Eating dog poop is not good for you.

Sure, dogs dine on their own doo  without ill effect — if you don’t count the screwed up faces and loud EEEEWs of their owners — but we humans don’t have the same feces-digesting ability.

Or inclination. I would never eat poop, you protest.

Not deliberately. But as I wrote in The Dog Poop Chronicles: A Tale of Personal Growth and Waste Disposal, our careless habits cause a great deal of dog detritus to end up in our water — and thus our food supply.

Yuck.

What to do? The more I researched the issue, the more I realized that plastic bags of dog crap that end up in landfills only create more problems. Water soluble — not just slowly biodegradable — bags that can be flushed down a toilet or other conduit* to the sewer system are the only real solution.

So I checked around. Of a few possible products, I thought the best were the Flush Doggy brand bags because:

  • The company donates 10% of their profits to the ASPCA
  • They have an affiliate program, which means I can (theoretically)** earn money purveying  an earth-friendly product
  • They agreed to donate a six-months’ supply of poop bags to the winner of my proposed contest.

And so…the contest. It’s open to residents of the United States (sorry, eco-conscious people of the rest of the world). You just have to leave a comment on this post, telling me why you need/want/deserve to win six months worth of Flush Doggy bags. I’ll choose a winner at random.

This is your chance to be as scatological (aka potty mouthed) as you please. Enjoy!

The contest begins NOW and closes at 11:59 pm (MT) on Sunday, Jan. 30. I’ll announce the winner the following day.

*Such as the Powerloo. Maybe I can convince the creators of that awesome product to donate one for another contest. I’ll make winning really, really difficult, I promise.

**If you buy them via the link under the Flush Doggy logo on this blog’s right hand column,  something you should definitely consider doing if you don’t win — and even if you do.

UPDATE: And the winner is…. #4! Ronalyn and her poop king Sh*t Master Z!

I think Random.org chose well — I have never “e” or otherwise met Ronalyn so I can’t be accused of choosing one of my friends. Ronalyn clearly needs this prize. And I like a woman with a sense of humor.

23 thoughts on “Dog Poop Disposal: The Contest”

  1. Although I would never pollute our lake on poopuse, I understand that rain water can carry Honey’s leavings from my backyard right into the water stream. It’s the doodie of every dog lover to dispose of droppings responsibly.

    I think I read somewhere that pet waste is the turd greatest source of pathogens in our drinking supply–far above the geese and Mama mallard and her little dookies. I log for the day when our lake is free from bacteria caused by dog owners who just don’t ca-ca-care (I’m sorry I’m so emotional; I can’t even get the words out) about their responsibilities.

    Edie, your timely post should renew the defecation of all of us to clean up and dispose of doggie dirt. Thank you.

    I’m dung.

    Oh, one more thing–please don’t treat this as an entry in the competition. I did win a contest from you just recently.

    I just couldn’t resist–sometimes a girl just needs to make crappy puns first thing on a Monday morning.

  2. #1 Oh, boy. Why do I need/want/deserve to win… I live in a very eco-conscious town. The trash system here is pretty unique. Curb-side recycling is easy and free. No limits, no subscription services or fee, no sorting, and they take all paper, glass, plastic, Styrofoam, etc. Trash, on the other hand, costs $2 per 40 pounds. It’s designed to encourage recycling because trash is a pain: You have to go to the grocery store to purchase the $2 trash stickers that you have to affix to each 40-lb bag. If a bag weighs more than 40, you have to stick 2 stickers to it. How does this relate to poop bags? Well, I have 80-lb Lucas, 65-lb Emmett, and 30-lb Cooper. We use a LOT of trash stickers just for poop. Most weeks, our outside trash bag (aka, the poop bag) requires two stickers. Flushable poop bags would save time and money, of course, but it would also decrease the vast quantities of poop we chuck in the landfill each week!

  3. #2 Wow, this sounds like a great product, I’d love to receive some so I could start spreading the word to all the pet lovers in my area!

  4. Don’t count this as an entry … because we live in a rural spot and maintain our own septic system … I’d say flushing bags of poop would be a recipe for an expensive waste system disaster (like tens of thousands of dollars and having to dig up our acreage). There are all kinds of things we cannot send down the drain here, and I’d be this is one of them.

