Three months old but do not let them fool you - they are naughty!My posts so far have been setting the scene for ‘Greener Me’.  A way of explanation and background to why I started my ‘Greener Me’ blog.

 

If you are reading this today the 2nd of June 2008 – thankyou!  Thank you because you are joining me on my ‘Greener Me’ journey from the beginning.

 

This last week I have been away for work in Brisbane (Australia) and I am missing very much my husband and our two small fluffy puppies ‘Mini’ and ‘Cooper’ (aka the babies).

 

Before we brought home our puppies, my husband and I discussed ideas on training and the environmental issues with dog ownership. Ironically both topics revolved around doggie poo!

 

For the first two days after bringing our puppy’s home, we were stressed out new parents. To make life easier, we flushed their number two’s down the loo.  Our thinking was their dog poo could be treated along with human waste at treatment plants before being released into the water system.

 

This was never going to be a long term solution as it is just gross and potentially unhygienic for humans. So for the next four weeks with a small, hand, garden spade we scooped up and buried their number two’s in our large pot plants and small garden court yard.  However we found the time it took to do this twice a day, was not the greatest time management strategy.

 

A temporary solution was to place the regular ‘doggy poo scope ups’ in a bucket, then once a week burry them.  I do know that dog waste contains large amounts of bacteria such as Escherichia Coli (E.Coli) and Salmonella which are washed into waterways and oceans, causing contamination and potential human infections. Also Parasites such as Hookworm and Roundworm can live for years in soil where dog poo has been left to degrade, leading to further animal or human infection.

 

Burring the waste may be better than leaving it on the grass to decompose but I am not sure how much better it is.  Does anyone have thoughts on this?

 

What I think we will have to do is start a small worm farm for our doggie poo.  We actually already have a worm farm for our house hold waste (food scrapes etc).  However I didn’t think it was a good idea to be putting doggie fertiliser waste on our plants that produce food that we will consume (e.g. our lemon tree).  Not sure on the facts but knowing that parasites can live for years in soil, it probably is a no brainier.

 

One tip I have just learnt is not to put dog poo in the worm farm straight after the dogs have been wormed.  The worming medication will kill the worms.

 

So here we are at the decision to purchase a 2nd worm farm.  I welcome any ideas, thoughts or facts before I go out and do this.

 

Sarhn

 

Thank you to this article for which I gained my knowledge.

 

 

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