Now then - no laughing at the back! ;)  This is a serious question. :)

So far we've been using poo bags (using a pooper scooper as I don't like the squidgy texture) which are then deposited in the household wheelie bin for Mina's poos so far but with the really big (or slightly sloppy) ones it can take 2 bags if I don't "catch" it all first time.  What system do you use for disposing of your dog's poos in your garden?  Husband suggested a shovel and putting it down the sewer man-hole as he says that those doggy toilet things don't work but that sounds fiddly, heavy and mucky each time she poos which is up to 3-4 times a day as she's on 4 times daily meals.

How do you pick them up and where do you put them after please?  Mina's poos as a 10 week old pup are big enough and they are only going to grow as she does into a strapping Dane lass.

Thanks in advance.

Jules

In a doggy bag and into the bin. If we're walking round the park (right outside my house) they go in the poo bin

yep in the bin I use tesco nappy sacks

This is why so many owners when discussing food are concerned with the quality of the output.

A healthy adult dogs poos are such that shortly after deposit they are capable of being rolled onto a shovel.

I put a tough bin bag with tie handles in a bucket outside that has a lid and collect poos and when full tie the handles of the bag and put in wheelie bin.

I use an old hoe head and old dustpan to do the collecting, both of which are easy to disinfect.

I have five medium size dogs, aqnd probably fill the bucket each week, but a lot of their poos are of course bagged individually on walks.

I'm like you Barbara and gather the poos in a seperate container before begging them and putting them with the rubbish.

We have created a dog poo wormery. We have a large metal dustbin with a few small holes drilled in the bottom. We have placed a load of worms with a coir type brick ( can be bought with the worm pack online) We then place all dog poos in the dustbin. The worms turn it into manure that can be dug into the ground ( keep away from children) Just be careful if you have wormed the dogs as this will kill all worms. The dustbin will eventually need emptying out and starting from scratch again, but this depends on the number of dogs you have, 4 dogs and it will last approx 2 years.

If you are lucky your local authority will give away poo bags--ours does, but stupidly I never get round to getting any so buy the cheapo diaper sacks from the supermarket and then they go in the bin or in the poo bin down the park. It would be great if there was an instant ban on all poo bags except recycled plastic or paper bags... didn't see any of that in the election manifestos, did you?

If you keep a compost heap of the hot heap variety you could try layering the poo in the middle of grass cuttings, but too much of it and you will upset the anaerobic balance of the heap.

>I put a tough bin bag with tie handles in a bucket outside that has a lid and collect poos and when full tie the handles of the bag and put in wheelie bin.

Ditto Brainless except my bucket sits inside a small metal dustbin.  Like this one but a bit smaller.  I needed something that the flies can't get into and the kids are less likely to knock the lid off with a football.

I pick up using plastic 'seaside' spades, square shape with the longer handles.  We live in a very rural village and I don't pick up from nettle patches and ploughed fields.  Whenever I do pick-up, however, I bag it and bring it home to put in this bucket til the following bin collection.  At that stage I double bag it and dispose of it with my usual household waste.

Whevever possible I do try to use biodegradable bags.  Poo is a relatively natural product that breaks down over time.  There's little or no point preserving it in plastic bags for a future generations...

>This is why so many owners when discussing food are concerned with the quality of the output.

One of the greatest benefits of raw food is the improvement in poo!!  There is less of it, it doesn't smell as bad, and it's much easier to pick up.  If you do miss one, and run over it with a lawnmower,  it just crumbles into the grass and disappears next time it rains.

For the garden poos we use nappy sacks, tie them and place into a collection carrier bag,  which goes into wheelie bin and then this is collected for us (luckily) twice a week.

Karen :)

> and then this is collected for us (luckily) twice a week.
>

Gosh we only get ours taken once a fortnight.

> A healthy adult dogs poos are such that shortly after deposit they are capable of being rolled onto a shovel

It has taken some time and various different foods but they now have output as described above (most of the time). Attempt to use one bag a day for the garden, if I remember, I take it to the dog bin just across the road, try to remember durring warmer weather, otherwise it goes in the dustbin. Someone mentioned on a similar post some weeks ago 'output' should be kickable, I'm curious how many of you have dogs with output that hard, if feeding other than raw?

> We have created a dog poo wormery.

Good idea, do you add or have to add anything else?

I collect the days deposits in a bag and on the morning walk take it with me and put in either poo bin in the park or if street cleaners haven't done the street bins I put it in there.  Saves having it lying around in the wheelie bin for 2 weeks.  We also have pigeons and that is taken to an area within the land fill.  Not a pleasant place to visit.

You have no idea how envious I am of all you with wheelie bins.

