up after their pets. A few municipalities have started issuing citations to those who ignore pet clean-up ordinances.

 

It's not just from the nuggets deposited on the beaches, but runoff from stormwater drains after that water has come into contact with the poop. Some of the bacteria harbored in dog poo includes E. coli, fecal coliform bacteria, salmonella and giardia

Many dog lovers are in denial about their pooches' leavings. But researchers have named the idea that areas used by dogs pump more bacteria into waterways - the "Fido hypothesis."

And this is just a little info about the effects to the environment. Keep an eye out for blogs to follow for more info on the dangers of dog waste to people.

But for now, we'll wish you a Happy Easter, with lots of fun and bacteria free egg hunts!

Why dog waste should be hygienically cleared

All faeces contain bacteria that can cause stomach upsets if ingested. However, the greatest risk to public health from dog faeces is toxocariasis.

 

Toxocariasis is an infection of the round worm Toxocara canis. It is a zoonotic disease that is spread via unwashed vegetables and dog faeces. Young children in particular are at risk due to their weaker immune systems and because they are more likely to expose themselves by ingesting the eggs. A puppy can pass as many as 15,000 eggs per gram of faeces, and they are a major source of environmental contamination.

Keeping a dooup in your garden, ready to clear and spray where dog waste has been is the logical solution. All other pooper scoopers and garden shovels will typically leave residue waste that can remain active for up to a year if untreated.

It's about time hygienic and easy clearance was available for our gardens; after all, this is where we dine, relax and play - it's an extension of our home!

The Mayor and London Councils are now working towards a “zero
waste to landfill” goal over the next 20 years. Dog poo and other hazardous waste is costing money to dispose of and more importantly - energy could be produced if this were collected and processed on a regular basis.

Tax for one tonne of landfill waste is said to be around £72 and it's estimated that the dog population of the UK produces 900 tonnes of faeces every day - much of that goes to landfill! Plus, long term increasing energy prices from
fossil fuels makes the economic argument of using waste to generate
energy, even stronger.

Would dog owners get behind this process of collecting and depositing dog waste to a central unit for the purposes of turning it into usable energy? If they could truly see the benefits of their actions - I think yes.

This is one of my main topics and I'll be barking about it - alot, so do join me. I speak human too!

Councils all over the UK receive hundreds of complaints from residents about constant dog fouling in public areas – even parks where children play. And the cost of clearing is huge. One thing is clear, that unfortunately the minority of lazy dog owners will always ruin it for everyone, and therefore some clear rules need to be in place.

If everyone trained their dogs to toilet in the garden, using the dooup makes this an easy and hygienic process and we’d all be living in a cleaner and safer environment. You can even use this 4 in 1 pooper scooper as a dog poo bin by timing your walks after the week’s collection and then taking the safely sealed bag to your nearest dog poo bin.
That way, councils could provide one for residential collection bin for each neighbourhood and be able to monitor the collections more efficiently as residents would be part of the process of alerting the main point of contact, usually that particular councils dog warden.

Councils could even provide one dog poo bin per residential area, so each neighbourhood would have their regular deposit bin and these could be monitored more easily as residents would be part of the process of alerting the main point of contact if full. Plus, the prospect of turning dog poo into energy would make an even greater incentive to deposit your dog poo - especially if you knew that your dog's poo was helping to heat a public library, or light up a dark corner of a street.