Really rocking the dog parent game means flexing some next-level sustainability vibes that help protect our planet. Dive into these outside-of-the-box pet activities with your pup and you'll be not only leveling up your doggo's life but also dropping some serious eco-consciousness into your relationship with your pooch.
Check labels and think mindfully about your pet-related choices can quickly reduce waste or support sustainably produced pet products. Here are just a couple to get your mind ticking.
Eco-Friendly Pet going to start at the bottom – pun intended – the dooloop!
Made of recycled, non-toxic plastic, without using single use plastic in the packaging means less waste from manufacturing to you. A wind powered printer makes the tags and it’s all done in the USA, meaning a low carbon footprint in transportation v overseas.
Additionally, making it easy for dog owners to stop leaving dog poop to disintegrate into the water or soil, by making it easy to hang onto bags without disturbing their walks is an environmental positive.
Planet-Friendly DIY Dog Treats
Rather than buying packaged treats, try making your own at home using organic and locally sourced ingredients. Not only does this minimize packaging waste, but it also ensures your pet dog enjoys healthy snacks. We make ours with peanut butter, eggs and wholewheat flour, easy and Bella loves them – as do her buddies.
Save Lives and the Planet Through Pet Adoption
Adopt your next dog from a local shelter or rescue organization. Even if you have a favorite breed, it’s likely you can find your dog of choice through a rescue. Bella and Angie were Basset Hound Rescue of New England, Lucy was the ASPCA in Dallas…By going this route, you’ll provide a loving home for a pet in need. Yes, some pups come from abuse and need extra loving, some had owners who just could no longer take care of them, illness for example. Even with a puppy, time and disposition is never knowable, it’s always an adventure, this is just another way to start the adventure. Going through rescues has the additional positive of reducing the demand for commercially bred animals raised in large-scale conditions, which can have heartbreaking environmental, behavioral, and inhumane consequences.
Plant a Pet-Friendly Garden of Native Plants
Create a garden for you and your dog with pet-friendly native plants. This not only adds a bit of biodiversity to your surroundings but also provides a safe and stimulating environment for your pet. Need some help choosing? Audubon has some help! [LINK is https://ny.audubon.org/conservation/getting-started-native-plants Choose plants that are non-toxic to animals. I always brush up on my plant knowledge by checking the ASPCA list of toxic plants before I make my spring purchases https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants. Bella ate broccoli directly out of the garden, it was her personal salad bar, she also enjoyed the kale.
Walk Your Dog, Pick Up Trash
Train your dog to participate in simple conservation efforts, like picking up litter during walks. It can be confusing to your dog if you are asking them to sit while you hop across a ditch to grab a discarded bottle, so begin slowly by picking up just a few pieces on your daily walk before heading out to clean up an entire trail. [FOR DOG PARENTS:If you are picking litter along a roadside, it’s especially important that your dog be acclimatized to traffic and have mastered a sit before turning your back to rummage through long grass.] I suggest wearing a bright colored vest so other walkers and drivers realize you're up to something more than the average walk! And a dooloop holds any bags, not just poop – so ‘let it go’.
Sustainable Land Management Practices for Pets
Are you lucky enough to own land with acres of forest [OR A WOODLOT, MIX OF WOODS AND FIELDS]. If you do, your pets can enjoy walking my property and you would want to protect it for generations to come. Here are some resources to help. https://familyforestcarbon.org/ , a land trust here https://landtrustalliance.org/land-trusts/gaining-ground/united-states ]
BTW, picking up dog poop is important even in the woods, left behind it gets washed into streams and watersheds and changes the soil’s composition, affecting what grows naturally in your area.
Keep Pet-Friendly Beaches Clean
Organize or join a pet-friendly beach clean-up event or stroll the beach on your own with your dog with a litter bag in hand! We have several dog friendly beaches near us, when people don’t pick up poop especially in the summer (even by accident), kids who play on the beach find it. YUCK. It invariably will get washed into the ocean and fecal bacteria levels can make swimming hazardous – it’s worse in lakes and ponds. Many coastal areas suffer from pollution, and involving pets in clean-up efforts not only helps the environment but also raises awareness about the impact of waste – dog and cat poop are not like deer, or bear poop, they are closer to human poop, devastating to marine life. You’ll get a thumbs-up from other walkers, too! Lastly, be safe by wearing closed-toed shoes and gloves and avoid heavy-duty cleanups where your dog’s paws could be at risk, unless your pup loves wearing booties.
Being a conscious dog family involves making mindful choices that extend beyond typical sustainability practices. By embracing even just one or two of these unusual yet practical options, pet dog parents can contribute to a healthier planet while ensuring their pets lead happy and eco-friendly lives.
Check out the dooloop to make your walks or that of your friends with dogs, wherever they are more enjoyable, but even more importantly eco-responsible. We invite you to share your efforts in your communities to help preserve the lands.
]]>
How do you know if you've found the right one for your pack? We're offering some ideas on how to decide.
We know you want the absolute best for your dog, from finding a trusted vet, to people who pinch-hit as needed for their care. Entrusting a beloved family pet into someone else’s care always requires a leap of faith. We’ve rescued, so most of the time our furry family members have had special needs. We were confident knowing that their walkers/babysitters were invested in their wellbeing and safety, this allowed us to leave without worry. Bella and Angie were uniquely walking challenged – hence the dooloop.
Pet owners are also faced with making choices when buying pet products! We'd like to help you shop companies whose business practices resonate. Where you spend your money, matters. People want what works for their budget, and to support businesses whose values align with theirs
Okay, now you’ve found someone you think would be the perfect walker for your doggo(s), here’s a list of questions to ask before hiring them.
In my experience, pet professionals LOVE talking about their job, and LOVE making sure they are a good fit for the animal and family. My advice: if you ‘vibe’ (it’s okay to be woo-woo here for our woofs), and your dog is receptive, that is a good sign. Always pay attention to your pet’s reaction, a cold shoulder from your pooch it doesn’t mean they might not be great at their job, but it means that they’re not right for your job.
Along with hiring pet professionals, you’ll make a lot of buying decisions for your furry companions. From bowls, beds, walking supplies, food, toys, and what we joke about ‘spa day’ equipment. (Bella, not a fan of the mani/pedi), before it is over, you will need and buy A LOT of stuff for your pet.
I know for me, it’s important that I support businesses that align with my values and are safe for the pets. Whenever possible, shopping locally is a goal, use of sustainable materials, how a company packages their product, and how they treat their employees are all things that affect my decision making.
Doing research and supporting businesses who align with your values can instill a sense of pride about how and who you support. Before buying a pet product, you might want to:
There you have it! My Houndswag go-to recommendations when hiring the best dog walker and sussing out some ideas for getting the products you need. If you have any questions or want to learn more about the dooloop and the ways that it facilitates walks by making scooping poop and dealing with it easier than it’s ever been.
I’m always happy to chat (talk shit) and see how I can of help! Email me anytime at info@thedooloop.com
]]>With a little patience, consistency, and positive reinforcement, you can successfully teach your pooch to do their doo-ty in a specific spot. Let’s get into the nitty gritty with tips to help you teach your dog this amazing potty trick.
The first step is to select an appropriate location at home where your dog should poop and pee every day. Look for an area that is easily accessible to your dog and away from busy family areas in your yard. Even scooped poop doesn't leave pristine grass, and no kid wants to slide into first base while sliding through sh*t. Choose a place that’s quick and easy to reach but that's a bit out of the way of foot traffic.
Just a little tip if your property has wild edges: It's tempting to encourage your dog to poop in the tall grass at the edge of your manicured lawn, but there are solid reasons not to. The hidden pile might be "out of sight, out of mind" for you, but Mother Nature still has to deal it's environmental impact. Also, your dog needs to be comfortable pooping where there’s short grass (or sometimes no grass at all) at a boarding facility, a friend’s home, or even an airport's pet relief area lined with artificial turf. Avoid teaching your pooch to sniff out swishy high grass to conceal their doggy-doo, so they don’t search in vain for a place to relieve themselves when they are in the suburban or urban jungle.
Dogs thrive on routine just like a lot of human folk, and establishing a regular bathroom schedule is an important step in potty training. Take your dog or puppy out to your designated area at consistent times throughout the day, like after meals, right after waking up, and before bedtime. Puppies will need extra trips – at least every two hours during the day until they get the message that the outdoors is the place to “go.” Consistency is key.
Pay close attention to your dog's behavior and body language. Dogs often display subtle cues when they need to relieve themselves, such as circling, sniffing, walking restlessly around the house, or hanging out near the door. If your dog has learned you are the great and powerful guardian of the door, some may park their butt at your feet and simply stare at you. (My Bella does this. She puts her chin on my knee and hits me with those sad eyes, like lasers). When you notice any of these signs, immediately take your doggo out to go go to their designated spot. When they hit the mark, heap on the praise!
You can even teach your dog another cool trick: Hang sleigh bells on the doorknob if you enjoy this cheerful sound. Some dogs learn to give them a ring when they need to go out!
Using a cue word or phrase when you take your dog to the designated area not only helps your dog understand where to go, but when. Use the cue word any time they start to pee or poop where you'd like them to: Just before a car trip, at the beginning of a trailhead, just before you visit the veterinarian to save a fecal or urine sample. etc. Once they make the connection, they'll understand you are watching for a squat or a leg-lift when you say that special phrase. Choose a something simple like "go potty”, "get busy", "dog speed", or even "make my day!" Just be sure to use the same phrase with the same vocal inflection. Over time, your dog will associate this phrase with the act of relieving themselves, making it easier to prompt them when needed.
Keep your expectations realistic. While dogs pee a number of times throughout the day and might be able to oblige you if you prompt them to pee when their bladder isn’t entirely full, they only poop once or twice daily. Even a perfectly trained dog can’t speed up their digestive system on cue. If your dog just isn’t ready to poop right before you leave on a long car trip, you’re probably going to have to accommodate them with extra stops along the way.
Positive reinforcement – praise, petting, treats, or a game of tug with a favorite toy – is the most effective training method for dogs. When your dog poops or pees in the designated area, offer enthusiastic praise, gentle pets, and/or a yummy treat as a reward. Associating a successful poop in the right spot with an immediate reward will encourage them to repeat it in the future. Avoid scolding or punishment if your dog has an accident inside the house, or if they run off to a different spot in the yard before you can steer them to your preferred dumping spot. Strongly scolding a dog for relieving themselves will cause a lot of confusion and fear. They’ll probably think you’re scolding them for the actual squat – not for the location they squatted in. Carrots, not sticks, will get you there.
Training a dog or puppy takes time and a lot of patience. Some dogs will pick up the routine quickly, but others may need more time to adjust. Stay persistent, positive and keep up with the training, even if there are occasional setbacks. Remember that each successful trip to the designated area is a step in the right direction.
Accidents can happen, especially during the early stages of training. If your dog poops in the wrong place, clean up indoor accidents promptly using an enzymatic cleaner. Scoop up their outdoor poops right away, too. A clean environment will help prevent your dog from confusing other areas with their approved bathroom spot.
Now, it would be great if we could train our dogs to scoop their poop as well, (I could add some rather gross tales about pups who do, in their own way, but I'll restrain myself) but this task falls squarely in the human camp. However, if you have a dooloop clipped to every leash you own or carabiner one to your backpack or toggle, you'll make a win out of #2. When your dog squats to drop a deuce, you won’t be left holding the bag of warm, odiferous squish in your hand or pocket. You can just bag it, sling it on with one hand, knotted or unknotted, and let the dooloop and your leash do the work.
Shopping for a wardrobe of dooloops just got to be even more fashionably fun!. Check out all of our dooloop multi-packs and pick your favorite, or create your own!
Finally, remember that every dog is unique, so adapt your training methods to suit their individual needs. With time and consistency, your dog will develop good bathroom habits and may even learn to pee or poo on cue -- making life easier for both of you.
]]>As a mother of three now-grown children, I can say with surety that I'm done with babies of my own, including puppies and kittens. Give me an adult human or animals and we can work things out together. Honestly, my adult-dog-adoption of Bella and Angie is what led to the dooloop, opening up my world. *Mind blown*
Necessity indeed is the mother of invention, and inventions lead to new adventures. A senior dog can help take you there!
I was painfully shy as a child (no one believes it now), a worrier (that still tracks), and I was happiest creating worlds by myself, alone with my toys and pets. Now? I crave company, getting out, and seeing the worlds others create.
What grownup doesn’t swoon watching puppies, kittens, and tiny humans make their own discoveries? It's delightful. But growth means change, it's inevitable and good. But what you think you got, and what you actually get, aren't always aligned. I’m a different person than the kid I used to be (except for the worry part) and you can count on the personalities of young pets changing, too.
Many people don't realize that it takes months or even years of intensive, consistent, and always-patient training to socialize a pup into a confident, well-adjusted, welcome anywhere, bone-afide grown-up doggo. They need to be the priority in their new family's life for at least their first half-year, and some are life-long learners. For some pet parents this such a rewarding adventure they record every puppy paw-step on Instagram. Others might not have anticipated the commitment involved and for them puppyhood can be rough.
If you are dreaming about the grown-up companion your future dog will become, why delay "adulting?" By meeting the adult dogs at a shelter or rescue -- instead of heading straight to the puppy room -- you can experience the serendipity of creating a connection with a true friend who’s ready to start living the grown-up life beside you today. It's an indescribably good feeling knowing that, whatever sadness or hardship they may have endured to end up at the shelter, you're giving them a soft landing and safe place to rest. You'll see the gratitude in their eyes.
Like puppies, adult and senior dogs aren’t necessarily perfect when it comes to not peeing and pooping in the house. However, I appreciate knowing that if my adult dog needs a potty break, she knows how to let me know that nature is calling. Speaking for myself, maintaining the laser-sharp focus needed to rush a puppy outside who is just learning "to pee, or not to pee" is totally out of the question for me. Of course, I love puppies. It’s just that the memory of getting up several times at night or waking to scrub out a puppy crate in the morning is not how I want to roll these days. Been there, done that -- got the t-shirt!
Adult dogs choose who they love. Puppies love those who choose them
Senior dogs are often overlooked in shelters because often they lay quietly on their bed or the kennel floor instead of leaping for attention. They have already lived life with another person or family, so being on their own in a strange place is more stressful for them than for those young pups. But when a grown dog wags their tail at you, or pushes their nose under your hand, you can be sure they’ve made a choice to “talk” to you. Unlike a puppy who wiggles at most anyone new, a senior or adult dog has learned to make decisions about who they trust. In other words, it's an honor.
When the call goes out to find a home for a senior dog, or they are surrendered to a shelter because their previous owner’s life had a tumultuous change, it takes a special kind of person to pause and consider being that dog’s new lifeline.
By opening your heart to a senior dog, you give them a second chance at love and happiness. Their gratitude and unconditional love will shine through in every wag of their tail, creating an incredible bond that is heartwarming and nourishing. Your gently-used dog will be grateful for the love and security you’ve given them at a time when everything was storm-tossed. In my experience, while your new senior friend comes into their own personality, they also develop new charms in their new home. You've got a new bestie!
Senior dogs have typically outgrown the hyperactive puppy stage. They often have a more relaxed, mellower temperament, making them an ideal companion for those of us seeking a laid-back lifestyle. If they were writing a dating profile they'd say that they enjoy leisurely strolls, cozy snuggles, good food, head-rubs, and naps when it's raining. I'd marry 'em!
Usually some basic manners are already established. Lucy, an elderly mini-dachshund, came to us with lovely manners. If fact, we unintentionally untrained her because we didn't pay attention to the perfect cues she was giving us!
Even though a senior dog will need some time to find their rhythm in your home, it's more likely you can focus on reinforcing existing good behaviors rather than starting from scratch. You'll be spared the panic of chewed up electronics and rugs. I remember spending $800 in 1994 getting a glass marble massaged through Maggie the Clumber Spaniel puppy intestines. This was the first and last puppy for us!
So, if you’re not into ratcheting up the activity in your home to puppy-level, an older dog may be the perfect fit.
Senior dogs make wonderful companions for individuals and families alike. Rescues work to find out as much as they can about the dog's former life to try to find just the right fit for their new home. Many adult dogs are well-socialized and tolerant of children, making them a great match for families with young kids. Remember, when you're training a puppy in a houseful of children, you also have to train the kids to be puppy trainers themselves! With an adult dog, children still need to be taught to respect their new dog's boundaries, but you’ll be less likely to feel like you are training a whole litter of puppies instead of a single dog.
Senior dogs are also usually quite content if they land in a quieter household, unlike a young dog who needs lots of exercise and socialization every single day. This makes an older dog an excellent choice for senior households or individuals with a more relaxed lifestyle.
Yes, if you adopt a dog who already has some life experience, the time they spend with you may be shorter. While this thought can be emotionally challenging, it also means you are providing your new companion with the best final years of their life, filled with love, care, and happiness. It's priceless.
Some (but certainly not all) older dogs come with age-related health issues such as arthritis, dental problems, or mobility challenges. They might have a couple of extra pudgy pounds or might even need to put on some weight. It's important to take any dog or puppy to the veterinarian shortly after adoption.