We have a wheelie bin.... but only for recyclables. The rest goes into bin bags.... meaning if you put too much dog poo into one the binmen might refuse to take it. Or mistake it for garden waste, which they will also not collect. Garden waste is meant to go into a big black "Dalek" composty bin thing but they say strictly no dog poo. I have a small yard all concreted over, nowhere to put a Dalek even if I did decide to put dog poo in it.

I have a dustbin that I was putting it into.... it composted itself and it looks like nice soft soil now BUT where can I put that.... as it is full? can't go out for binmen as they will say it is garden waste. No garden to dig it into (even if I was brave enough). No car, so can't take it to the local tip which is actually 8 miles away, so not-so-local. Somehow I don't think the local allotments association will be interested in it either....

Hi Lacy,
No we don't add anything else. We just bought the worm pack which includes the coir brick with worm food and then they are happy to munch on the dog poo (great !!!) you cannot add garden or kitchen waste as this confuses the worms !!! just dog poo and nothing else. I t sounds awful, but any liquid manure caused as the worms munch goes through the holes at the bottom, and when you need to empty the bin every couple of years you need to dig it in well and keep children away until the worms take it completely into the ground with no smell, just good compost.

Sue, Think we'll give it a go just one more question. Does you metal dustbin rust ,could we use plastic?

Gosh we only get ours taken once a fortnight.

We are lucky in this parish, most others are once a week, wwhich is also good compared to once a fortnight :(

We have had a recent edict from our local council, that unless rubbish is kerbside on the pavement or on the road where there is no pavement, rubbish willl no longer be collected. It can also go out from 6pm the night before, which is crazy as pavements have become impassable. No rubbish collected two weeks ago, everything covered in stickers explaining it was the wrong side of the pavement!

Do the same as Brainless.

Well we have seven dogs so you can imagine the amount we have to dispose of , we scoop ours with a shovel and put it down the manhole then hose it all away. The hosing is done twice a day but we clean up about five times daily.
I think this way is best for us as there is so much of it.

In biodegradable poo sacks then into a bin.
He isn't much of a poo factory now. When he is a good boy and doesnt eat something he should not then he has tiny compact poo so easy to hide in the bin. Dustman collects once a week.

devon shovel 3 times a day and straight into the muck spreader or a pit :)

We used to use Teso nappy sacks, then put in bin bags and take to the local tip, (we do not have a refuse collection, have to leave it a mile down the road then the foxes empty the bags).   Last year at the tip they refused to take any more dog poo!!!!!!!!! Still have to take household refuse to the tip weekly though.    Now we put in biodegradable nappy sacks, dig a deep pit in the field and when full cover over - it should take approx 1 year to break down.

We are not on main sewage so cannot use that method.

Hi Lacy,
I think plastic will be ok. If you look up Dog Poo Wormery online the ready made ones you find are plastic (just expensive) we just copied the idea and made our own, and so far it is working great. Keep the lid on so no smell while the worms work on it. By the way we have it standing on a couple of bricks to lift it off the ground. I know it warns against poo after worming the dogs and also it needs to be somewhere sheltered in the winter, apart from that it is easy.
ps. Our vet has an ad for one in the surgery on the notice board

Just an extra Lacy. If you are thinking of doing this it would be a good idea to look one up online and read all the instructions about them, we just typed "dog poo wormery" and found them

Thank you all - that's certainly a good variety of suggestions and gives DH and I something to think about.  Like the idea of composting it or worm farming it.  How long after worming should you not put the poo in the wormery?  She's being wormed each fortnight at the moment.

Also like the idea of a separate receptacle and good tip about the kiddies' seaside shovels! :)

Off to look up dog poo wormeries before we take her to meet her first non-GD dog socialisation session at a friend's house this afternoon!

Out of interest.....from internet

"Dog lovers know that possibly the biggest problem with owning a dog is how to get rid of the mess they make in the garden. The Dog Poo Wormery is the answer to this problem.

This special bin allows you to safely, easily and effectively dispose of all dog faeces in the confines of your own garden without the usual problems. This product is the ultimate in dog faeces disposal, the worms do all the work and the waste from the worms ends up as as wonderful compost for the garden.The idea is for a system of waste disposal that is environmentally friendly and offers a carbon footprint of ZERO."

man hole for us x

We have a proper long handle scooper and scraper,and twice daily flush it down the downstairs loo,no problem with the terrier size poos.I only use biodegradable bags when we are out,Presumable the council poo bins go to landfill,so the plastic ones are going to last forever there.It amazes me to see how many people carefully pick up out in the countryside, only to dump their brightly coloured plastic bags in the hedgerows to decorate them for years,or provide plastic for the wild life to choke on I recently bought a Dicky bag to carry the full poo bags home or to the nearest bin,a bit pricey,but a great product ,very well made with rubber seal under the zip,supply of bags,freshner discs ,and optional hand sanatizer on board .

>I'm curious how many of you have dogs with output that hard, if feeding other than raw?

I do, its what I expect it to be like, I feed Burns.

