They say that dogs are a man’s best friend, and it’s true that they are one of the best pets to show loyalty and love to their owner. However, an unavoidable reality of being a dog owner is dealing with their faeces. No matter how much you love your pooch, the simple reality is a hungover morning or a dog with an upset tummy make for a harder-than-usual time to clear up after pets.
Dog poo goes in your general waste bin and must be in at least one bag. Double bagged faeces is a good idea, as it reduces the chance of spillage as more waste lands on top. You can also bury poop in the garden if you have plants that enjoy acidic soil, which is the dog mess equivalent of recycling.
Can Dog Poop Go In A Wheelie Bin?
Unpleasant though it is, dog waste can be disposed of alongside your normal rubbish in your kerbside collected general waste wheelie bin. The colour of general waste bins varies around the country, so we can’t tell you which colour bin that is, but as a rule of thumb, it’s which ever wheelie bin your non recyclable waste goes into.
What Do You Do With Dog Poop In Your Garden?
No-one wants to see multiple piles of faeces in their garden, so as a dog owner, it’s important to stay on top of cleaning up after your pet. Leaving poop on the grass will begin to damage your lawn, at best it will cause discolouration, and at worse cause burning and even killing off patches of turf.
You should try to clear up dog waste within the shortest time possible after it’s deposited, as this will reduce any degradation to the appearance of your lawn. If you find that you get patches of discolouration even though you’re quick to deal with poop, try to give the area a quick rinse with the hose pipe after removing the waste. This will dilute any pollutants and reduce the risk of problems.
Does Dog Poo Act As Fertilizer?
There’s an urban legend that dog excrement can be used to help plants and lawns to grow. It’s something that’s commonly pushed by people that aren’t keen on cleaning up after their animals, not because they’re lazy or pushing something they know to be untrue, but it’s a human instinct to be drawn towards a theory that makes life easier.
There is a strand of truth in this, in that some plants need (or prefer) an acidic environment to grow, but that doesn’t mean that dog waste makes good fertilizer for them.
The reason for the acidic make up of the excrement is the heavy meat content of canine diets, which results in an acidity in your animal’s poo. It’s that acidity which can damage lawns, and your pet’s diet will determine just how acidic their waste is.
Proper fertilizers are advisable for most parts of the garden, however as we mentioned earlier, digging poops into the ground immediately around acid soil loving plants is fine to do – just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it’s some sort of magical nutrition for everything you’ve planted in your flower beds.
Does Vinegar Dissolve Dog Poop?
Here’s another myth that people have picked up on that has its roots in reality.
Vinegar can be used to dissolve stains is some circumstances if your dog poops indoors, but in the garden it’s not going to provide much help. In fact, thinking back to the last point, we learned about acidic substances killing lawns, so clearly applying vinegar to your lawn on top of a gift from your pet isn’t the best idea.
Is Dog Poop Bad For Soil?
Soil isn’t something that is directly affected by canine excrement, but what grows in the soil likely will be.
The soil in your garden offers nutrition for plants that reflects what it’s made up of, so the poop will change that mix and likely make it a less hospitable environment for most plant species, although a minority may benefit.
What Happens When You Leave Dog Poop In Your Back Yard?
On hard surfaces, poop generally collapses into a messy heap, eventually breaking down bit by bit in the rain. It takes a lot of rain to wash away dog poop, so it’s not viable to just leave it to clear itself up in the elements.
On grass or in flower beds, it will probably disintegrate into the ground a little faster, however as we’ve already discussed can damage whatever living organisms it’s sitting on or near to.
In both situations, it’s therefore far better to clear up after your pet, as this will make the environment much more pleasant, and also fresh dog mess is much easier to collect and dispose of than a soggy mound that’s been sat out in the rain.
How Do I Get Rid Of Dog Mess In My Garden Without Scooping?
One of the best ways to clear up after your dog is by picking it up using a bag as a barrier between your hand and the mess. Scoops only really excel when the poop is too soft to be picked up by hand, or if you really can’t bear the feel of using your hand even with a barrier.
The hand and bag method is best as it doesn’t contaminate an extra surface on a scoop, and with something that should be considered toxic, keeping the amount of contact to a minimum for disposal is important.
Is It OK To Flush Dog Poo Down The Toilet?
This isn’t a question I’d come across before, and it seems that it’s quite a hot topic on the Internet. A lot of confusion appears to stem from the fact that the rules vary depending on where you live around the world.
In the UK, animal faeces must not be flushed down the toilet, as the waste processing facilities aren’t designed to handle anything beyond human waste.
As a result of a little digging, I didn’t find a specific reason why there is a risk posed by flushing rather than binning, it did become clear that the rule has come about because it hadn’t been proven to be safe rather than had been proven to be dangerous.
When you’re dealing with water that re-enters the drinking water supply, you clearly can’t take any risks with safety. For that reason, always put dog poop in a bin and place it into your general waste bin, never down the toilet.