Some senior dog health issues can potentially increase your pet care expenses, but pet insurance has improved greatly over the years. With a good diet, proper medical attention and regular check-ups, adult and senior dogs can be with you happily and healthily for a long time. My Lucy was 10 lbs., had 7 teeth, and lived 19 years!
There aren't any promises when you bring a new pet into your home, young or old. You and your kids, if you have them, will discuss values, how you care for each other and the pets who depend on you. Having a dog in your life helps teach respect, boundaries, differences, and love -- all life and death lessons.
As I mentioned, Angie and Bella (Bassets) were my muses for the dooloop. They came to us as fosters when they were adults, Angie was 7, Bella 3. Their former family, an older couple, both died and their kids couldn't keep them. You can imagine they were quite upset at first by this change in their lives.
Even though they are low-riders, Bassets are big, strong dogs. Although they'd already proven to be loving dogs in their old home, Angie and Bella needed time to learn to trust us, and it was clear they hadn't been out for walks on a leash. Without a fenced yard, we needed to walk them multiple times daily so they could do their business. These two bonded dogs were constantly tangling their leashes, wrapping them around my legs, pulling mightily. Trying to hold onto multiple bags of poop while maintaining constant leash control over these two big girls, I'd end up stressed and in tears.
Before Angie and Bella came into my life, juggling dog poop and maintaining leash control with two scared foster dogs wasn't something I'd ever needed to worry about.The dooloop was my Hail Mary invention for leash control brought to me by serendipity, New England Basset Rescue, and the adoption of two older dogs. I find it ironic and oddly hopeful, knowing that the thing that made me literally cry, has become my happy place. The universe has a sense of humor, even when, or maybe especially when, we're not laughing.
Of course, Angie and Bella discovered they'd scored a safe landing, and since then we've had countless wonderful leash adventures.
Choose your dog for who they are as a person, and you’ll be rewarded with a bond that transcends words. These wise canine companions with a few years under their collars have so much love to give. While there are some challenges to consider when adopting an adult or senior dog – just as there are with puppies --the benefits far outweigh them. I hope if you're ready to upsize your family, you'll open your heart and home to a full-grown dog, and embark on a remarkable journey filled with companionship, gratitude, cherished memories, and laughter. Just as Angie and Bella inspired the dooloop for me, maybe you'll find your new dog will become your muse to invent a better 'mousetrap,' too.
If you adopt a senior dog, skip the poop-juggling during your first days as you get to know one another, and purchase a dooloop ahead of time. Or give one as a gift to a friend who has just adopted so they can concentrate on the good sh*t!
]]>
In the concrete wilderness, it's pretty clear that if there is poop on the street, it's likely to be dog poop. Size-wise, it depends on the breed and diet of the pup in question. Fresh dog poop is moist and soft, but as time goes by, it becomes drier than your Aunt Mildred's pot roast, and just as appetizing. Color? In a healthy dog it can range from shades of brown to tan, reflecting the dog's culinary adventures. If a pup is feeling poorly, it can be yellow, black, or even almost white. But the brown variety is usually what you’ll stumble across – unfortunately, often quite literally.
While their wild counterparts eat what's available in nature, dogs do not. This difference means that dog doo is closer to human waste than their wild counterparts. Communities treat human waste through sewer systems or septic because it harbors bacteria, parasites, and viruses. Dogs more routinely have those plus additional uninvited guests—parasites like roundworms and hookworms that can hitch a ride and cause trouble for humans or other pets if they somehow make it into digestive tracts.
Heavy loads (lots of any-sized dogs, not a parade of Great Danes) of dog poop on popular nature trails gets washed into ditches and streams making its way into aquifers and watersheds. Untended 'crap' also negatively impacts native plant species, by changing the soil's chemistry. These are big enough problems that here at dooloop, we've been contacted by multiple water districts asking that we help educate dog walkers in their areas. I’ve written more about the impact of dog poop on pets, people and the environment here. We all depend on clean water, so none of us get a hard or even soft pass on picking up our dogs' waste. Be a responsible owner, and dispose of dog waste properly. It's a basic doo-ty you owe your dog, neighbors and shared ecosystem.
This masked marauder is at home most everywhere, so you might come across their calling card in the city, country, or sitting pretty on a suburban curb. Raccoon poop shares some similarities with dog and coyote waste but has its own distinctive features. Picture a medium-sized pile with a tubular shape, similar to dog poop but often narrower. These crafty critters have a diverse diet, so there will usually be a medley of surprises in their deposits that sets them apart from dog doo, including bits of berries, seeds, and even the occasional insect exoskeleton. In terms of color, raccoon scat tends to be dark and even a little shiny.
As our homes stretch into the coyote’s territory, these crafty canines sometimes appear in backyards or trotting down suburban streets. It’s not unsurprising for human residents to wonder if the unexpected poop on their stoop is coyote or dog. Coyote scat appears slightly similar to its domesticated counterpart but with a twist (literally!). It's elongated and rope-like, sporting tapered ends and a coiled appearance. Glad you know that now aren't you?
If there is a collection of hair, bone fragments, and even berry seeds tucked within, it’s far more likely to be coyote scat than dog poop. As for size, it can be anything from medium to large doggie proportions.
Bear droppings are where things get grizzly. These mighty animals leave behind calling cards that are larger than life. Picture a stout cylinder, possibly chunky, with remnants of their culinary endeavors, like berries, nuts, and, occasionally, fur or bone fragments. The color palette depends on their diet, ranging from earthy browns to pitch black. And remember, we're not talking doggie-sized here—we're talking "hold onto your hats and lock your car doors" size. Most bears eat what they find in nature -- or in our backyards when they raid the feeders we leave for birds, or garbage cans filled with our own dinner scraps.
Now, when it comes to the wild bunch, the risks are a little less close to home. Because they are usually in their wild habitat, wildlife poop tends to be scattered throughout their territories rather than piling up in common areas, like the dog poop in your yard, at the dog park, or along dogs-allowed nature trails.
Yet, caution should still be exercised when dealing with their droppings. Wild animals use feces to communicate, and may drop a load right in the middle of a pathway or even along a country road to announce, “I’m here!” Steer your hound away from mystery poop when you’re out on walks. You should definitely allow your Fido some sniff time while you are out and about, but do pay close attention to what has caused them to stop dead in the trail. With your veterinarian’s guidance, treat your doggo for common worms like hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms regularly so your pupper doesn’t lug around unseen internal parasites that can make them ill, or infect other animals when they poop them out.
Some wildlife animals do make a big mess of things. Raccoons who move into attics and sheds will often poop in piles called “latrines.” Raccoons harbor a roundworm (Baylisascaris procyonis) that is shed in feces and after it dries it can infect other animals, including humans, who ingest it. While human infection is rare, it can invade the eyes, organs, or brain. Yikes! If you discover a big pile of raccoon poop in your attic, it’s best to call a respirator-wearing professional to clean it up or to provide you with expert advice so dry dusty poop doesn’t end up in your mouth and nose during clean up. Here are some tips from the Center for Disease Control on raccoon latrines.
It’s probably no surprise that when it comes to poop-borne illnesses, children are at more risk than adults. Keep an eye on toddlers when they are outside to make sure they aren’t putting dirt in their mouths and remind kids to keep their heads above water when “wild” swimming in creeks and ponds, so water doesn’t get in their mouth or up their nose. And it goes without saying (thank you, COVID!) by washing your hands when you come inside from working or playing, you’ll teach your kids simple good hygiene as well, for fun sing along to the alphabet song, then you know you're done :)
These are just a few types of poop that could be confused with dog doo, but if you are a wildlife watcher, check out this whole library of wildlife scat from Thinktrees.org, ranging from chipmunks to moose.
Luckily, when you clean up the random wildlife poop that might appear on your sidewalk or deck, you don’t have to carry it very far, so the trusty dooloop you keep attached to your dog’s leash probably won’t come into play. (You DON’T have a dooloop? You need one!) Clean random poop up with a trowel or inverted dog poop bag and dispose of it, well-wrapped, in the outdoor trash and follow up with a good handwashing. If you’re faced with a big cleanup of bird or wildlife poop, you’ll need more than a poop bag! That’s a lot more than we’re tackling in this blog post, but here’s some help from the University of Toronto if you need it.
Who knew there could be so much to discover about poop? Follow the dooloop on Pinterest to keep up-to-date in a most colorful way!
]]>As a loving dog parent, you're probably used to all sorts of schmutz, muddy paws, slobber kisses, the occasional barf. Cleaning up is part of the pet gig. Scooping up poop and slinging the bag of poo onto your trusty dooloop on walks is a small price to pay for the unconditional friendship your dog(s) give you.
But discovering your dog has tiny dried brown nuggets or twiggy things (“dingleberries") hiding under their tail is especially embarrassing when discovered by your veterinarian or a friend when your pooch wags hello. The knee jerk reaction is to grab a paper towel and snatch. But don't just pluck those berries! It will likely hurt your dog and you might get nipped – making a shitty situation even shittier.
What's the best way to take care of these unpleasant danglies?
According to popular lore, the term comes from the old English word "dingle," which means "hanging." The word "berries" was added as a playful nod to the fact that they resemble little round fruits. So, in essence, dingleberries are little bits of poo that hang from your pup's butt like berries on a vine. Charming, no? Poop is a cute word for feces, so why not have a name that makes a poopy butt a little easier to talk about?
Dingleberries are a common issue among long-furred or fuzzy dogs, but even short-furred dogs can suffer from them, particularly if they are dealing with a loose stool.
These little bits of feces that get stuck in your dog's fur aren’t (usually) harmful to your pup if they fall out on their own or your dog attends them through self-grooming. But they can become a bit gross and uncomfortable if they hang in there for long. If your dog is particularly furry, you may not notice the little bits hanging until they’ve dried onto their furry pantaloons. And a tiny dingleberry can turn into a bigger dingleberry if it gathers more poop over time.
Dingleberries have a cute-sounding name, but heavy matting around the rear of your longhaired pet, whether a dog or cat, can actually become life-threatening by causing an obstruction that prevents your pet from pooping. Gross huh? This condition has a name that’s nowhere near as charming. Pseudocoprostasis, more commonly known as a “fecal mat,” usually requires veterinary attention.
Let's get down to business. How do you gently harvest and discard those dingleberries? It's not a particular pleasant task, but it's necessary for your pup's comfort and hygiene. You might be tempted to just grab and yank off those little dried fruits, but resist this quick “fix.” It’s bound to hurt your dog, and you’ll make them shy of you poking around under their tail in the future. No one enjoys anything yanking at the hair in their tender private parts. You could even get nipped or scratched if you startle or hurt your dog. Ripping the Band-Aid off isn’t the best option in this situation.
First, carefully trim any hair that's matted or tangled around the affected area. This may get rid of the worst of those little danglies. If you want to retain your pup’s cute butt fluff and don’t want to cut chunks out of it, use a pair of gloves and a damp cloth to soak and gently wipe away the dingleberries. If they are particularly stubborn, a sit-down bath in warm water and fanny foam with dog-safe shampoo can help loosen things up. You may want to take advantage of the situation by giving your dog an all-over bath so they emerge clean and sweet-smelling from nose to tail.
If dingleberries grew like weeds without you noticing and have developed into severe matting (or worst-case, have resulted in maggots hatching from eggs flies left in the mess), you’ll likely find that you need to make a trip to the veterinarian to have them carefully cut out with clippers, especially if your dog’s rear end has gotten damp and irritated. Don’t wait if you notice that a small crop of dingleberries has rapidly combined into one big mat. Your pet poops one to three times a day, and the situation will escalate rapidly into a smelly, painful problem that a bath at home could make worse rather than better.
Of course, the best way to deal with dingleberries is to prevent them from happening in the first place. Here are some tips to keep your pup's butt clean and dingleberry-free:
If you’ve got a dooloop attached to your dog’s leash and you’re regularly picking up their poo when you’re out for a walk instead of turning a blind eye to the piles your pup leaves behind, you’ll also be more aware of what’s happening around your dog’s derriere. If you’re paying attention to where your dog is dropping a deuce, you’ll also notice if it has exited neatly, and whether it’s a healthy, firm poop, or a loose stool that could be making a mess of your dog’s appearance – and possibly their inner health.
Your pup will be far more comfortable and happy if you keep those dingleberries at bay. You’ll also have a much cuter view on your daily walks together, since those fluffy fur pants and that waving tail are trotting right in front of you! Would your dog win a “cutest butt” award? Share a pic with us on Facebook!
]]>If everywhere you go smells like shit, maybe it's time to check your own shoes."
Shoes shouldn’t have to risk a s#*t show. You know what it’s like to experience that ominous heel-squish. You feel a sudden, surprising, softened downward sink of your heel, followed by that slight tug on the upward pull. Dog poo strikes without regard for shoe style or purpose. Maybe it’s a stiletto stuck in a pile – an unintended street statue – as you find yourself hopping, suddenly one shoe short of a pair. Or it could be a deep-treaded athletic shoe, forcing you to step lightly until you can unlace and scrape it out in the sink (the same one you use to do dishes in). That’s always a BIG yuck.
Parasites and harmful bacteria live in all dog poop, yes, even bougie-fed pampered pooch poo. What you can’t see can hurt you.
Our doggos mostly go bare paw outside, they live in our hearts, homes and often on our couches and beds. Whatever is on the street is on their paws and while many of us take off our shoes at home, it’s easy to see that it’s an imperfect system -- or a perfect system for spreading pathogens. Tummy bug, anyone?
These are words to live by. The pets we count on to keep us company and keep us sane as we walk through this world, are being invited into more public spaces than ever before. But when some people don’t take care of their dog’s waste, our furry friends become less welcome, and can even be banned.
Scooping dog poop and properly disposing of the bag is a kind action that helps keep neighbors happy, the environment healthy, and dogs welcome. Please pick up the poop. If it’s sloppy, have a water bottle handy to ‘wash’ the area. If we take care of what our dogs can’t, they can walk alongside us as our welcomed plus-one, loved by most!
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Water. We need it, we are it, and we must take care of it. There are so many canines cruising about with their guardians in natural areas that dog poop is leaching into water tables, creeks, rivers, and lakes. Ocean beaches are sometimes closed due to elevated bacteria levels. Our sewage system is designed to take care of our home and business generated organic waste and gray water, but nothing catches the untreated poo that flows directly into our lakes, ponds, streams, and oceans. It has become increasingly problematic. Water districts have reached out to us here at the dooloop about this important issue.
And while our dogs are descended from wildlife, we need to admit their commercially-fed, nutrient-rich poop can damage soil composition, no matter how ‘deer’ they are to us. When all that poop alters the soil, it can impact native plants, too.
Last week I read that urban rats dine on dog poo! While rats are smart, resourceful, and social, I’d like to think they could dine on something better than doo, if we did a better job of picking it up.
When choosing a handbag to fit your lifestyle, you’d probably gravitate toward something that’s both fashionable and functional. Unfortunately, a bag of poop will never be chic. It doesn’t elevate your look and, especially for multi-tasking city people, it certainly doesn’t make carrying other bags, answering your phone, or finishing your coffee any easier.
Fortunately, a one-hand, easy accessory is here that fixes all of that: the dooloop.
The dooloop isn’t expensive, but it does help dog-walkers both in and outside of the city manage to look high-end while dealing with their dog’s rear-end. To wit: using your dooloop is both fabulous and responsible because it:
A dooloop isn’t a Louis Vuitton, but let’s face it: You’ll look a lot more stylist without a bag of sh*t in your hand, so be sure to use that dooloop! That coffee you’re carrying will taste better, too.
Bottom line, the dooloop is an original design whose form follows function. In our throw-away culture, the dooloop could be made anywhere across the globe, but it’s being made locally, in Maine. It could be made of new, inexpensive plastic, but we have too much of that already. My dooloops are recycled plastic. There’s also no single-use plastic in the packaging – which is assembled by hand. We baked a living wage into the cost to cover that. We also hope that, wherever possible, you’ll buy your dooloop locally, supporting your own communities.
To me, “luxury” is making choices that I feel good about. It means shopping my values and living my best life. I hope that you can do the same.
Spread Peace, Not Poo!
]]>Doo-ty is calling you, too, Boo! It's also the time of year when we dog lovers add residual spring doogie clean-up to our list of tasks. After a long winter, thawing ground means piles of dog poop, hidden for months, burst forth, yes even if you were sure you got most of them. Your greening lawn could be where you slip and slide, victim to the dreaded shoe-poo. Who doesn't admire how fully it embeds in treads? It's almost marketable in its malleability. Nonetheless, Shark Tank will not accept your submission for useful poo-glue ideas.
Cleaning up after your dog is courteous to family, housemates, neighbors, Literally no one wants to step in it. Clean up is also important for the environment. Dog poo's real, it's bad, and unfortunately there is a lot of it laying around. It contains harmful bacteria and parasites that contaminate the soil (native plants struggle, invasive ones take their place) water supply (bottom's up!), and can sicken pets, people, wildlife.
Spring dog poop cleanup may not be the most glamorous task, but it's an important one. Not only does it keep your yard clean and free of harmful bacteria, but it also shows respect for your neighbors and the environment.
