A strange question, but it came up in conversation yesterday. How do you dispose of doggy poo if you don't have a "dog loo" in the garden? My friend has just got a puppy, no idea what breed, and she's wondering what to do with the dog mess. Her garden is very heavy in clay and so she can't dig a hole for a "dog loo".

Her question was this - Can she dispose of the dog mess down the toilet as she does with the baby poo? She has a baby in cloth nappies and so she doesn't use nappy sacks - she really isn't happy about putting bagged up dog poo in the wheelibin as she feels the dustmen have enough to deal with.

Can anyone suggest an environmentally friendly way of disposing of the dog poo, and if that's not possible is it legal to flush it down the toilet?

Thanks,

Fiona

We have a big bin (which years ago used to be used for dog biscuit) at the end of the garden next to the dog run with a black bag inside. Every Sunday my Dad takes out the black bag, with contains several carrier bags full, and then puts in wheelie bin which gets emptied on Monday. We have 6 dogs so this way suits us.

You can buy poo converters (or something like that). I have seen some advertised in dog magazines.

Depending on your Local Authority - it is acceptable to put double wrapped in polythene, doggy poo in the bin. Alternatively - I don't see why she shouldn't put it down the loo. I have done before. Gave up on the stuff in the garden though as there's just too much - so every other day I go out with a carrier and fill it up - double wrap it and in the bin it goes. I have a dog loo and it was a waste of space and utterly disgusting!!

hth
Pam n co

I'll agree on that, dog loos are a waste of time, we have a manhole cover to the main sewers in the back garden and throw it down there daily and flush away with some jeyes fluid.

We pick it all up into pooper scoop bags, then put it into it's own bin which is lined. That bag when full (it's only a relatively small one) then gets tied off and put into yet another bin bag we may have on the go with general stuff then put in the wheelie bin. I figure that way it's actually triple bagged at least and is safe enough.

Never occurred to me it might not be legal.

Wendy

You can put it in ordinary bins if there are no proper recepticals for it. It is a different graded rubbish from normal household waste. I'm fortunate that I have a dog bin not too far from me so I just put it all in there.
Bec

That's good to know! When we lived in our last flat we took it down the road to the dog bin, but there aren't any dog specific ones around where we've moved to. If there were - that's what we'd do again.

I do a garden clean each morning and so have say one carrie bag with maybe 2 lots in it, this gets wrapped and put in our wheelie.

I think so much disgusting rubbish gets put in bins that at the end of the say dog poo isn't that bad. At least if it well wrapped the bin men don't get near it or smell it.

I find it easier to pop say, 7 bags inot the bin than one big one, just my personal preference. I agree that dog loos are disgusting and not worth the money.

When i worked in kennels they had a system of cleaning up the runs and putting it all into a huge lidded bucket, and then emptying this out onto a festering pile out in the private woodland - major yuk factor.

Lindsay

As keen gardeners we have compost heaps. Two ( one being topped up, the other rotting down) for veg and two for flowers/non-edible stuff. The dog poo goes in the "flower" one, together with any soiled paper - torn up if sheets, but I keep shavings separate as much as possible, and they go out for the bin men, one Tesco bag of shavings, double wrapped, inside an ordinary bin bag with househould rubbish - so its a bit hidden I have never been sure if this was legal either!! We divide compostable house hold waste between the two bins - veg peelings, tea bags, lawn mowings etc etc. Mix up well - leave alone and turn the middle to the outside every few months- lovely!! When its very cold in the winter, it wont rot down so husband adds some ammonia ( you know how ;-)) we dont have near neighbours, so he can get away with it!! This works well for us. Also if you have any stabled horses living nearby, a bag of fresh stable waste of straw or peat , not shavings or other bedding- every now and again makes a good addition, and helps it rot down quicker and gives a better compost - happy gardening. It takes a few months to rot down in the summer, but quite a while in the winter. Cover with plastic to stop it getting rained on too much. Its dry, black and crumbly when its ready to put on the flower beds. When we have puppies in the house, I pick up their little poos with tissue and pop it down the loo.

Hi Westie Lover! I've always wondered about putting dog poo on the heap. I worried about the protien in their waste spoiling the compost but you've put my mind at rest. What about the bugs that supposedly blind children. Is that broken down too? I'm no expert, just wondering. About the shavings, my children keep guinea pigs and have started putting their used bedding (hay and shavings) onto the heap. Is this going to be a problem for my plants? It hasn't really been breaking down very well, but we thought we'd try to recycle rather than toss the bedding. What are your thoughts?

Quinn

Hi, apparently putting shavings into the ground, either fresh or composted robs the soil of nitrogen. If you continue to do it, it is prob better to compost it, but it can take over a year to break down. Once you have spread the compost in the autumn, best to do a soil test in the spring, if you are keen to keep the soil good. Then you can add a nitrogen fertiliser if needed - I use dried chicken droppings- in pellets in a tub - but you cant put that anywhere the dogs can get to!! They love it and will dig the whole garden for you to retreive it! Same as bone meal - I made that mistake once. Bought a load of shrubs, bone meal at the bottom of the planting holes and yes, they dug up and mangled every single one in no time! I would think though with a couple of guinea pigs, there would not be a huge amount. As long as you put on the heap, at least the same volume of other compostable waste as shavings, it will break down reasonabley well. Its when there is only/mostly bedding on the heap that it can become a prob, breaking down. The extra ammonia really helps!! :-) When we run short of compostable stuff in the winter - no weeds/lawn mowings etc, I shred up newspaper, put that on, give it a wetting, before you cover it. Make sure you only put raw "food" like peelings, tea bags on the heap, no cooked left overs or bread/grains or you may attract rats. The dogs cant get into the bins (made of wooden pallets 3' square )- the optimum size - and I do keep a sprung trap in there in case a rat does pass by.

AS far as worms/eggs are concerned if the compost heap is properly kept - ie it really heats up - lawn mowings accelerate this- then i would think that would kill them. I think the important thing about dog poo in gardens is to pick it up quick - at least the same day, before the worm larvae/eggs get a chance to get onto the grass.
I dont KNOW that this is a safe way to do things, but I have been for 11 years now and the garden thrives and so do the dogs!! It's important to worm them reg. every 3 months, but you prob do that anyway!