Ditto, only ever have the odd softer poo from human food left overs that I add to their meals, as we waste nothing edible ;)

Wormeries are the way to go, I think - don;t take up much room and have seen one on Ebay for £20 plus £10 courier delivery.

Going back on your dog poo wormery Sillysue, can you tell me what size breed you have.   We tried the other method of burying a dustbin with holes in the bottom and drainage, then putting on a biodegrader and flushing with water weekly, but it did not work very well, and filled up with dog poo which would not break down.

If your wormery only needs emptying every 2 years, that must be the way to go.

Think that I saw somewhere, a long time ago now, that you could put lime on dog poo and that would also break it down, but do not know where I saw that.

> I do, its what I expect it to be like,

What our dogs enjoy and at the same time tolerate has taken some time and searching to achieve but I wouldn't consider it Kickable.

You might find this topic of interest. http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=1144869;hl=#pid1144869

I simply layered it in a square slatted frame, the only thing added was some ashes from bonfire and the leaves in the Autumn, and it is now lovely friable compost, and we never had any smell of it (probably the wood ash), and it was open topped.

Hi,
We have been using the wormery for 6 months now, but asked lots of questions before setting it up, phoning most of the online sellers to get info, and they advised the 2 years timescale. So still have a long way to go to see if they are correct, although working well so far. We have 3 dogs a GSD a middle size and a terrier cross, so one of each size. We tried the dog loo type but it didn't work, we are not on mains sewerage and the dustbinmen are not helpful and will leave the bin if there is too much poo inside even if bagged well, so we were desperate to find a way. We even considered digging a hole and burying it, but saw the ad in our vets and searched online. I honestly can't guarantee the longterm success, but it certainly is a good alternative at the moment.
We saw some multi layer versions of wormery but copied as near as poss the one bin type that we saw as that looked easier, using a dustbin and purchasing the starter worm pack separately. A little trial and error, but seems good.

Thanks Brainless and Sillysue,

The only problem is now persuading the OH.   He was not impressed when he had to dig up and empty the dustbin, which was full of dog poo!!!  At the time I had 4 large breed dogs and it just could not cope with the amount being deposited, so had to also use the pit in the field, which was annoying.

With the wormery I would not need his help (could do that for myself).   But I also suppose with Brainless's idea the worms in the garden work in the same way, would just need him to build the frame.

Both sound that they are great ideas, will look into further, and now I only have 2 dogs with possibly a new pup later in the year it might just work.

I am lucky that my dogs do nice firm poos and I pick up and deposit in my downstairs loo which is just inside tha back door.

> with Brainless's idea the worms in the garden work in the same way,

Yep found loads of earthworms in the dog door compost when we dug ti out, was really surprised because of worming the dogs.

Seems then that it must work on the same principle as the wormery's that you buy.  On looking online at composting dog poo it says to place cardboard on the bottom before adding dog poo and that this encourages the earth worms.

Will have to speak nicely to OH.

>was really surprised because of worming the dogs.

Wormers only kill certain types of parasitic worms, not all species of worms.

I would also hope that people aren't worming their dogs that frequently either - and when they do, are doing them all at once, rather than spreading it over time (or they might just reinfect one another). It's no big deal to dispose of post-worming dog poo elsewhere for 24-48 hrs afterwards. Responsible horse owners keep their horses in and dipose of poos differently just after worming, for similar reasons.

I don't think my dustmen would notice the odd day or two's poos from one or two dogs, put into the bin after being wormed instead of into a wormery - but it's the daily bulk, week in week out, that is the real problem.

>

> I would also hope that people aren't worming their dogs that frequently either

If your comment is directed toward my earlier comment about fortnightly worming (if not please ignore); my dog is a 10 week old puppy and her breeder of 26 years experience has instructed me to worm her every fortnight until 12 weeks of age and then monthly until 6 months old.  That advice is also given by my pup's vet and I'm comfortable it seems to be the otherwise commonly held knowledge.

I pick mine up in a nappy sack then place them in a carrier bag.  When the bin man is due I tie the top of the carrier bag full of nappy sacks and place it in my black bin liner.

I flush my doggy's do's down the toilet, which fortunately, is right next to the back door, so it's very easy.  It's never occurred to me that this could be dodgy as that's where everyone else's goes.  If anyone knows otherwise, I'm listening - or rather reading!

Me too. I have a downstairs loo that is near door and I put all dog poo in loo. I have five dogs ( medium size) so have a lot of poos in a week. even though they go out for walks we do still have poos at home

Do you get flies around the wormery ? Sounds a great idea

and just to put a COMPLETE spanner in the 'poo' works.....we always burn ours in our logburner.

In various parts of the world they use cattle dung as fuel for their fires so I dont see that doggy poo is any different.
In the summer its a bit more tricky, but burning it is cleaner and easier than anything else....