Grab your chosen pooper scooper, your dooloop, and get it over with. Then we want you and your dog to relax and enjoy the true beauty of spring. We'd to see some pic of you enjoying the warming weather with your pup. Share them with us on Facebook! It's ball throwing time, isn't it? We think it is!
]]>So, here we go! Puns, rhymes, alliteration, palindromes, and ambigrams: here’s a dictionary of puns and fun nonsense words that you can use to turn your ‘potty mouth’ to a good purpose: Helping teach others to pick up after their pooch!
Nothing brings out your inner kid like a good fart or poo joke. When we were little, politeness often required that we use pseudonyms like ‘number 1 or number 2,’ or ‘big jobs and little jobs’ when we referred to bathroom activity. ‘Poop!’ was (and often still is) a preschooler’s first daringly enjoyed ‘bad word,’ followed by gales of giggles. I guess it's no surprise that poop jokes have followed us into adulthood. Bodily functions are generally joked about, probably because they can also be a source of social embarrassment. Who hasn’t pungently ‘odorized’ a guest bathroom? (Poo-pourri has a hysterical commercial for this – just Google!). Lots of us have had to sheepishly bag up our dog’s ‘curtsy outfall’ after they dropped their doo right on the neighbor’s pristine grass. What better way to defuse an awkward situation than by making a joke about a problem we all share?
A good pun, my English teacher announced, is the ‘lowest form of humor.’ I disagree. If puns are clever and make people smile or do a double take, they serve a higher purpose. Here are just a few examples. Can you add to them?
How about giving that familiar daily dump a punny new twist? Your pup is outside:
There are 492 words that rhyme with poop according to RhymeZone, so it would be almost embarrassing if we didn’t take advantage of the bounty! 'Dog log,' 'shoe poo,' and 'turd is the word,' spring to mind, along with quite a few that are less acceptable for polite company.
Anyone can be a poo-et if you don't mind being a bit cheeky. Looking for a way to make light of having to clean up your sick pup's diarrhea? ‘Poop soup’’ perfectly describes the ick. We titled a recent article ‘Dog Bum 101‘ because it perfectly described the article and is simply fun to say. Aren’t we all looking for more silliness and joy these days?
Many companies use the same first letter sounds over and over in their marketing because it’s catchy. We can't help but alliterate poop references, too, like 'bum biscuit,' or 'dropping a deuce.' ‘Pooch,’ ‘puppy,’ ‘pet’ and ‘pup’ are biologically and alliteratively tied to so many great words! Who hasn’t gone out on poop patrol, or been a party pooper?
With dooloop marketing, we’re also blessed with a plethora of words that also have assonance (sound alike). We can ask ‘do you scoop poop, and loop?’ There are endless the opportunities to turn a phrase and have fun.
Why not just make up words? Dr. Seuss did, and it worked for him! If, like me, you simply don’t like the sound of abrupt words like crap, turd, excrement, or bowel movement (ewww), then just make up your own. Do you have any silly terms you use when dooty calls your little stinker? We’d love to hear them! Here are some from our pet community:
Get creative and swap in different words and phrases to replace the dirty deed. If you must write about cleaning your dog’s rear end, a ‘rectal reconnaissance mission’ sounds like an adventure. ‘Tushy,’ ‘bum’, or ‘hiney’ soften the nomenclature. We call our Bella’s bum, her ‘bus’. She’s an unrepentant butt girl. Rub her ears and before you know it, she’ll turn and ‘back her bus’ right onto your lap!
Don't worry -- we're not grading.
These are fun facts to throw in when you're teaching kids that loving their dog means picking up their poop, too. Showing kids how a poop bag keeps their hands cootie-free, teaching the importance of picking up, and how a nifty dooloop carries the ‘load,’ will help get them through the major yick-factor of hand-scooping poop. And if that doesn't work, just give them all these puns and jokes to play with. NO kid can resist a poop joke!
Just this week I was talking to my display designer about marketing images, and I heard myself saying “I need a bigger poop, and could we make it happier too?” You can’t help but stumble into silliness, even in serious discussions about poop. However, I do want to guarantee you that here on the dooloop team, you’ll never hear us s#*t-talking others or spreading crap information. This is a no-bullshit zone. As punny as poop is, we need to protect the environment and help build dog-friendly communities by picking up after our pups.
Do you have a favorite poo pun? Let’s keep adding words and phrases to the list! Scroll on down to the very bottom of thedooloop.com and shoot me a message, and remember to pick up those bum biscuits. Spread Peace, not Poop.
]]>There IS a big “BUT” to consider…or a wee little butt, if your pooch is a chihuahua, shih tzu, dachshund, or another pint-sized pup. In fact, there are at least three “buts” to the EPA’s quick answer to the question, “is it OK to flush dog poop down the toilet?”
1. Don’t flush if you have a private septic system. When the EPA says it’s OK to flush dog poo, they add, “so it can be treated at a sewage treatment plant." As of 2015, 21 million US households used a private septic system and drain field– not a public sewer system -- to handle their toilet waste. If you’d like to check that out state-by-state, there’s a really fascinating infographic right here. That’s one-fifth of the United States that doesn’t have access to a public sewer and a municipal wastewater treatment plant.
If you have a private septic system, you’ll want to keep everyday canine BM away from your indoor plumbing. An emergency flush or pint-sized poops may be okay, but private systems are built to handle a specific volume of waste based on the estimated size of a household, and if you’re adding doo-doo from a pack of pups, it’s contributing to the solids in your tank. You may need to have it pumped more often, which heaps extra dollars on your home maintenance. The Washington State University Extension also warns that dog feces contain hair and ash that aren’t found in human waste, and can clog your septic drain field.
So, if you’re not on a public sewer system, it’s probably a good idea to strike your toilet off the list of everyday ways to dispose of dog poop.
2. Never flush bagged poop. Although some poop bags claim to be biodegradable, it can take a few months to a few years for decomposition to fully break them down. Poop bags are great if you are scooping up poop (and slinging it safely into your dooloop poop-bag holder) to dispose of in the trash. But if you flush it, that baggie full of dog waste will be entirely intact when it arrives at the wastewater treatment plant or bobs its way down into your septic tank. It can clog your pipes at home and will also cause real problems in both public and private waste management systems. Either you, your landlord, a plumber, or a municipal sanitation worker will be the unfortunate person who must unclog the disgusting backed-up mess. So, bagged poop is always a no-go for toilets.
3. Got kids? Beware “monkey-see, monkey-doo.” If kids see you tossing things down the toilet rather than reserving the porcelain throne for human bodily fluids, it can be hard for them to decipher what’s flushable and what’s not. If that toilet-paper-wrapped dog-log is OK, what about wads of Kleenex, disinfecting wipes, or even Legos? It’s best to teach kids that nothing goes down the old toilet hole except their own poop, pee, and used toilet paper. Treating the toilet like a rubbish bin is bound to create conflict in a kid’s curious mind.
So, there you go, the word on the turd. Hopefully you’ve gotten a little more clarity about the using the flush. Until this blog post, TBH, I thought the septic would be okay, but nope! So, safeguard your family and community’s sanitation system and bank account by tucking your dog’s waste in the trash can instead of the toilet, when appropriate. And be sure to stock up on affordable dooloops to help carry it there! We’d all like a wand to wish dog poop away, but until then, it’s a better world when we all do our little part.
]]>Since dogs have walked alongside us for millennia, their habits have entered our mythology in surprising ways as harbingers of luck. Even their poop (which isn’t usually considered highlight of our doggie partnership) has found a positive place in myths, traditions, and even science.
So, to ring in a lucky New Year, here are a few ways dogs – and their poop – can bring good fortune, according to folklore from around the globe! It’s the various traditions around the world that make even the simplest aspects of life so rich.
1. If you’re strolling the streets of France and step in dog poop, you’re headed for a bout of luck. It’s good luck for you if you happen to step in the stuff with your left foot, and bad if you trod down with your right. (The streets of Paris are legendary as a repository of dog waste. Finally, there are poop scoop laws in Paris, and that's definitely lucky!)
2. "Dog Shit Luck” mean to have a stroke of good luck, according to Chinese tradition. Allegedly it springs from the time when farmers fertilized their crops with manure from both animals and humans. Coming across a shit source – even by treading in it – was good fortune. 21st century science tells us dog poop on your crops can be hazardous to the environment and your health, so have fun with the phrase but don't follow the practice!
3. Good luck will come your way if you meet a Dalmatian, possibly because they are less-common pooches to encounter in your daily travels.
4. Some folks in parts of Europe and Scotland believe that it’s good luck if a strange black dog follows you home. That’s a welcome myth for dog lovers, especially here in the United States where some animal shelter workers believe it’s harder to market homeless black dogs to adopters. Perhaps more colorful pups are easier to photograph and catch the eye in online shelter marketing. So, let’s spread the good word that if you welcome that handsome black shelter stray over your threshold and into your home, you’ll have a lifetime of friendship and good luck.
5. We call someone a “lucky dog” if they have experienced sudden good fortune, and of course it’s common to bestow the name “Lucky” on a dog who has been rescued from misfortune and is adopted into a loving home.
6. A dog in your own home can give you a heads-up to danger. A poll found that 47% of people surveyed felt their dog had alerted them to impending bad news.
7. One study indicates that dogs poop on a north-south axis and avoid pooping in an east-west orientation. We could postulate that you’d be lucky if you happen to get lost in the woods with your dog at your side, as the direction they point when they poop could help you get your bearings. However, a trail map, compass or a fully charged cell phone are probably far more trustworthy navigation tools in an emergency.
8. Other lore tells us that if you dream of dog poop (or any poop at all) good fortune in the form of unexpected wealth is headed your way! Dreaming up the dooloop, (quite literally, it was a 4:00 am idea) certainly has brought me many riches. I’m rich in the many people I’ve met and the enjoyment my dooloop adventure has brought me. Hopefully the other type of riches will follow too, but it’s already been a gift.
From me to you: It’s in dreams that we imagine possibilities, solve problems, plan futures. Here’s wishing you and your beloved canine (and feline) companions good health and dreaming in 2023. Honestly, if dog poop can become a happy place for me, it’s clear there is no limit to other possibilities for you!
Together let’s spread peace, not poo. Dare to dream. If even dog poop can become a happy place, dogs are the very best template for a wonderful New Year.
]]>
We humans are unusually fastidious creatures when it comes to our own bums. We have toilet paper of various thickness and softness, pre-moistened wipes with aloe, rosewater, even cucumber, not to mention bidets that warm, wash and blow dry our undercarriages. When COVID hit, our toilet paper hoarding habit made headlines. Prior to the pandemic, I’d ordered a case of Who Gives a Crap toilet paper while drinking wine. It’s sustainable, beautifully wrapped – and who knew it would make me look so smart, let alone be a hero to the less prepared!
Back to pooch poo…when we notice our dog or cat has a dingleberry stuck to their fur, or their little round rectum is less than pristine, we can’t help but wonder if we should be providing a little sanitary assist.
Should you help your dog clean their butt when you notice they don’t have a shiny hiney? Or should you let nature take its course?
How is it that healthy dogs and cats usually have a nice clean bum, but we humans require additional steps to keep our nether regions neat and clean? Without getting too graphic, let’s just say that there’s only air between a dog’s butt and the ground, and maybe a few wisps of fur. Unlike humans, who experiment with unusual foods and spices, pet dogs generally eat a consistent, standardized diet specially designed for good canine digestion. This results in nice compact poops.
Dog and cats instinctively keep themselves as clean as possible by grooming themselves with their tongue, which is why you shouldn’t reprimand your dog for neatly licking their privates. If you find yourself squirming in embarrassment because your pet has hoisted their leg for a self-cleaning in front of visitors, simply distract your pup temporarily with a toy and let them return to their bath later.
A healthy dog on a nutritious diet usually won’t require any additional help with their nether regions. But here are a few reasons why cleaning can get complicated for them:
While the occasional cleaning of your dog’s backside is something you can manage yourself, these underlying health issues could require the attention of a professional groomer, a change in diet, or a consultation with your veterinarian.
Most dogs benefit from a monthly bath. Encourage your dog to sit down in a few inches of warm water to soften the debris around their bottom while you bath the rest of their body. Scrubbing at your dog’s tender backside with soap could cause stinging and irritation, and it’s usually not necessary. Once debris is softened with warm water, it can usually just be rinsed or gently wiped away.
Pre-moistened wipes or a washcloth can help between baths. Dogs recovering from a bout of diarrhea or who have constant soft stool due to chronic bowel issues may need a periodic clean-up. A soft cloth dampened with warm water or hypoallergenic pet wipes specifically made for the sensitive areas around a dog’s eyes, ears or butt, can be gently applied.
Keep the fur around your dog’s bottom neat trimmed. Use grooming shears with rounded tips and take care not to cut too close to the skin. Those shears are super sharp!
Getting matted fur wet can sometimes make problems worse. Matted fur traps feces and dirt and is slow to dry once it gets soaked. The dampness can cause skin irritation or infection, so call a groomer for an appointment. If you discover that your dog’s anus is entirely obscured by mats, this is an urgent issue that requires immediate attention by your groomer or your veterinarian before your dog’s ability to eliminate is entirely obstructed.
Feed your dog a quality diet. Good food means firm stools, and less of them – if you aren’t overfeeding. If your pooch is putting on a bit of a paunch, reduce their portion size and make sure you aren’t slipping your friend too many dog treats or fatty table scraps. Your veterinarian can recommend a food if you find all the choices on the pet store shelves overwhelming. Our Basset Hound ladies had a bit “too much junk in their trunk” when they first came to us and needed to cut calories. Our vet suggested introducing green beans (frozen or fresh) to add bulk without calories. We’ve also included a little pumpkin to Bella’s diet. The girl loves her pumpkin, and the fiber keeps her regular.
Like Murphy’s Law -- “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” -- there is also the dog-doo ancillary, Lassie’s Law: “Any poop left in the yard will go right into the house (on a shoe).”
Sometimes your dog may roll in left-behind BMs, but usually it’s poo on a shoe that creates the biggest mess. By keeping your dog’s play area scooped, both humans and pets are less likely to encounter a sticky, smelly disaster. And by keeping your trusty dooloop close at hand, loaded with a couple clean poop bags, you’ll be prepared to pick up after your dog when you’re out walking together. Other dog parents will thank you for keeping their feet and paws poop-free, too. If you don’t yet have a colorful dooloop of your own, pick up a pack online here!
When you’re on your next walk with your dog, give thanks for the great job Mother Nature did designing their rear-ends to be as mess-free as possible. Then let’s pay it forward as pet parents by cleaning up what they do leave behind.
]]>Why does dog poop stink? Why does it sometimes really, really, really reek? And when should you worry? Take a seat and let’s get to the bottom of it! (puns are just too easy in this lane).
Even the most perfect pup on the best diet can’t help that their poop has a mildly unpleasant odor. Pup-generated poop contains about three-quarters water, some undigestible matter from food, and lots and lots of intestinal bacteria. Those bacteria are essential to digestion, breaking down food and helping to create that less-than-appetizing aroma.
A nice healthy firm poop is firm but not dry or hard, and is uniform in color -- usually an unalarming shade of brown. Because a “good poop” doesn’t make a gassy exit, and is low on surface area and residue (compared to messier poops) it doesn’t spread a lot of that unfortunate digestive smell. Healthy doogies are also easily scooped up. Once it’s in that handy poop bag the stink is (mostly) contained – unless you forget your dooloop and put that bag in your pocket or leave it on the floorboards of a sunbaked car for future funky discovery.
But sometimes the smell that wafts up from your pup’s poop can be downright eye-watering. What causes stinky poop, and when should you worry about it?
If your dog’s bowel movements have an unusual or powerfully bad smell, are pudding-like or watery, or you’re suddenly assailed by dog farts when your binge-watching Netflix together on the couch, something’s probably up with your dog’s innards.
Your dog’s diet. If a poor-quality diet isn't meeting your dog’s nutritional needs, or your dog has a food allergy or dairy-intolerance unusual bowel movements and smell will probably be one of your first signals. Food allergies can cause inflammation in the gut, causing your dog to be bloated, gassy, and create watery poop. A rapid change in diet can also cause stomach upset, so if you are changing your dog’s current food to a higher-quality diet, it’s best to introduce it slowly over several days. If you notice changes in your dog’s stools, start keeping notes on what your dog is being fed at home. Take a quick pic for your veterinarian of the labels of the foods and treats you are feeding your dog (a snapshot of the poop itself can't hurt, either) and be sure to ‘fess up to any table scraps you sneak under the table.
Health Tip! If you stop sneaking leftovers to your dog, you’ll avoid tummy aches and unpleasant smells, as well the danger of unintended canine poisoning by foods that cause no problems for people -- like chocolate, onions, and grapes -- but are toxic to dogs.
Certain medications can cause gastrointestinal upset. If your dog has been prescribed a medication and they suddenly have a change in the smell or consistency of their stool, check with your veterinarian to determine if it’s a side effect of the medication versus an additional health concern.