    Just a caution from one mountain girl to any of your readers in rural areas.

  5. #5 My sweet ex racing greyhound Jett is one of the poop-i-est hounds on the planet. His stools are massive. And I mean that in plural. The first poop is comprised of solid little brown nuggets but way too many of them. Within a half mile, there’s more.

    I wonder what I’m feeding him that he poops so much?

    Not only does he poop on our walks but around the patio too. It’s a real poop fest.

    Fortunately, unlike his predecessor Lily Drama Queen, he does not eat his poop or partake in the poop buffet.

    Oh, how I would love to find a better solution to the mountains of brown litter.

  6. #6 I feel a bit disloyal airing Archie’s dirty laundry in public like this, but the flush bags would NEVER find their ways into anything but the toilet, because his latest phase of Canine Cognitive Disorder dictates that he poop only in my bed or on the floor, where I then step in it. This means that the poop stays inside and can go straight into the toilet, as opposed to the laundry or the kitchen garbage in his current poop bags.

    I recognize that as a member of the family, he is not eligible to win, but we both promise that if we were randomly, albeit mistakenly, chosen, we would donate the bags to the local Dawg Adoption and Welfare Group. DAWG depends entirely on private donations and rescues dogs that have been scheduled for kill at the county shelter next door. Then I would buy the bags (site says a mere $5/month for little doggies!) for Archie.

    Convinced?

  7. #7 I have two Alaskan Malamutes and I would be up to my ears in doggie do do if I didn’t clean it up. I would love some earth friendly bags that I could use to dispose the waste. I would also take one of these with me when I went to the park with my dog because I’m a responsible dog owner and I always scoop the poop.

  8. #8 I deserve this cuz I have four large dogs, between 50-75lbs, and that’s just a lot of poop. I can probably use 6 months worth of bags in only 1 month!

  9. #9 I deserve them because not only do we fastidiously pick up the Doodlebug’s lawn blossoms, we also pick up lawn blossoms from other dogs when we are out.

    Plus, we call them lawn blossoms 🙂

  10. #10 oooohhh! I would love to get my hands on some of these. We live in a townhome development and dutifully pick up after our mini schnauzer but for some reason, our neighbors don’t pick up after their own pets. Just thinking about the poop strewn paths give me the heebs so we always end up picking up after the other dogs as well.

  11. #11 I’d love to win these so that I could give them to the numerous people I see on our travels that don’t pick up after their dogs. It’s either that or I’ll start whacking them with my walking stick!

  12. Not intended as a contest entry, but I couldn’t resist posting this since there are so few opportunities to talk about dog poop in polite company! When I ran development for a local animal shelter, I sponsored a contest for the employees to come up with the best ways to be an eco-friendly, “green” pet owner. The tips were compiled into a leaflet that I distributed at a local Green Fest. I offered three prizes: Best Cat Owner Tip; Best Dog Owner Tip; and Most Original Tip overall. My winner in the “Most Original” category (but not one I included in the booklet!) was the employee who suggested using filled dog poop bags as handwarmers in your pocket in the winter. A new level of grossness that only a dog owner could appreciate!

  13. #13 Just to see if I am “randomly” chosen to win. I have 3 boxers and we occasionally foster as well!

  14. #15 I am the Shelter Manager for the Animal Shelter in Salem, VA. Our City is always looking for ways to be more green and we also happen to be starting a city a campaign to educate people on the importance of cleaning up after your pets. Along with education within our schools and community events, I am looking to adding information about this topic with each new adoption! It would be great to have these bags to give as samples along with the information! Thank you for sharing such great information. I look forward to reading your blog and would love for you to visit our shelter’s facebook page anytime!

  15. #16
    This would be great for my pooches and my neighbors so I wouldn’t have to throw plastic bags into the garbage and smell things up which the neighbors would be very grateful of!

  16. #17 Having written about the “poop problem” before I know full well the damage it causes to the environment, to humans and to other dogs. That’s why as a pet sitter and dog walker I get so irritated when I see all the poop people leave behind while out with their dogs. I’ll be honest, it drives me crazy.

    Anyways, as a dog walker, I use a LOT of poop bags (and I do mean A LOT!). I always worry about where it ends up. A flushable poop bag is a novel idea and one I full support! Now, hand over those poop bags Edie! 🙂

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