These are only a few of the most-common causes of smelly stools. If you notice your dog is failing to gain or maintain weight, is suddenly eating a lot more or a lot less, starts eating feces, dirt, or other non-food objects, has undigested food or blood in the stools, or begins to suffer from loose or watery poop, flatulence, or vomiting, don’t put off a visit to the veterinarian.
It's actually quite lucky for us and our dogs that their poop is such a big part of our daily canine responsibilities. It means we have an early warning system to alert us when something’s up. If you don't personally witness your dog's output because you let them run free in a large securely fenced yard to do their daily “dooty,” follow along or leash them up once a week at least, so you can check on the state of their poop fresh from their bum.
Let the smell and sight of your pup’s poop be your guide to keeping them happy and healthy!
When we humans struggle with noisy, smelly bowels, some of us run the bathroom water faucet to mask the sound, light a candle, and turn on the fan to clear the air. However, when your pup is experiencing an especially smelly or messy bowel movement, there’s no hiding it from the neighbor you happen to be chatting with. You may as well wow them with some fun facts to divert their attention. Here are a few conversational nuggets that may distract your audience (by being perhaps even a little more gross) from your struggling dog’s current activity.
If your dog’s poop session becomes the center of attention, you may as well make the most of those twelve seconds by sharing some useful info. You’re welcome!
There also a good side to stinky dog poop – besides being a barometer of your pet’s health.
So, while dog poop won’t ever equal the value of whale poop has to the perfume industry, it’s good to know the smell has positive aspects.
A dooloop is incredibly affordable (especially when compared to that whale ambergris), so shorten the impact of your dog’s daily doo on your sniffer by picking up a dooloop or two. You can shop for yours, here!
]]>Now, you’d think dog poop would be mentioned on the internet by people who are talking about pet care needs, dog walking services, environmental impact, gross poo jokes (it’s a whole genre, potty humor), veterinary issues, market growth of dog products, and other normal poop stuff. Everybody poops, so there will always be issues to discuss. ‘Twas always this way and will always be so.
But holy cow, what is going on? My Google Alert has been filling up with stories from around the world about people losing their shit over doggie doo-doo! We’re talking screaming altercations, vandalism, stabbings even shootings, for Pete’s sake. This is way beyond the old-fashioned pranks like a flaming turd bag, or the more upscale and industrious “poopsenders.com,” where people literally pay to send their least-favorite person some poop.
Are we losing our collective minds? And how can we facilitate being safe and neighborly again when it comes to our pets’ daily “dooty.”
Every living thing poops. Let’s look back a few decades (not that many) when dogs pooped and people frequently had to clean the bottom of their shoes. No one liked dog poo being around, but dogs pooped where they wanted to, and that was pretty much it.
Someone, somewhere, suggested it’d be less gross if people bagged that s#*t. In 1978, New York State passed the Pooper-Scooper Law, to much controversy, but soon picking up poo became the new normal. The use of a nifty portable clean-up tool and bagger is credited to Brooke Daniel Miller of Anaheim, California, who filed for and was awarded a patent for a poop-bagging device in 1999. A new industry was born, and pooper scooper regulations and rules were enacted by municipalities, HOA’s and other local groups.
I think we can all stop for a minute here and just agree that stepping around – let alone stepping in — smelly, germ-infested poop is disgusting. Cleaning up after our pups just makes for a neater yard, nicer parks, healthier natural areas, and a nicer community all around.
So, what to do about it?
Well, if you’re a dog family and you walk your doggos outside of your yard, never leave home unprepared. Have enough poop bags for any eventuality – the expected poop, the unexpected poo, and the “oh no! what did they eat?” poo. Just be prepared – it beats all the alternatives.
Scooping is good, but apparently, it’s not always enough or we wouldn’t have arguments, assaults, and murders. What are people getting triggered by and why do they devolve into violence?
#1. Google Alerts and Dear Abby are telling me that putting your pup’s poop in someone else’s trash can instead of carrying it home to your own, even on trash day, is a serious doo DON’T. It makes for an unexpectedly nasty-smelling bin on hot days. Poop bags can get left behind by trash haulers if they gets squished to the bottom of the trash can. Making someone else’s property reek simply isn’t neighborly, and it’s no surprise that people get frustrated and angry.
#2. The infamous “bag-and-bug,” — setting a bag of poop down and bugging out to "pick it up later" – is a hard NO. You might have forgotten it, but everyone who sees it the rest of the day will remember. Worse, they’ll feel that dog owners are irresponsible, and that we should make even more rules about where dogs can and can’t go. I’ve also personally watched other passing dogs leave their own calling card by peeing on the pungent, left-behind bags. Double yuck :/ Also, leaving poop behind could give some unkind prankster ammunition for their own poop-smearing vandalization. Who will be blamed? Dogs and dog walkers. So, help maintain goodwill by carrying poop home.
#3. Pooping on someone else’s lawn happens. You can’t always control where your dog cops a squat, but please scoop thoroughly. Best-poop-practice would be to nudge your pooch to poo nearer to you and the curb instead of in your neighbor’s green lawn. ‘Curb your dog” signs used to be all over our cities. While it’s not always possible to redirect your pup’s butt, trying is still a good goal.
Now, I’m going to address the controversy, so strap in!
We are a community of dog people, cat people, people who love animals but don’t own pets, and also people who don’t really want to share their lives with a pet – and that’s OK. If we recognize our respective positions and responsibilities, and appreciate that we have different mindsets, we can largely avoid name-calling, vandalization, and certainly assault.
How, you ask?
Now we’ve arrived at the strong-armed product pitch, lol… A dooloop is incredibly handy for one dog poop, but it’s like a gift from the gods if your dog poops twice, you’re walking two dogs, or trying to drink your morning coffee juggling warm bags of poo while managing multiple leashes.
Don’t think a dooloop really makes that big a difference? Try it and report back on your experience. A poop bag doesn’t even always have to be knotted to stay on the dooloop. Just make sure to pull the bag through far enough to be securely held. After all the dooloop isn’t magic – it’s recycled plastic.
Look, ‘shooting the shit’ while walking and talking with neighbors and other dog parents is great, but leaving shit behind out of forgetfulness or on purpose isn’t. The planet needs our help. By picking up our dog’s poop, we individually make a difference that is impactful: protecting the water table, soil, and wildlife. By making sure we don’t leave a mess behind, we contribute to neighborliness and a caring community.
It makes me happy to have come up with one solution that could help head off literal murder! Yes, that may seem like a stretch, but then who would expect that dog poop would ever become a weapon in neighborhood disputes? Let’s not let this simple shit turn our caring communities into “crazy town.”
We members of the dog-loving community owe it to our canine companions to keep up our end of the bargain by taking care of the little doodoo they give us to handle. After all, they are giving us joy, laughter, and so much unconditional love.
The bottom line? Shit happens. It’s how we deal with it that makes all the difference. Spread peace, not poo. These are words every dog parent should live by.
]]>
Here’s a quick dooloop PSA: Fall is also the season for hide-n-seek with dog poop under the leaves! Make sure you stay close to your pup when ‘the time’ comes. Who hasn’t wasted way too much time on a treasure hunt for the poop your dog dumped while your back was turned? There is nothing worse than happily kicking through the crunch of leaves…then tromping on something unexpectedly squishy. Digging the outdoors is great. Digging poop of your shoe treads? Not so much.
But – back to happier autumn thoughts! No matter where you live, you'll find an event calendar full of fall activities. Phone or drop a DM to verify it’s okay for your dog to come along. At the dooloop, "Be Prepared" is our unofficial mantra.
Here are a few autumn events you and your dog should try before you flip that calendar to December!
You know who loves dogs? Wineries, breweries and outdoor cafes. Doesn’t get better than that! Here in Maine, it’s an embarrassment of riches with an abundant choice of excellent food and micro-breweries. If COVID had a silver lining, it's that it did expand outdoor dining. Many restaurants also have dog-friendly areas. As summer winds down, lots of businesses with outdoor patios are looking to ramp up their sales before winter weather moves in, and many hold special events that cater to pets. Check the events section of your local free weekly paper – usually found at grocery stores – for fall events happening near you. A simple web search for “dog friendly events in (your city or state)" will likely yield a treasure-trove of options.
Find an outdoor concert, a patch of grass, and make it a date. Even a bad concert outside is better than being a bored lump indoors. If your puppy is content to lounge near you for hours, loves people, and it's a laid-back musical experience, you’ve hit pay dirt. If it’s a more intense musical experience that leans on heavy drums or screaming guitars, choose a spot well back from the stage so your doggo’s ear can enjoy the music rather than be startled by throbbing speakers and whirling concert goers. Remember to pack a dog-and-people friendly picnic lunch for a fully relaxing experience. Swooning yet at the thought of this outing? I’m having a moment, to be honest.
Visit the funky food trucks you’ve been meaning to sample. When the winter winds whip up or foot traffic lessens, some food trucks hit the garage for winter. Autumn is the season to check one or more of these rolling gourmet treasure troves off your list each week. Bonus: You’re supporting small business! There are even some gourmet dog treat trucks out there. One caveat: Decadent food truck fare likely contains ingredients – like grilled onions -- that aren’t safe for pets. Be sure to pack some tasty treats your dog can enjoy.
Look up! Go star or moon gazing with a friend. Get away from the city lights, pack some munchies, unroll a blanket, and lay out under the stars on a clear crisp night with another dog-loving friend. The best time to pinpoint stars and constellations is when there is less moonlight. However, if bathing in moonbeams is what you love best about the night, enjoy those full-moon evenings, too. To head off any “oh sh*t, where’d they go!” moments in the dark, invest in a reflective collar or battery-operated light for your dog’s collar, and always keep your pup safely leashed on night excursion. My Bella wears a pink glow collar in the dark and Angie wore green. I call them "disco collars." Night-time walks together are always a slow-moving night-light show. We're always amused and know exactly who is where.
The fall is pet parade time, and it’s all about the accessories. These are a fall favorite for people-loving pups and kids. There are all sorts of pet parades at fall or Halloween festivals, and this is a fun way for your kids to bond with your dog on a bright autumn afternoon. Reserve this type of event for dogs who are truly laid-back and who enjoy kid chatter, costumes, and other dogs. Your children can still enjoy watching the event even if their own crowd-phobic dog is happily snoozing at home. If your dog finds Halloween a bit spooky, we’ve got some tips to help.
Pinpoint parks that have free admission after Labor Day. State and municipal parks need those admission fees to keep maintain their roads, campsites, trails, and other facilities, but holy shit -- it can get really pricey to visit them regularly for summer hikes with your dog. Between Labor Day and Memorial Day, many parks drop or reduce their admission fees. Make a list of the parks you just couldn’t budget for this summer and explore them now during the glorious days of autumn – and winter, too, if snow doesn’t close the trails in your region.
Go apple picking or stroll through a pumpkin patch. You probably won’t get a lot of fruit picking done with a dog in tow, but there’s nothing like the sweet smell and gentle hustle-bustle of an orchard, a pumpkin farm, or dog-friendly cider mill to complete your autumn experience. Enjoy a mug of warm cider and a fresh-made donut at a picnic table (bring a blanket just in case there’s no seating). As with all food-centered fall outings, bring your dog’s favorite treats so they can reward their own taste buds while all the wonderful food smells waft over them. You can give your dog a few bites of apple if you avoid the core and seeds.
So, make sure you’ve got your dooloop clipped to your dog’s leash and are stocked up on poop bags, dog treats, a water bottle and bowl. If you’ve misplaced your dooloop, consider replacing it while purchasing your holiday stocking stuffers at the same time. Or get a couple as autumn gifts for your friends who haven’t figured out yet that they no longer have to hand-hold their pup's poop. As anyone who has a dooloop knows, having one on each leash or backpack means you are always able to "let shit go" when you’re out and about.
These few crisp, bright autumn months go by far too quickly, so scroll on up to your online search window right now. Use these ideas to find autumn events nearby that you and your dog can enjoy together. Spread peace, not poop, starting this very weekend! We’d love for you to tag us on IG or FB @dooloopdogs and share your fall adventure!
]]>Do you haul a litter box with you, or let cats use the forest floor instead? Yes, felines do a darned good job covering things up – unlike dogs, who usually leave an unsightly pile. But even if your cool cat leaves it neat, doesn’t mean it’s neat to leave.
They are! It’s 2022, and we’re no longer able to be surprised. In addition to cat lovers who simply want to bring their intrepid, leash-trained cat along with them to enjoy hikes, bicycle rides, and air-conditioned car adventures, there are more and more people camping, traveling in RVs, or living the van life – sometimes full time! With more people choosing the wandering life, of course they are bringing both cats and canines along.
For the record, we’re now the proud pet parents of “Moose,” a black adventure cat who likes leisurely walks, having his meals served on time, and belly rubs. Best of all, he comes when he’s called. Moose adopted my son and his girlfriend in Montana. He’s now a devoted Mainer. Bella likes him as a sidekick for walks. The neighbors are all amused by a Basset Hound and a cat hiking side by side.
As a bonus, Moose is handy! A DIYer with persistence, he made his own cat door in the window screen, and the local chipmunks have enjoyed letting themselves in to visit. At first, we thought Moose was doing a chipmunk rescue program, sort of a “scruff and release” into the house. Fortunately, no chippies have been hurt, but I’m sure they’re shaken up by their indoor experience. And, yes, we’ve repaired the screen!
Back to the serious poop: It’s always best to bring litter box supplies along on any trip with your cat, even if they will be conservatively confined to a travel crate and won’t be headed out on hikes and bike rides. Emergencies happen, and a quick day trip can turn into a few nights at a hotel if your vehicle breaks down or your trip hits a snag.
There are lots of disposable litter boxes on the market, but a cardboard box will do in a pinch. There are also travel litter boxes that you can reuse – some even have zippers like a tiny suitcase to keep litter under control! There’s no need to haul along a big bag of cat litter. A gallon Ziplock with a few scoops will usually do just fine.
But what about when a leash-trained cat is walking along a nature trail, or demands a break from their kitty backpack? It sure would be nice to let your cat scratch a hole and cover their own poo in the soft forest ground or a sandy dune and just quietly walk on.
However, all of the environmental baggage that comes with dog poo is also a concern with cat feces. When pet after pet adds their extra nutrient load along trails and parklands, they can make the soil inhospitable to native plants, reducing biodiversity. They can also leave behind parasite eggs that can infect local wildlife, other pets, and dirt-loving kids.
And then there’s that extra cat poop concern: toxoplasmosis.
Toxoplasmosis (T.gondii) is a parasite that causes disease in humans and other animals. Cats are the only animal known to excrete toxoplasmosis eggs in their feces. If other warm-blooded animals, including dogs, wildlife, farm animals, birds, and even people accidentally ingest infective cat feces in outdoor soil or dirty litter boxes, they can become infected with T. gondii.
Toxoplasmosis gets a lot of alarming press because if a pregnant woman is infected, her child is at risk of birth defects. You’ve probably heard the warning that pregnant women should assign litter box cleaning to another member of the family until after their baby is born. People with immunodeficiency diseases can become ill, too. (No, pregnant women don't have to give up their cats. Just take sensible cleaning measures).
Fresh cat feces aren’t infective for 1-5 days, so if litter boxes are scooped daily and cat parents wash their hands, that risk is significantly reduced. The one good thing about toxoplasmosis is that a cat (or any creature) who is infected once tends to become immune to reinfection for the rest of their life.
Animals – humans, too! – can also be infected if they eat the raw or undercooked meat of infected animals. In fact, handling or consuming undercooked or raw meat, particularly pork, is the most common route of human infection in North America.
Being vigilant about cleaning counters, hands, and utensils after handling raw meat, and cooking meat thoroughly, is also very important when it comes to managing toxoplasmosis.
People who are hiking and playing outdoors – especially children – put up with quite a bit of dirt and tend to wait to wash up until the end of the day. Soap and hot water aren't always available on the trail. People may not think to wash their hands before pulling their lunch from their backpack or firing up the grill at their campsite. And of course, dogs love root in the dirt or taste anything interesting they find, (some pups dine out in litter boxes at home, too). Wild animals often stop to sniff or nibble anything unfamiliar.
Run-off from rainstorms can wash dog and cat poo, including those unneeded nutrients and possible parasites, into waterways where they can impact aquatic animals and plants, too.
So, a good animal lover, neighbor, and environmental steward will pick up their adventure cat’s poop, just as they would a dog’s. Just because cats tend to have smaller, neater poop than canines isn’t an excuse to leave it behind. Perhaps the good news is that cleaning it up is less of a chore than scooping our hiking canine companions! Glass half full, anyone?
Finally, since adventure cats are finally getting their day in the sun, let’s not ruin their new, fun reputation by dumping another ‘load’ on Mother Nature. Now that I'm walking two four-footed companions, canine and feline, I’ve ended up with two bags o' poo -- Bella’s and Moose’s -- slung on my dooloop. Give your cat-traveling friends a dooloop as a gift, in their favorite color. And why not add one of those cool zippered cat boxes? Isn’t it nice to have some new gift options for pet lovers?
Spread peace, not poo, no matter who!
]]>July is Lost Pet Prevention Month, and I’ve decided it's time to jump in and help spread the word through the dooloop platform. The best way to get a wandering pup back home quickly is with identification. In addition to a traditional metal name tag, technology has given us lots of new options to identify or track lost pets.
A collar ID tag, the tried-and-true standard. When someone finds a lost dog trotting down the sidewalk, the first thing they do is reach under their chin for an ID tag so they can call the owner or give the wayward pup a lift home. A dog goes from lost to found as simply as that! Engraved metal or plastic tags are available online (buy two so you have a backup), or there’s probably a tag-engraving machine at a nearby pet store or animal shelter. Tags aren’t too expensive as a one-time purchase, but costs can rack up if your dog is a Houdini who sheds collars or breaks tags monthly. If your pooch lacks ID because they’ve lost yet another tag, you can get a pack of 5 laminated Jiffy Tags online for less than $10, and you’ll always have a replacement on hand.
Customized collars. If your dog is naked of ID because you dislike the jingle-jangle of metal tags, a collar embroidered with your contact information is bright, attractive…and quiet. In a pinch, you can even write your phone number on your dog’s current collar with permanent marker. This works best on light-colored collars and needs to be refreshed quite often, because the marker fades. There are even some niche products that hold the tags together, keeping them quiet.
Slide-on ID tags are another simple and quiet identification option. The custom engraved tag slides onto your dog’s collar and lies flat where it won’t jangle against your dog’s rabies or license tag.
Microchips are magical when it comes to reconnecting lost pets with their homes. These tiny transponders, only slightly larger than a grain of rice, contain a scannable registration number and the contact for the microchip’s registry service. Microchips are easily inserted under the skin between a pet’s shoulder blades by a trained technician or vet, and no anesthesia is needed. Some people mistakenly believe that chip will track a pet if they become lost. They don’t – and we’ll discuss real trackers in a moment. Instead, think of a microchip as a tiny invisible ID tag that is almost impossible for your pet to lose or for someone else to remove. If a Good Samaritan finds your lost dog, they can stop by most any veterinarian or animal shelter to have them scanned for a chip and start the process of getting your dog safely home. If an animal control officer picks up your dog, or someone finds your dog and tries to keep him as their own pet, sooner or later that chip should get scanned. More and more animal professionals scan pets as part of every routine exam.
Microchips are invaluable, but they are unfortunately prone to human forgetfulness. Pet parents often fail to register the chip of a newly adopted pet or forget to update their address and phone number online when they move. But as more and more pet lovers chip their pets, the number of fantastic happy-ending stories are increasing, including Ritz the cat, who was returned to his pet parents after sixteen long years!
A digital ID is a “smart” tag for your dog’s collar with a QR code that can be scanned using the finder’s smartphone. The code links to your pet’s personal online profile. Not only does it store your pet’s photo, emergency contacts, and vaccination info, if a stranger finds your lost dog, when they scan the code, they are put in touch with an operator who will contact you right away. Some smart tags, like PetHub Solutions, have services that range in cost from free to premium. The benefit of a digital tag is that it not only helps get a lost dog home, it also keeps the pet’s info all in one place where it's immediately available to share with a veterinarian or other member of your pet’s inner circle.
Personal property trackers, like the Tile or AirTag, were developed to help you find misplaced keychains, purses, laptop bags, and other non-furry personal property. But they can also be helpful to keep track of your pet in a pinch. The Tile tag can be detected if it’s within a few hundred feet of your smartphone, using Bluetooth technology. You’ll also get a location message if your Tile-wearing pup wanders within range of a person who has their Tile app open to the public on their smartphone. The AirTag uses Bluetooth and “ultra wideband” for added accuracy. Both tags (plus other brands like the Chipolo) have a ringer, so if your dog has been snoozing behind the couch for an hour, you can find them in their hiding spot by ringing their tag, instead of heading out to search the neighborhood. Because of their limited range and the fact that they are Android (Tile) and iPhone (AirTag) specific, property trackers are helpful, but by no means perfect, for tracking pets.
Here's a tip! Some property trackers have a smooth plastic surface with room enough to write your phone number with permanent marker, so your tiny tech tag can also serve as a standard dog ID tag.
Pet tracker collars and tags could have an entire article of their own! There are many to choose from, and they vary widely in cost, technology, and tracking range. Some use cellular service, GPS, ultra-wideband, Bluetooth technology (or a combination of several) to track a pet who ventures out of your sight.
Because I haven’t tried all of these amazing tech options myself, I’m just listing them rather than recommending one over the other. However, if you decide to purchase a tracker, you’ll want to keep the following things in mind:
While it’s fun to contemplate all the amazing wearable tech that you could choose for your pet, you’ll want to ensure your best friend is safe right this moment with a simple ID tag and a microchip.
STEP ONE! Call your best friend to your side right now for a cuddle or a treat. Is your phone number easy to find, and is the print still clear? If you don’t have a tag or the current tag is worn, grab a Sharpie and add your phone number to your dog’s collar. Then order a shiny new ID tag or embroidered collar online, or you can set a reminder to stop at your local pet store this week.
If you already have a high-tech tracker on your dog, or you’ve added a Tile or AirTag to their collar because you had an extra one on hand, grab that Sharpie and print your phone number right on tag so it serves double duty both as a tracker and an ID tag.
STEP TWO! If your pup is microchipped, jump online to make sure you can find the microchip registry and ensure the chip is registered with your up-to-date contact info. If your pup’s not yet chipped, give your veterinarian or local animal shelter a ring to make a clinic appointment. Then if your dog loses their collar, they can find their way home to you no matter where they roam.
We’re all about making life less-stressful for dog parents. After all, the dooloop dog-poop bag holder was created out of desperation. Angie and Bella would both have become lost pets had I dropped their leash while scooping poop, because they came to me as unsocialized, collar-less fosters. The ladies were unidentifiable until we got them IDs and chips. Managing their leashes was quite literally a matter of life and death. They were terrified of all new people, and as you know, their poop wasn’t going to take care of itself.
We’re here to help you deal with bags of poop. In our opinion, we’ve all got enough to worry about without also juggling dog poo. Let’s do make life easier while we also leave no trace, which is environmentally a big deal.
Nothing ratchets up the stress level like losing track of the pet you love as if they were your second self. Take just a moment now to be sure your dog and cat have their ID ticket home. And if an ID tag, microchip, or pet tracker has brought your pet safely back to you, we’d love to hear your story! Share it with us by email, here.
]]>
In response to a spirited conversation on the Nextdoor app about whether it’s acceptable to drop a bulging, smelly poop bag in another resident’s trash can, The Tampa Bay Times decided to elevate the question well above the court of popular opinion. Balancing the lighthearted absurdity of dog feces with the serious issue of neighborliness, they consulted professional ethicists on whether dog parents have a moral obligation to take a bag of sh*t all the way home instead of slipping it quietly into someone else’s nearby residential trash can – let alone our personal least-favorite, slinging it into bushes.
Who could have guessed, when developing the dooloop, that it’d lead to a deep dive into the moral philosophies about dog poop disposal decisions? Life is odd.
After reading the article, it didn’t take me long to think of other poo-related moral dilemmas. What would you do, about doo? Here are 4 ethical questions about how we dispose of dog poop…and my simple suggestion to resolve (almost) all of them.
The question, is it really wrong to set your properly bagged poop down alongside the trail or sidewalk when you genuinely plan to pick it up again? After all, no one wants to lug warm, smelly poop bag along when your dog drops a deuce only a few seconds into a long walk.
“Yes, it is wrong! Leave no poop behind.” The dooloop answer is a simple fix. For the love of dog, don’t put that shit down.
To wit, when your gift-wrapped nugget of waste sits in random surroundings, you annoy and frustrate the walkers who come behind you. “Is the bag abandoned,” they wonder, “or just in a holding pattern?” I’ve seen passing dogs pee on ‘orphaned’ bags to leave their own scent mark. Do you really want to pick up a peed-on bag? Uber-responsible dog parents are going to feel obligated to pick up what you left behind. And even if they don’t, the enjoyment of their peaceful walk has been tarnished, and you’ve become ‘that person’ in their brain.
Then there’s the very real possibility that you will forget to pick it up again, am I right? Despite good intentions, your bag likely will languish along with the growing number of bags from other well-intentioned but forgetful dog walkers. Sooner or later a park worker or community volunteer will be stuck with the disgusting task of gathering up everyone else’s abandoned, clammy, smelly poo-filled bags.
For dog owners who wield a dooloop, this question isn’t even worth pondering. You simply sling that bag into the dooloop attached to your dog’s leash, you never have to touch it again until you get home.
Long walk? No problem. Moral dilemma avoided with the help of a little dooloop.
This is the question that intrigued the Tampa Bay Times. Some Nextdoor app users felt that the only real unethical decision is failing to bag up dog poop. If the bag and poop make it into a waste can – even if it’s their neighbor’s waste can – they’ve been a good citizen. Others pointed out that a non-poo-producing neighbor shouldn’t have to suffer with the scent of sh*t baking in their sun-heated bin until garbage day. They believed that dog parents are responsible for their poo from the point of doggie discharge, all the way to a public bin or home to their own.
There’s no dilemma to discuss if you are packing a dooloop! You’ll stop noticing that you are even lugging poop once the bag is zipped through the plastic loop. There’s no need to unload early at someone’s private waste can. The only heat you pack is the poop, and no one else gets angry.
Here’s a question even the most responsible dog parents ponder. If your dog does their duty at the edge of the lawn around your rural home, or well off the path in a nature area, is it really so bad if you let it lie? Who’s to see or care?
Environmental ethicists would have a quick answer to this one (at least those who have studied the science of sh*t). Even if you can’t see it, poop piles up, especially along trails frequented by lots of dog-walkers or around the skinny edge of your yard where your dog poops twice a day or more.
Dog poop is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus. Many ecosystems are naturally low-nutrient environments and don't benefit from extra fertilization. Some of the plants that love more nutrient-rich soil are invasive species like honeysuckle, lesser celandine, and garlic mustard. Dog-poop nutrients can help them spread, choking out native plants that insects and animals need to survive. Reducing biodiversity is just one of many reasons dog poop is bad for the environment.
Your dooloop dissolves this dilemma for those walks on a remote nature trail. However, I totally get why you might feel that bagging poop at home just to carry it a few yards to your own garbage can is the waste of a lot of poop bags. In that case, consider composting your pet’s poop. There are lots of easy-to-install options, and you can read about them in my blog post here. You can also use that faithful standby, the shovel or pooper-scooper, every few days. Dump that bigger pile of doo into a reused paper grocery bag, roll it closed, and put it in your outside trash. Or hire a pooper-scooper company. They’ll be happy to do your “dooty.”
Although the dooloop only gets halfsies on this issue, backyard dog poop is a resolvable environmental dilemma.
We’ve all heard the tales of poop being wielded as a weapon for vengeance:
When angry folks want to send the message, “you stink,” sometimes they say it with dog poop.
Unfortunately, the dooloop can’t solve this one, unless (maybe) you present a brand new dooloop as a peace offering to initiate a civil conversation with your neighbor about keeping their dog’s business on their own lawn.
Anyway, reading that Times article made me smile. I hope you’ll read it, too, and see that being neighborly outweighs a bag of poop, any day.
If you don’t have a dooloop, you can streamline your ethical decision-making by purchasing some from our site (or wherever they are sold in stores locally. It’s always good to have an extra for your back-up leash – or as a conversation starter to give to people who still need some convincing when it comes to taking care of their dog’s business.
Keep your dooloop close by and pick up your poo. It’s the right thing to do.
]]>Each Mud Season -- aka “spring” outside of Maine -- brings renewal and regrowth. We have time to reflect on what we’ve learned from the last year and are excited to plan new summer projects. A good spring cleaning and some fun summer planning is just the ticket to rejuvenation!
For many families with dogs, this is literally a sh*tty job. Some of us didn’t do a diligent post-poop ‘recon’ in our yards when it was dark and cold this winter, so we’re left picking up these 'not-mud' pies in spring. April brings more than May flowers!
But don't get totally hung up on the dirty jobs that need doing. Yes, we have to attend to them, but spring is the perfect opportunity to reenergize your soul with a mixture of accomplishment and fun. It's also a great time to renew your commitment as a dog-loving steward of the planet.
Grab your dooloop and let's go!
“Greening up” is a much more enjoyable and optimistic way of looking at spring chores than the drudgery of “cleaning up.” Don’t be bummed about unfinished tasks left over from last year. We’ve all got ‘em. It wouldn’t be spring without new sticks in the yard, gardens to clean up, and home improvement projects to plan.
When you’re out on your daily walk with your pooch, it’s inevitable that you’ll encounter wind-blown trash stuck in the spring mud or under bushes. It’s everywhere.
Cold hands compelled some pet parents to put their full poop bag down while out walking with their dog this winter. They intended to pick it up on the way back home but, well, they forgot.
If you’ve got a dooloop, you can sling those left-behind bags into it along with your dog’s own bag. A dooloop will hold a lot more than one! Even though community poop pick-up isn't your job, you’ll have made it nicer for everyone coming after you, and will get the internal glow of having done a good deed.
If you happen to be bendable enough to rummage under bushes, bring a small trash bag along with you once a month and pick up any trash you encounter on your dog-walk. If there is an area that is just gross with litter, make a clean-up date with other like-minded friends. They say misery loves company, but I find that with company, both misery and rubbish get disposed of quickly.
Take full credit for being a good “doobie” when you pick up your own pup’s waste. The more we learn, the more we know how taking care of “business” really does make a big positive difference to the planet, water, wildlife and even what grows…You might feel like you are just doing what you must, but we know, a lot of people still don’t, and the cumulative effect is significant. Your dooloop poop-bag holder may make carrying poop an easy task, but you’ve still made the choice to be responsible.
By the way, you do have a dooloop, right? If not, you can get yours here, or look at the list of stores in your area that carry them.
Fun fact! David Sedaris is a gatherer or trash in his neighborhood! Apparently, he just finds it relaxing. If more of us had this hobby, there would be a lot less litter in the community. “Trash management,” like being ‘the dog poop lady,’ is a great conversation starter. Everyone has a story about either poop or trash they can bond over.
When snow or mud turns to fresh green grass, it’s absolutely time for a change of schedule. If the happy dogs here in Fort Williams, ME are any indication, our canine companions definitely have a dose of spring fever. All the doggos got an early dinner when we sprang forward at the end of March, too, so there’s a lot for them to be excited about.
Our pups need some special spring attention and fun summer planning, too. Here are three quick tips!
I know I’ve already mentioned adding fun times to your to-do list, but I really, really want to drive this point home. The warm weather adventures you schedule for yourself, your dog, and your friends and family, are a soul-saving shot of optimism. Between winter dark, the ongoing pandemic and world affairs, it’s necessary to take time to recharge, so that you can be the best version of yourself for yourself, and others. It's easy to say and harder to do, but let’s try, together.
Don’t put off planning just because you feel like you have a whole long summer ahead of you. I’d really like you to open your calendar right now to schedule some quests you know would help invigorate you both physically and emotionally. Better yet, if you share your ideas on IG @dooloopdogs, you'll inspire me and others.
Like the yard and neighborhood greening above, it’s all about enjoying the journey. I’ve often said that I can have a grand time going grocery shopping (or anything), with someone who wants to have fun, or have a terrible time at a “gala” if the vibe is wrong.
Pamper yourself with good company and keep a running list of ideas, it’s nice to have dreams to plan for, and they will help breathe spring into the way you approach this season and the following seasons.
So, follow Spring’s lead and green up your life in 2022. I’d love to hear how it goes. Share with us on Facebook and Instagram by tagging your pics or posts with @dooloopdogs!
]]>But the “ick” factor takes a back seat to environmental impact. Mother Nature can't handle all that dog poop, just like she has trouble digesting all the methane from cow farts and burps. Toxic with parasites and bacteria, dog poo creates long-term problems for animals, people, and even ecosystems. Honestly, I had no idea myself about the extensive damage it caused, until relatively recently.
So, let’s talk about some of the dog poop problems that have recently been in the news, why such a small thing is such a big deal – and how we personally can help change things for the better.
Biodiversity refers to all the different kinds of life you find in nature, and how they work together. Who would imagine that dog poop could impact the balance of nature? A study of four nature reserves in Belgium calculated that urine and feces left behind by dogs could create nitrogen and phosphorus levels in nature areas that are so high, they are likely to be damaging plant and wildlife populations. Their analysis found that the resulting overfertilization of the ground near dog-walking paths could reach levels that would actually be illegal on farmland.
While dog walkers often mistakenly think that leaving a little poo behind just makes more soil, scientists point out that many ecosystems are naturally low-nutrient environments and don't benefit from extra fertilization. Some of the plants that love more nutrient-rich soil are invasive species like honeysuckle, lesser celandine, and garlic mustard. (Is that why there’s so much garlic mustard in people’s yards nowadays?) Dog-poop nutrients can help them spread, choking out native plants that insects and animals need to survive.
While a single pup’s poop may seem like a minor bit of brown that dissolves without impact into the ground, it’s the cumulative impact of puppy poop that can really get us in deep sh*t.
Even though dogs poop on the ground, a lot of their waste ends up in the water. Rain and snow wash left-behind dog feces into storm drains, lakes, and streams, where it rots, using up oxygen and adding ammonia. In combination with with warm temperatures, it can even kill fish. The added nutrients in the poop also encourage the growth of weeds and algae, upsetting the biodiversity of streams, ponds, and lakes. It can even contribute to severe algae blooms including cyanobacteria – often called “blue-green algae” – that has been the cause of death of dogs who have taken a drink or a swim in contaminated waters.
And then there are those pesky parasites and pathogens that flourish in a dog’s digestive system, making water unsafe for both animals and people: bacteria like campylobacter and salmonella, and parasites like roundworms, toxoplasma, and giardia. There’s nothing like taking a “refreshing” dip on a hot day and getting sick because of poop-load in the lake, river or pond…eww.
It sounds like a crazy question, but unfortunately, while poop itself doesn't kill, the pathogens it may carry does. Recently, in New Forest, England,18 cows turned out to graze on national park land lost their calves during pregnancy. Tests showed they all carried neospora caninum, a bovine parasite found in dog feces that causes miscarriages in cattle. There is no vaccine to prevent the disease, so prevention involves keeping dogs (and dog poop) away from cattle feed, including pastures where they graze.
Dogs can carry a wide variety of parasites that can infect other animals, and even humans. A 1996 study found that 30% of dogs younger than 6 months deposit roundworms in feces, and that 5% of the human population has been infected with roundworms. Roundworm infection in people can cause inflammation in the eye as the worm migrates through the retina and can even cause blindness. It can also attack the lungs, liver, and central nervous system. Yikes!
When it comes to human infection, because roundworm eggs have to be swallowed to infect their host, kids are at the greatest risk. They love to play in the dirt and sometimes put their soil-covered hands in their mouths. Parents should worm their dogs and cats regularly, and teach kids to keep things out of their mouths and to wash their hands after playing outside or with their pets.
It’s tempting to rationalize leaving dog doo behind by telling ourselves there are millions of wild animals pooping all over the globe. Can a few dogs really matter?
Wild animals wander freely over wide territories, dispersing their poop in random, scattered locations. A community's dogs, on the other hand, are walked every day on the same trails, paths, yards and sidewalks, resulting in a large poo load in a very small area, increasing its impact.
Wild animals also eat the plants and animals from their own home territory, so essentially they recycle what they eat back into the same territory when they poop it out. Dogs bring in a belly full of nutrient-rich commercial dog food from home and dump it in wild areas that can be harmed by overfertilization.
Not all poop is created equal!
I can’t resist a good pun, but the issue is serious enough that some cities are tracking down people who fail to pick up after their pup, using advances in DNA technology. A Spanish woman was surprised by a $570 fine for leaving her dog’s poo behind while she was vacationing in Benalmadena, Spain. How did they find her in her home city of Paterna, over 400 miles away?
ADN Canino, a Spanish company that specializes in collecting and maintaining a database of canine DNA from Spanish municipalities, has been using DNA samples primarily to prevent pet abandonment and abuse. However, their technology is also used to track down pet parents who don’t scoop their dogs’ poop, and this dog mom had her dog’s DNA registered in the database. The original article (in Spanish) is here.
We may as well all get in good practice picking up poo, because the days of anonymously walking away from a pile appear to be fading into the past. A quick swab from a discarded dollop of poo may bring you, the errant dog owner, to justice – and could earn you worldwide media exposure, too!
Serious problems don’t always have simple solutions. This one does. Just pick up your dog’s poop each and every time they stop’n drop a “roll.” By disposing of it safely in the trash, you keep that little bundle of nutrients out of the soil and water. You’ll move parasites safely out of the reach of wildlife, other pets, and people. And we don’t have to look at it, or risk stepping in it, either.
No one likes picking up and carrying poop, with your hand separated from warm, aromatic feces by only a few millimeters of plastic until you find a trash can. Not fun!
The simple answer? The dooloop. This sweet little innovation gets poop out of your hands in mere seconds. With your poo-bag slung safely into the dooloop attached to your dog's leash, you won’t need to clutch that bag again until a trash can comes into view. Each dooloop holds a lot of sh*t. It’s the company joke, but it’s for real. We’ve even been approached by a company that makes poop bags for humans (for camping or when little kid don’t have their ‘timing’ down quite yet). Carrying poop has never been something people want to do.
So, I’m learning, and if you’ve gotten this far, you’re learning, too. If we literally take care of our own sh*t, we can make a meaningful difference in the world. Instead of heaping more crap onto Mother Nature, like (not their fault) methane-farting, burping cows, we can all breathe a little easier, and walk without constantly looking down.
So do your doo-ty for the environment. Let the dooloop hold onto your pup’s poop until you can dispose of it. It's mom invented and made in the USA of recycled plastic. Get your dooloop here or check our website for a list of stores near you!
]]>I know that it’s tempting to leave dog waste behind during cold, snowy weather, hoping that new snow will soon hide those poop-bombs under a pristine blanket of whiteness. Although we know you’d rather keep your hands in your warm coat pockets, it’s especially important to clean up waste during the winter. It can accumulate to alarming levels, especially in community areas where so many pet parents bring their dogs to play. Those brown pup-nuggets are SO easy to scoop out of the fresh snow, but if you wait until they freeze solid or melt into mush, then…. yuck! With the first thaw, melting snow will wash the poop – and the parasites, bacteria, and nutrients it contains – across lawns and into streams and storm drains. The microscopic creepy-crawlies can infect other animals and the nutrients can overload streams to produce algae blooms that smother out aquatic life.
It goes without saying (but I’m saying it anyway) a dooloop will be your bestie in the cold. Keep a couple of empty poop bags slung through your dooloop so they are ready when needed. Pull them halfway through or tie them on to keep them secure. Here’s a pro tip from Bella’s significant other: If your hands are really cold, you can even wait to knot your newly filled poop bag until you get home. Just pull it through tight enough to be secure. I always assumed a knot was required, but...nope!
So, enjoy the beauty of winter while it’s here. Get out and play!
]]>Some dogs love bounding through the deep snow after a blizzard, but even some tall dogs are temperamental about doing their duty when they have to plant their butt in the fluffy stuff to pee. So how can we get those winter-wary dogs to poop in the snow?
Pick up poo as you go. It’s SO tempting to just let the next layer of clean white snow cover up the evidence of last night’s dump. But the poo-bill will come due in a big way after that first spring thaw. Those nice compact turds that would have been so simple to pick up as soon as they popped out of your pup will magically multiply into a thousand misshapen heaps all over your yard, come spring.
In the rainy winters of the Pacific Northwest, it’s tempting to leave poo pick-up until the next sunny day. But let’s face it. You may not see the sun peek through the clouds for weeks! Buck up and pick up daily, and you have to deal with rain-melted poo when the winter sun finally makes an appearance.
Keep your dooloop and a supply of compostable poop bags close at hand even if your dog is only doing their winter business a few feet away from the front door. Come spring, you’ll smell the sweet fresh scent of new grass on the first warm breezes – not a whole winter’s worth of dog doo!
Post your idea or pics on Facebook or Instagram and be sure to tag us @dooloopdogs!
]]>Since ‘tis the season, let’s talk holiday ornaments. What is colorful, lightweight, makes people smile while being able to hold sh*t? Yup, dooloops are all this, and more. Yes, their purpose is to hold bags of poop, but they can hold nice sh*t, too! I use dooloops as ornaments at my trade show booth, and even hung some on our Christmas tree alongside the bougie Christoffel and German glass. The children swooned (just kidding, they actually groaned) but they sure liked the small things in the bags hanging off the dooloops. Mama’s gotta have her amusements. Leaving cookies and milk for Santa? Stuff bags with treats for his reindeer to eat and close them up with a dooloop, so Santa can pick up all that reindeer doo. Why not?
A dooloop is a fantastic, out-of-the-ordinary stocking stuffer, but you can take them to the next level of gift-giving, too.
Here are 9 festive ways you can use dooloops as presents and gift a little laughter to your friends and family at the same time.
Be sure to let them know that their dooloop isn’t just a cute plastic thingamajig that holds bags of poop. It’s silly-easy to use – that is the gift of it. It’s perfect for carrying their pup’s bagged poo, leaving their hands free for shopping bags and holiday gifts this season. Be sure to mention that’s its ecofriendly, too, made in the USA, out of non-toxic, recycled/recyclable BPA-free plastic, with minimal packaging. They can use the ball chain to attach it to their leash or use carabiner or another rugged fastener. It’s not just a helpful little gift for them and their dog – it’s one they’ll use daily and remember you (every time their dog poops)!
If I’ve convinced you that dooloops are the perfect gift for all of the dog moms and dads in your life, you can buy them in bunches or get singles with our super-cute snowflake-decorated tags (click on the “winter tag” options) on thedooloop.com! Don’t take just my word that they make great holiday presents: The dooloop is on lots of online gift lists, including the Daily Mom!
Whatever way you celebrate the season this winter, we wish you a holiday wrapped in the warmth and love of family and friends, and of course the most cherished companion of all, your dog!
]]>How did time fly by so fast?
How will you even get along without them – and how will they get along without each other? You’ve always thought of them as a pair or a pack. How would one be if left alone? Do dogs feel grief the way you do, and if they do, what can you do to help them when that inevitable (but hopefully far-off) day arrives?
Do our dogs love their animal companions?
There are some skeptics who think that dogs can’t really feel or express feelings like sadness or loss. As a society who still uses animals for food, it’s uncomfortable to think about their feelings, so some people would simply prefer not to.
However, as a pet parent, you look into those deep soulful eyes and are welcomed by that expressive wagging tail every morning. You’ve seen your dog act frightened, anxious, happy, afraid, or in pain. You’ve watched your dogs play and snuggle together. In fact, dogs exhibit many of the same signs we ourselves show when we experience the very same emotions. Maybe not the tail-wagging, but definitely the snuggling (and unfortunately – the anxiety)!
The emotional lives of animals is a fascinating subject, and we can be sure tons of scientific research will continue to explore whether or pets love us and one another. My dogs Angie and Bella came to me ‘bonded.' The depth of their attachment was remarkable. Bella was much younger than Angie and could do a lot more, but she steadfastly refused to leave her sister’s side. If given the choice of a ‘treat’, “park” or Angie, she was paws down Angie every time. Bella would never leave her behind. She didn’t really think for herself, she followed Angie’s lead, which is why I called Angie “the brains in the operation”. They came to know and trust me, but they were the main unit.
I’m grateful they had each other. Every living being should be so lucky to have such a relationship. Researchers have discovered that animals who play together experience a significant increase in oxytocin, just as we human experience an increase when we interact positively with other humans and animals. It would appear that animals get joy from one another just as we experience joy with our human and animal friends.
Animals don’t have spoken language to express love and loss, so grief certainly can be hard to attribute to animals if we don’t see obvious outward signs of sadness. But even we humans physically express these emotions in vastly different ways.
How do dogs mourn and what can I do to help them?
Love and grief are highly personal, and both people and pets will cope with loss in their own way. Some people really need to talk, sharing stories and seeking face-to-face help dealing with the loss of someone beloved. Other people are quiet and keep their pain to themselves. But we still we give that quiet friend a call, show up on their doorstep to help with chores, or to go for a walk or take them out to dinner. Just because a friend is quiet, doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering when they lose someone they care about.
You might want to think of your dog in the same way. Your dog might be outwardly wrecked over the loss of their lifelong companion, or they could be silently wondering where their friend has gone.
We took Bella with us to the vet when the time came so she’d know that Angie didn’t just disappear. We are lucky that our vet has a special space where we could all be on the ground together, quiet and calm. We all stayed until Angie was asleep, I’m glad we did.
For her part, I think Angie hung on longer than her pain would have wanted her to, because she knew Bella depended on her. We told Angie that it ‘was okay, we would take care of Bella for her’. The day this happened it was clear that it was ‘the day’, we all did the best we could.
Your own grieving dog’s behavior could change in any number of ways if they have lost a beloved companion:
To help your dog deal with grief, spend extra time with them. Their daily routine has just been smashed – they no longer have their companion to play, eat, sniff around the yard, and stretch out alongside.
If your dog truly seems to be in a funk of depression, don’t let them go too many days without eating or drinking. Talk to your veterinarian, as their may be appetite stimulants, behavior modifying medications, or stress reducing pheromones that can help.
Loss can lead to finding a new voice.
You know what’s amazing? Sometimes the hole that is left by the loss of one pet starts being filled as the remaining dog in the home blossoms in unexpected ways. If your surviving dog always used to let her more headstrong friend lead the way, she could surprisingly grow more adventurous now that she is focused more on herself and on you.
Bella now cocks her head when we speak! I think prior she was happy to hear ‘wah wah wah’ like the teacher on Charlie Brown, because whatever Angie thought, worked for her. Now she’s gotta figure stuff out on her own. One thing she has figured out is the couch. Angie couldn’t get on the couch, and ramps weren’t an option for her. Bella has no such constraints. Personally, I’m super happy for slipcovers, my fair lady is a fur and schmutz monster. Bella also makes a stellar sous chef now. She is laser-focused for any veg that might come her way.
If one of your dogs was a concerned nursemaid or “guiding eye dog” to an older canine companion, he may start to frolic with a unexpectedly puppylike abandon as an only pet. Now that their old routine has been disrupted, your dog may rearrange their single-dog life in a way that allows other parts of their personality to shine through.
As pack animals, dogs focus strongly on one another so it’s no surprise to learn that they adjust their own behavior to create harmony, just as we do with people we love. While the loss of a close companion can bring unsettled sadness, it can also open a window for your dog to find or express a new voice. Suddenly she has the freedom to be just herself, instead of half of a pair.
Should you get your dog a new friend?
While you may be tempted to get another animal companion to head off your dog’s loneliness, especially if they are now an only pet, you may want to hold off on this for just a little while. Your dog may really enjoy some time as an only pet. Give them a little space and time to show you how they feel. We are still figuring out if Bella needs a “pet." She’s super happy to play with her buddies across the street and she is breed tolerant, a friend to all – both dogs and cats. The yard chippies don’t even run from her.
Immediately adding a brand-new pet could compound the stress of losing their buddy and having their long-time routine turned on its head. If your dog seems lost and alone, visit a dog-owning friend, the dog park, or even consider fostering another dog for a shelter or rescue. If your pup shows you that they do really get joy from the companionship of other dogs, a new canine in the home may truly be the prescription for a new and joyful life.
Sharing your own grief over the loss of your pet
You have your own grief to work though, too, right? Even when you’re prepared for the loss of a pet, the depth of your sorrow can really catch you by surprise.
Not everyone around you will understand what you are going through when you lose a pet, and they really may not get your worry over whether the other pets in your home are grieving, too. You will probably need to honestly explain to your supervisor or co-workers why you are feeling so down, but when it comes to really spilling your feelings or looking for love and support, find pet-owning friends or coworkers who you know have a strong bond with their own dogs. They’ll understand how you feel and they are already comfortable about talking about their love for animals.
Don’t spend your energy worrying about people who say, “It’s just a pet.” Other pet-parents can help support you with their understanding. Your love is real, It’s one relationship that is always full of gratitude. No wonder we love our pets!
If you find that you really need more opportunities to talk out your feelings with someone who knows what you are going through, it’s likely that there’s a pet loss support group near you. It may be run through a veterinarian’s office, pet hospice, animal shelter, veterinary school, or professional therapist’s office. Your veterinarian may know if there are groups nearby, or you can just search for “pet loss support near me” in an online search. There are also online and phone support lines with trained, pet-loving people available to talk:
Losing a fur-friend doesn’t mean losing what they gave you.
Without my sweet Angie as my muse, there may have never been a dooloop . I can say without a doubt, that without both Angie and Bella, making me do a ‘rhymic gymnastics routine on every walk, I wouldn’t have even thought to invent a dooloop and start this grand dog poo adventure. Either lady would have been a handful, don’t get me wrong, but having them both meant something needed to be created to juggle the poo they created. They came to me extremely frightened, connected and sweet. To us, this meant they deserved the softest second act we could provide. But honestly, walking the dog shouldn’t be a crying situation, which is nearly was, every time. The dooloop was a tool for sanity, not a vanity – although NOT holding onto bags of poop is an upgrade in every case.
What has your love for your dog inspired you to do?
Cherish those memories! I look forward to making even more with my Bella. Do you want to see her sweet, wrinkled face? Follow our journey together on Facebook.
]]>For Halloween, folks will either be passing out candy at home or be out walking with their munchkins, helping to juggle their bags of candy. If you’re trick-or-treating with your dog in tow, you’ll end up being one hand short if your pup stops to squat, so having a dooloop will be especially handy. You’ll want to pick up after your pup to be sure you don’t leave any ‘tricks’ on the path for the neighborhood goblins, ghosts and their chaperones! But you also don’t want to mistake one treat bag for the other when your lugging both -- just sayin’!
Alas, there are many dogs who take a pass on the door-to-door festivities. Many are justifiably alarmed seeing oddly clad strangers, so they’ll prefer to stay safe at home.
When someone knocks on your door, does your dog wiggle and wag, duck and run, or growl and freak? If your dog goes bonkers at the sound of a doorbell or knock, here are 7 sure ways to make Halloween (or any bustling holiday) a lot less alarming.
If you or your children will be wearing costumes at Halloween, or if you’ve purchased ghoulish motion-activated decorations to startle trick-or-treaters who arrive on your porch, gently introduce your dog to them well before the big night. Quietly let your dog sniff the costumes, especially if they are new out of the bag, and get used to the sight, sound, and smell of you or your kids in your scary garb. Give your children treats to reward their pup as they show off their Halloween finery.
Be sure your kids know that while it’s fun to scare one another at Halloween, jumping out to scare their furry buddy is not a good trick at all.
From hotdogs to honeybees, there are dog costumes of every sort available to buy. But should every dog wear one? Only your dog can tell you. My Bella is costume-adverse: she freezes. She is a rescue dog and some things just make her nervous, but that's okay. She models if she’s asleep…we call it passive modeling.
If you’re set on having your dog join in the festivities with holiday-themed garb, you’ll want to start sloooow. Use baby steps when introducing your dog to any type of clothing – even warm snuggly winter wear or booties to make your dog more comfortable in frigid weather. Stock up on treats so your dog will associate yummy goodness with their new clothes.
Choose a costume that isn’t too restrictive, especially if it is the first time your dog has experienced clothing. Let your dog sniff the costume, and share some treats to create a positive association. You’ll want to proceed in gentle steps over a few days, draping the costume or the winter coat over your pup, fastening it on and taking it off, and gradually leaving it on for a few minutes at a time. Treat your dog to snacks, play, or a meal so their costume sessions include activities they love.
Is your dog twitchy and uncomfortable wearing their costume, even if they seem to tolerate it? You might want to ask yourself if it’s really worth making your pup unhappy. A holiday-themed collar will spark the spirit of any special day, from Halloween, to Christmas, to Hanukkah, or even Valentines Day. Your dog won’t even notice that they are decked out in festive bling if they are sporting a brighter version of their everyday wear.
Wrapped candy is almost as irresistible to pets as it is to kids. It smells neat, tastes great, and has that curious crinkling sound. A bored dog who stumbles across a Halloween bag full of candy on the floor in a kid’s room can’t be blamed for diving in for an explore-and-destroy mission. If your dog is a counter surfer or cabinet sniffer, they are already experienced at hunting for fun stuff to taste-test!
You’ve probably heard it said time and time again, but it’s an important message: Candy can be downright toxic to your pup. Even a small amount of the sugar substitute xylitol (sometimes called “birch sugar”) can cause low blood sugar, liver failure, seizures and even death. Chocolate is poisonous to dogs due to its theobromine content. How chocolate impacts your own dog’s health will depend on how much and what type of chocolate they eat and how much your dog weighs. Dark, bitter chocolate has more theobromine than sweet chocolate.
If you discover your dog has been grazing in a candy bag or bowl, note how much and what type is missing, and give your veterinarian or a pet poison control line a precautionary call – don’t wait until your dog shows signs of illness.
Store your kid’s candy in a high secure cupboard. And of course, after you’ve sorted their candy, hide your own favorites in an even more secure location. It’s Tootsie Rolls for this dog mom (only the original flavor, please) and Milk Duds.
Be sure to warn children that candy is really, really dangerous for pets. Kids hear all the time that “candy isn’t healthy,” but they might not realize that for their pets it can be deadly – a far more dangerous threat than simple tooth decay.
Take your dog for a long walk or spend some time in the yard playing chase and fetch to burn off nervous energy. Be sure your dog has a chance to take a sufficient bathroom break before the festivities begin. Dogs who are tired and relaxed are more likely to nap through visitor hours once the novelty has worn off.
Bring outside dogs inside your home and lock your pet door if you have one. It’s unfair to subject a fenced, kenneled or tethered dog to a night-long parade of laughing, jostling strangers, and there is always the unfortunate chance that your dog could bear the brunt of a Halloween “trick.”
Does your dog have a favorite room that can be closed off from the hustle and bustle of holidays? Set up a bed or crate well before the big day, provide a treat-filled toy like a Kong, and get your pup used to spending time in the room with the door open. Then close it for a few minutes at a time until your dog is comfortable being left alone. Check out these step-by-step instructions to get your dog used to staying in a room of their own.
Once your dog sees being closed in their safe room as a treat rather than confinement, you’ll have a safe place to stow your pet any time visitors, maintenance, or movers come to call. If holiday activities overstimulate or frighten your dog, a time out in their safe room will be their welcome retreat.
Does your dog love to greet the sound of the doorbell with an enthusiastic bark, slide and bounce? Tape over the doorbell and keep a sharp ear out for those tell-tale giggles of trick-or-treaters so you can greet the children before they knock. Even if your dog is closed in their safe room, you’ll decrease their spikes of excitement and stress by reducing the triggers that would usually send them zooming to the door.
If Halloween makes both you and your dog grumpy, a strategically placed sign to let people know that your dog thinks Halloween is a trick rather than a treat and that your candy is next door should help. Stock your Halloween-loving neighbors up with extra bags of candy. You’ll make them look extra-generous doling out doubles, and you and your pup will enjoy peace, quiet, and quality time together.
If you like to celebrate and have made other arrangements so munchkins don’t come knocking, why not have a smaller, quieter, costume-free Halloween gathering with people your dog knows and loves? If you want to further treat your dog-loving friends and family members, gift them a dooloop dog-poop bag holder. We’ve got Halloween colors of bone white, ghoulish green and boo-black (actually matcha and charcoal).
With a little advance planning, we hope you and your furry best friends have a safe, healthy, and treat-filled howliday!
Tossing poop off into the tall grass at the edge of your lawn with a shovel is no good either. Let’s face it -- sh*t still stinks, even if it’s out of sight. More importantly, other pets, wildlife or even kids can get infected by parasites and pathogens shed in poop. All the extra nitrogen in dog waste can run off and harm local waterways, too.
You may have wondered about greener alternatives. Could your dog’s poop find a final resting spot in your compost bin?
How much does one dog actually poop?
How much poop are we talking about? Believe it or not, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has data on this canine poo-factor. They estimate that that the typical dog excretes three quarters of a pound of poo per day. That’s 274 pounds per year – quite a bit of poop! (Curious? Humans poop about 320 pounds yearly). Of course, the real volume will differ between tiny Pomeranians and grand Great Danes.
What is composting?
Composting is the natural process of breaking down organic matter into nutrient-rich humus and then reusing it in agriculture or landscaping. Compost helps to add nutrients to depleted soils. A compost pile is a fascinating ecosystem. All sorts of organisms get into the act of decomposition.
As microorganisms break down the organic material in a compost pile, they use oxygen and release heat, so compost piles often get quite hot.
If I do compost, will it be safe to use the composted dog poop in my vegetable garden?
In general, no – you’ll want to find other uses for your com-“poost.”
Dogs and cats can be infected with parasites like roundworm, hookworm, tapeworm and more that are shed in feces. Bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and giardia can also be found in a dog’s stool. Some of these are killed by the heat of composting, so composting is a much better alternative to tossing dog waste off into the grass. But you can’t really be sure your own small backyard compost pile or bin will reach the 140-145 degrees F needed to kill off all the unhealthy nasties throughout the entire pile. There still could be some lingering in your finished compost.
An electric composter can give your backyard composting parasite and pathogen-killing superpowers if you are willing to invest some green in your greening. This beyondGREEN all electric pet waste composter not only boosts the temperature to 160 degrees F, it does all the mixing and aerating for you as well, producing compost in a much shorter time.
Generally, it’s best to keep poo-generated compost away from your food-producing plants and any place where other people or animals may work or play in the soil. It makes a great additive when you are planting trees or shrubs and other landscaping projects.
What will I need to compost my dog’s poop in my own yard?
Not much! If you have the space, composting is pretty simple. You’ll need:
The 1-2-3 (and 4) of composting
Organic waste can turn into compost in as quickly as 6 weeks. It can take quite a bit longer if your bin is a “toss it and forget it” effort.
If you really want to geek out on the subject – especially if your family has a pack of pooches and lots of poo – the USDA took a deep look composting dog waste to protect the fragile ecosystem in Alaska, where sled dogs are still vital to some communities.
Will my city compost my dog’s poop for me?
If you’re lucky, you may live in a municipality that allows residents to drop off organic material for composting, instead of sending everything to a landfill. They may even accept dog waste in certified compostable bags or wrapped in paper toweling. Industrial composting systems get very hot and are better able to break down biodegradable poop bags and kill pathogens that backyard compost bins can’t handle. Give your solid waste disposal office a call or check their website to see if they’ll take your dog’s poo off your hands, bagged or unbagged.
What’s the difference between a digester and a composter?
A pet waste digester is basically a tiny septic tank buried in a well-drained area of your lawn, away from gardens or streams. Bacteria, enzymes and microorganisms break down the waste, which is slowly dispersed below ground as a liquid. This prevents nitrogen and pathogens from being rapidly washed off the surface of the ground into nearby streams or storm drains.
Some digesters can handle up to 13 pounds (6 kilograms) of waste a week and work well for years before they fill up. A removeable lid allows you to easily tip in your dog’s daily poo and keep an eye on the waste level. It’s a good idea to add additional bacteria with a commercial septic accelerator. You may also need to add warm water now and then. Properly installed digesters even keep chugging along in winter, although decomposition will slow down because the microorganisms are less efficient when the temperature is low.
Ready-to-install pet waste digesters are an affordable disposal option, with a price tag that’s usually well under $100. You can also make a DIY digester yourself from a buried garbage can.
If you don’t mind the up-front effort of digging a suitable hole for a digester, and you don’t want to maintain a compost bin, a digester may be your favored choice for poop disposal.
That’s the poop on compost!
Remember to be just as responsible about dog-doo disposal when you are away from home. Pack it up and avoid the “ick” factor by slinging it into your handy dooloop for the trip to the nearest waste receptacle. Trash can, compost bin, or digester? It’s up to you.
It’s the right thing to -- doo.
]]>
Millions of adventuring feet and paws travel along wilderness trails and campsites every year. All those dancing paws, waving tails and booted feet make for a lot of happy feels, but they also have a big, BIG impact on the ecosystems they pass through. Here at the dooloop, we’d like to help. We don’t make the best gorp, but we do make it easier to take care of what comes after.
The seven simple rules of outdoor ethics called “Leave No Trace” help you explore wild areas in the least damaging way possible. Nature-loving humans are pretty good about following them, but we tend to play fast and loose with rules when it comes to our furry hiking companions.
Yup, their paws as softer on the ground than our boots, and the only waste they leave behind is a bit of poo, but think of the impact of MILLIONS of happily hiking doggos. That is a lot of poop!
How do you follow Leave No Trace principles with your dog? And what about that most unpleasant dilemma: what do to do with your dog’s stinky poo while backpacking?
Leave No Trace helps you prepare more conscientiously when you are headed into natural areas.
The 7 Leave No Trace Principles
When dogs romp unleashed on a hike, they trample delicate plants, flatten the ground, disturb wildlife, and alarm other visitors and dogs. By keeping your hiking companion safely leashed with you on the designated trail, you’ll be honoring Number 2, 6 and 7 of the principles all in one step!
Number 3 is to dispose of waste properly. This seems simple enough if you plan ahead (Principle 1!) with reusable food containers and a small packable waste bag.
However, it does get a bit messier when we factor in the poo problem. Perhaps they should have assigned the waste principle “Number 2” to boost poop to the top of our minds!
Taking a sh*t is perfectly natural, but unfortunately your dog’s poop (and ours) has a dirty little secret. It’s not just gross for others to look at and disgusting to accidentally step in, it carries bacteria and parasites that can be spread to other animals. It’s also full of nitrogen and phosphorous that encourage algae growth in waterways and can deplete oxygen that aquatic life need to survive.
Bears do indeed sh*t in the woods (along with countless other wild creatures) but the forest residents are consuming plants and animals from their own ecosystem and promptly return them to the same place. They even create new plants by passing undigested seeds.
Adding the poop-load of countless human and canine visitors throws that balance way off.
All poop, whether it’s from your bum or your dog’s, should be carried out or buried in a cathole 6-8” deep to decompose. If you’re in a place where burying is a good option, a small poop trowel is a handy item to add to your backpacking kit.
You should ideally use compostable dog-poop bags to carry poop out, but even some of those take a long time to break down in the ground. If you’re going to bury the dog poop, dig a 6-8” hole right near the poop’s landing zone. Just nudge that unbagged poop right in and cover it up completely.
All poops, human or canine, need to be buried at least 200 feet from any water source to protect the drinking supply. If your dog pops a squat near a lake or stream, bag it.
In some ecosystems, like the dry, arid desert, even buried poop won’t decompose. Land managers in some natural areas may require that ALL poop be packed out – including your own!
If burying dog poop in a “cathole” seems oddly insulting to cats, imagine what dogs would think if they learned the bags people poop in to carry their own waste are called “wag bags!”
If handling poop is the worst part of your hiking experience, the best way to manage is to not to poop on the trail at all. Backed up backpacking (kidding)!
Chances are, you’re pretty familiar with your dog’s bathroom habits. If not, start watching them a little closer to learn. How long after a meal your pup likes to poo? Does your dog prefer certain surfaces, like short or tall grass? Some pooches even like pavement!
Once you’re in the know, you can serve breakfast a bit earlier so your dog’s digestion has time to do its thing. Make sure your dog has access to their favorite poop spot and plenty of time to go before you jump in the car.
While you are coaxing your dog to poo and run, think about your own morning constitutional. We assume you would anticipate that a bran muffin and coffee may not be the best move before you hop on the trail.
If you can, leave that first poop of the day at home, and there will be one less in the wild.
More and more parks are “carry-in, carry-out,” but there is sometimes a trash can at the parking area of a nature area. Let your dog take a few moments to sniff around before you begin your hike. Even when the dog parents who arrived before you picked up their own dog’s pre-hike dump, the lingering scent proclaims “I WAS HERE!” That odiferous message can stimulate your dog to lay down a pungent “ME TOO” message of their own.
Bag it up, toss it in the trash, and you will have one less poop to deal with that day – or maybe no poop at all!
Dogs are happy to please you if they know what you want. Teach your dog to associate taking a squat with a command, praise, and treats, and it will be easier to coax them to poop before a trip, or when you’re in areas with waste cans. Here’s how the AKC suggests you start.
Don’t expect your dog to always poo on command as reliably as they sit or shake paws, however. They might simply not need to go when you want them to or may be too anxious or distracted in a new place.
Tempted to tuck your dog’s full poo-bag along the trail to pick up on your way back so you don’t have to carry it?
Just. Don’t. Nobody thinks that’s okay. Literally no one. Ick.
How many times have you expected to return the same way on a hike, only to be tempted by a side trail or loop? The best part of hiking is not knowing what’s around the next bend.
Other dog parents are likely to follow your example and abandoned their poo, too. Poo-bags dotting a trail are a truly gross sight for other outdoor-loving hikers. Their own dogs will come to a screeching halt as they sniff each and every bag. All those bags will sit there until some other nature lover or park staff picks up the now-damp, miserable mess.
Yup, there are times when you’ll need to pick up and haul some poop on your hike. Carrying a soft, warm, bagged lump in your pocket or pack isn’t pleasant and accidental piercings or explosions have occurred. We’ve got stories!
But that’s old-school hiking. You’ve got a dooloop (if you don’t, then get one here). You can sling that bag of doo right onto the dooloop, clipped to your leash or backpack until you can safely toss it in the trash. It holds multiple bags, and if you pull it through far enough, you can even reuse a bag. Just don’t knot it (or just knot it loosely). One dooloop holds a lot of sh*t.
The dooloop isn’t just another piece of imported plastic. Your new dooloop will arrive with zero-waste packaging, assembled by hand, and it’s made in Maine USA, by a woman owned company, from BPA-free, non-toxic plastic that promises to never become micro-plastic. We’re doing our best to reduce our pawprint on the earth, too.
Honestly, as you and your dog enjoy all the new sights and sounds around each turn of the trail, you’ll completely forget that you’re hauling poop along with you on your dooloop. It’s out of hand, out of pack, out of mind and you know that you’re truly leaving no trace.
The beauty and sense of discovery you experience on each new trail is what inspires you to grab your dog, leave your home behind, and breathe nature in. By making Leave No Trace your own personal guide, you will ensure that this same beauty continues in your wake for the next hiker – and dog – to enjoy.
LOVE YOUR WALK!
]]>Since I started Houndswag LLC and began chatting everywhere about the dooloop, I’ve heard countless stories from pet parents about the dogs who share their homes and hearts. It’s been fantastic to learn about all of the family and working dogs who lend us their strength and love – helping us live safer, fuller and healthier lives.
Because July is Disability Pride Month, I want to give an especially loud shout-out to assistance dogs. They are doing some really remarkable sh*t!
It seems like every week we’re watching in real time as hounds search for victims of disaster. Whether it’s a collapsed building or an earthquake -- they are there. They comb through the woods for lost children. They sniff out COVID and cancer. They are the eyes, ears and hands for humans with disabilities. Their extra-keen senses are alert to seizures and panic attacks even before they strike the humans they protect. It’s their superpower!
Here are 6 ways these incredible assistance dogs are on the job, helping people.
1. Service dogs: Partners in life
Some dogs are literally a lifeline for their human companions. They guide the blind, pull wheelchairs, act as ears for the deaf, provide emotional support for people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sniff out dangerous allergens – there is too much to list! The Americans with Disabilities Act describes service dogs as animals who are specifically trained to assist a person with a disability. Because their skills are absolutely essential, they can legally follow (or lead) their human partner anywhere and can’t be turned away.
If you see a dog hard at work in their service vest, we can’t blame you for wanting to love on them. But just enjoy the glow of admiration and watch them from a distance -- or ask their person for permission before you walk up. Don’t be offended if you are asked not to disturb a service dog’s focus. These dogs are on the clock. It’s cool.
2. Therapy dogs have love to share
The next time a dog walks into a room, just look around. You’ll see people stop and smile. That instant emotional connection helps therapy dogs bring calm and comfort to folks who need it. Some dogs have full-time jobs at schools, nursing homes, and medical offices, helping anyone who needs a moment of loving calm. Others are specifically called in to comfort people during a public tragedy. Some therapy dogs are the family pets of dedicated volunteers who take them anywhere patient or residents can benefit from a few moments of affection and love.
Therapy dogs are right there on the job, leaning up against people who need someone to hold, accepting pets from a person who need a quiet moment of distraction, and even allowing kids to use their fur to wipe away tears.
Our favorite dentist put a pooch on laps before saying “open wide!” Just saying…it was the dog we showed up for, not the dental work!
Some colleges bring in puppies so students can de-stress during finals week. (Maybe make finals week less stressful? But I digress….)
3. Emotional support dogs have a steady paw and a loving heart
Sometimes even well-meant human company just doesn’t cut it when we’re sad. The nonjudgmental love of a dog may be just what the doctor ordered for a lonely or stressed child or adult.
Technically, an Emotional Support Animal (ESA) is a personal pet whose presence has been prescribed by a licensed therapist. These dogs rock LOVE and help stabilize the health of people who suffer from emotional or mental disabilities simply by being a trusted companion. Emotional support animals don’t have the legal right to accompany their human partner everywhere, but under the Fair Housing Act, landlords have to provide reasonable accommodations for a tenant with an emotional support pet.
Because love comes pretty much naturally to dogs, an emotional support dog doesn’t have to have specific task training. Obedience training helps a lot, though. A well-behaved dog is more likely to be voluntarily welcomed by family and friends, or in public spaces.
In fact, Switzerland used to require a dog training course of every dog parent! While it’s no longer mandatory, it is still highly recommended. In Switzerland you’ll see companion dogs on public transportation, public spaces, and even in restaurants, close at their best human’s side. With dogs welcome nearly everywhere, no one has ever said that Switzerland’s not immaculate!
4. Detection dogs sniff out both delicacies and danger.
Talk about a superpower! These super-sniffers work side-by-side with the police, military, rescue organizations and even businesses. From bombs to bedbugs, detection dogs are trained to sniff out illegal drugs, people trapped under rubble, underwater cadavers, wildlife, lost pets, paper money, contraband, pipeline leaks, and more. At airport screenings, the Labrador retrievers and beagles (among other breeds) make us smile with their soft eyes and ears, but their keen noses add extra safety and speed in the security line.
One handsome hound called me out for a contraband apple after an overseas flight. Pretty embarrassing -- but impressive, all the same!
Some detection dogs smell out delicacies rather than danger. The rare truffle, a delicious and valuable underground fungus, is snuffled out by trained dogs. Check out this cool video about the North American Truffle Dog Championship. Both family pets and specialty breeds can learn to sniff their way to truffle-hunting success.
5. Police and military dogs have their paws on the front line
Tall-and-proud German Shepherds and Malinois come to mind, although all sorts of stalwart dogs find themselves in the law enforcement profession. Police and military dogs are trained specifically to assist law-enforcement and military personnel in the line of duty. In addition to protecting their handlers, some of these dogs have an incredibly wide range of skills, including detection and search and rescue.
Law enforcement K-9’s help inspire kids to talk to police handlers at school demonstrations and community special events. Dogs are dogs -- even when they wear a badge.
6. Search-and-rescue dogs harness hope
When disaster strikes, search dogs are there to point the way for human rescuers. Did you know that a dog’s sense of smell is over 10,000 times as acute as ours? They may be able to even sniff out the passage of time by following a scent from weaker (older) to stronger (newer). When we see a search and rescue dog on the scene, we know that every possible step is being taken.
It takes more than a great nose and fantastic hearing for a dog to be trusted in rescue situations. It can take up to 2 ½ years to train an expert search and rescue (SAR) team. The search dog and handler need an incredibly understanding bond so they can shut out distractions in stressful and sometimes life-threatening situations.
Amazingly, most SAR teams are volunteers, giving up thousands of hours to training and rescue calls, and even financing the cost of training, equipment, and travel themselves. For them, it’s not a job, it’s a passion.
Could my family dog learn to be an assistance animal?
Our dogs are our own personal heroes, but if you have noticed that your dog has extraordinary drive and smarts or has an extra-gentle personality, you may have wondered you could help your community together as a search-and-rescue or pet therapy team.
If you are dreaming of big things for you and your dog, introductory obedience classes are a great first step. A local Canine Good Citizen (CGC) training class can help you discover how comfortable you and your dog are around strangers and crowds.
What will your dog learn as a CGC? Check it out!
It’s not hard to find professional associations to give you the specialized training and guidance you’ll need:
Inspired? You’ll find unbelievable stories about the heroes at both ends of the leash at the American Humane Hero Dog Awards.
There is something canine heroes can’t do. It has to do with poo.
Dogs may have keen noses and huge hearts -- but they don’t have thumbs. There’s just no way for them to deal with their own daily poo or two.
The dooloop makes it easy for us to manage this unglamorous service for them. Poo pick-up is a gotta-do task. Dog waste contaminates waterways. It also passes parasites from one pup to another, or to wildlife, and it’s just plain unacceptable to leave it for neighbors or service employees to pick up.
No one wants to lug a bag of sh*t around in their hand or pocket until they find a waste can. With the dooloop clipped to your dog’s leash, you don’t have to. Just knot the bag, sling it through the dooloop, and enjoy your walk.
FWIW, I once watched a dog pee-mark a full poo-bag that someone had dropped on the ground to pick up later. I thought, “That’s karma baby! Keep that sh*t with you!”
Consider the dooloop your own tiny superpower. It may not seem heroic, but it is! Lessen your dog’s pawprint on the earth with a cleaner environment for all and (bonus points) support an ethically based, woman-created small business.
We live and die together on this small, gorgeous planet, so let’s aspire to care about one another and leave no trace. Especially for small sh*t like this.
Spread peace, not poo.
If you’ve got story to share about a heroic or super-caring dog, you’ll light up my day by sharing it with us. You’ll find the dooloop on Facebook and Pinterest @dooloopdogs!
]]>
1. Grounds and Hounds Coffee. Let’s start with morning. Does your dog dad begin the day with a great cup of joe and a walk with his dog? Nothing makes that first mug of coffee taste better than knowing it is sustainably sourced and supports animal rescue. Whole beans, ground coffee or pods are all available as a single purchase or a subscription from Grounds and Hounds. Plus, there’s tons of other cool canine swag to browse through including an “Escape With Your Sidekick” travel mug that would be easy to carry in one hand while he manages his dog’s leash with the other.
2. Our dooloop is a morning must-have, so the dog dad on your gift list has a free hand to enjoy that coffee on his sunrise dog walk. You can be sure he doesn’t want to juggle a bag of doo on what’s meant to be a relaxing start to his day. Gift your guy an eco-friendly, Dog Dad Approved dooloop poo-bag holder to clip to his dog’s leash and you’ll literally take a load off his hands. (There’s got to be at least one pun in an article about dads, right?)
3. A fun 4-pack of Dog Brew by Busch. This gift idea for beer aficionados has humor, health, and a mission all packed in the can. Busch’s Dog Brew is a nutritious non-alcoholic bone broth – no tipsy pups, here! Busch recently launched a nationwide search for a spokesdog. Ethan, a rescue dog adopted from the Kentucky Humane Society, scored the position, with a 20K salary and – no joke – healthcare, too (pet insurance)! Dog Brew gets great reviews from both canine tasters and their dog dads.
4. A brew for the dogfather, too. If he prefers his beer in a pint glass, there are dog-friendly craft breweries all across the country that you can enjoy visiting together. Find one near you right here. If your dog guy is eco-minded and you are in New England, take a relaxing drive to the Maine Beer Company, where they welcome canines visitors and also give 1% to planet and wildlife conservation funds.
5. Go simple and have his dog send a card. We all know that man who really means it when he says “no gifts.” Have his dog send him a card to mark the special day, instead. There’s an entire library of creative Father’s Day and birthday cards from the dog on etsy.com. They are worth browsing even if you just want to smile over some pooch-related silliness.
6. SewFetch Heavy Duty Dog Collar Here at the dooloop, we can’t help but love other Maine-made dog products, especially one as rugged at the SewFetch Heavy Duty Dog Collar. They come in tons of unique designs, so you’re certain to find one that fits your dog guy’s personality as well as his dog. For non-Mainers, SewFetch products are available online on etsy.com.
7. Matching Tshirts. Do you know a dog dad who absolutely won’t go anywhere without his four-footed wingman? These matching shirts from RaisetheWoof Boutique proudly declare “If My Dog Can’t Go, I’m Not Coming” with a matching declaration shirt for his dog. Be sure to personalize the set for men before you check out, or you may end giving this gift to a dog mom instead.
8. Cliffhound makes tough and tuggable toys, leashes, and collars out of retired climbing rope – perfect for the outdoorsy dog dad who is into recycling and the environment. Cliffhound gives a new life and purpose to climbing gear that might otherwise be discarded, by transforming it into tough, colorful dog products. They also do custom orders!
9. WestPaw has also taken recycling to a whole new level with toys that are both tough and cool looking. They’ve created a new line of sturdy Seaflex dog toys and other products made from made from 12% reclaimed ocean-bound plastic and 88% zero-waste Zogoflex. If you know a man-and-dog duo who regularly adventure together, this no-clang heavy duty bowl would be a great gift for him to keep stowed in the car.
10. How about a custom dog portrait that’s totally unique? A handsome etching of his canine best friend from Greyboy Pet Prints is something far more than a pic or a painting. Greyboy creates custom etchings through a printmaking process involving sunshine, metal, ink and paper. If you’d like to honor the passing of a beloved dog, they can even add ashes, pawprint or fur for a very special memorial keepsake.
And a bonus FREE gift idea…
The Red Cross Pet First Aid app is a perfect free gift – especially from his kids, if they are too small to pick out a gift on their own. No dog dad will object if you put step-by-step emergency veterinary advice and everyday pet care in the palm of his hand. Honestly, this simple-to-use app is a great resource for every pet lover, so point your dog-loving friends and family to the URL to get it downloaded.
Add joy and banish stress from gift-giving. For those men who count a canine as their best friend, think “Dog Dad” and you’ll never lack for gift ideas.
]]>Life can certainly toss some unpleasant stuff our way. From a car that won’t start before an important meeting to a coworker who figuratively tossing you under the bus, one thing is certain – unhappy situations are sure to crop up now and then.
As you understandably fume about something that happened hours, days or even weeks earlier, thankfully your beloved dog is bouncing nearby, snuffling happily through the grass or stopping suddenly on a walk to look up as if to say “Isn’t this grand?” If only dogs could tell us how they stay in that happy zone!
While we can’t expect dogs to be a miracle cure for all of the heavy deep and real problems that happen to us, their carefree antics certainly do inspire us to see the joyful side of life.
Here are 7 ways they do just that:
1. Dogs don’t need to win.
Being told to “forgive and forget” isn’t something that comes naturally to overthinking humans. Wouldn’t that mean that mean that badness wins? Although we know we’d be much happier if we could just put our grievances behind us, we are competitive beings who crave closure. Even when it won’t change the outcome of an accident or mistake, if the person at fault doesn’t apologize, we can sometimes hang onto resentment for weeks.
When your dog’s dinner is late, he wags his tail when you finally serve him. When one dog gets in a spat with another, life begins anew once the offending canine is out of sight and mind. Agility dogs who celebrate a win are leaping with joy because their guardian is proud of them, not because they have bested the other dogs. Your two dogs certainly may compete for your attention…but at least that’s propelled by affection.
The next time you find yourself angrily stewing when a dangerous driver cuts you off, lighten your thoughts by imagining what your dog might choose: retribution, or a treat? A tall iced coffee as a reward for your restraint is far more satisfying than tailgating the offender all the way home. Congratulate yourself on your doglike fortitude and let some of that competitive sh*t go.
2. Dogs are grateful.
Do you keep a gratitude journal to remind you of that day’s bright moments? Dogs embody gratitude from nose to tail. When you provide your dog with the necessities of life – food, water, shelter, exercise and attention -- they treat you as if you’ve given them an incredibly special gift instead of just the basics they deserve. As you feed, brush, hug, snuggle, and walk with your dog, focus on the gratitude they shine up at you. Their enthusiasm may make it easier for you to notice the many positive glimmers in your day and help you brush off the negative crap.
3. Dogs look forward, not back.
Dogs go into bounce mode when they see their leash, anticipating that upcoming walk. New experiences send them over the moon with happiness. You’ll find a lot of adoptable shelter dogs with their paws up on their kennel door, looking forward to going home with one of those visitors walking by. A dog who is very poorly treated certainly has good reason to snarl at their persecutor (dogs aren’t pushovers, after all), but dogs who are healthy, well-fed and loved would rather look forward toward future fun than back at yesterday’s grievances.
Looking constantly forward is a little harder for our big human brain. We spend a lot of time replaying past events that we can’t really change, instead of anticipating the opportunities of a new day.
We invite dogs into our lives precisely because we love their forward-looking enthusiasm. When you get bogged down worrying about what happened last week, think about what makes your dog happy. A new adventure? A tasty meal? Learning something new? What can you do to help create a fun and forward-looking life? “Ask” your dog!
4. Dogs actually enjoy getting rid of unwanted sh*t. Dogs get GREAT satisfaction nosing an unwanted treat under a rug or burying it deep in the dirt. They may even pee on it for good measure, to be sure no one else can enjoy it. In fact, dogs who hoard their uneaten treats instead of getting rid of them are often plagued by anxiety as they defend their possessions from other curious pets (here’s some help if your dog is a resource guarder). If your own life is full of clutter or mementos that bring you twinges of guilt or sadness instead of comfort, maybe it’s time to “bury” them in the attic until you are ready to dig them up again, or just go ahead and dispose of them completely. Make like a dog and free yourself of stuff that drags you down.
5. A happy tired dog doesn’t dwell on unhappy stuff
Here are three simple canine truths:
We share these truths with our furry best friends. The more fun and exercise we get, the less we dwell on unhappy stuff and the better we sleep! Luckily, having a dog in your life is added incentive to become more active. Dog guardians are four times more likely than other folks to meet physical activity guidelines. So, if the daily grind is getting to you, take a hint from your dog – it’s time to go play!
6. If dogs can’t beat sh*t, they roll in it.
For some dogs, the smellier or muddier something is, the better reason there is to roll in it. If they are going to get dirty, they’ll do it in a BIG way, then go home and suffer the extra-soapy bath that’s sure to follow. Sometimes when you have a problem or are facing a tough conversation, it’s better not to let dread taint your life for weeks. Take a deep breath, tackle it, get it out of the way, then wash off any bad feelings with a long hot shower. Throw on some good music, fall back on your couch with your dog, and call it done. You can enjoy the clean relief together.
7. Dogs take time to breathe.
Ever notice your dog’s first act when they are freed from the house for a walk or play session? Their head goes up for a great big breath of air or their nose goes down for a huge sniff of the ground.
It may seem trite to be told “just breathe” when you’re overworked or are genuinely feeling upset, but your non-judgmental dog would assure you that it’s good advice. A few moments of deep breathing actually does lower your blood pressure, and reduce stress. If you’re suddenly frustrated or angered at home, at work, or in traffic, take three slow deep breaths to allow the harsh edge of your emotion to ebb away. Those ten seconds of controlled breathing won’t miraculously fix your problem, but the reaction you ultimately choose will be one you will be proud of making.
Shall we sum it all up? Dogs teach us that just because life isn’t always perfect, negativity doesn’t have to control our lives. Just strive for these 7 Dog Rules for Doing Away with Doo:
These little gems of canine advice inspire us here at the dooloop. Sometimes you DO have to carry crap – even your dog’s literal crap – when you don’t really want to. That doesn’t mean that lugging it along has to spoil your enjoyment. With the dooloop to securely hold that poo-bag, you can forget about the crap you are carrying and keep your hands free to do the things you love – hug your dog, hold a hand, call a friend, or push your stroller. Anything!
Try using your dog’s daily dose of joyful enthusiasm as a lighthearted guide to help de-stress your life. By watching your dog forgive and forget, it may be a bit easier for you to see the less-serious side of daily mishaps.
Join your dog in life-affirming fun whenever you can…and just let that other sh*t go!
]]>