Dog poop

This morning, frost was on the ground. Great! Extreme temperatures aren't my thing, but I sure like cold better then hot. Not the least of my reasons for this is, that I am the one who picks up all the dog poop - every morning - no fail.
There are 11 dogs at my house, they all use the backyard. Can you imagine what that would look (and smell) like, if I didn't do this chore?
When I brought home my first dog, the neighbors didn't hesitate to let me know that they expected the sidewalks to stay clean. Since then I have learned that this by-product of dog-ownership can leech into your groundwater and make you and your family sick. Of course, it also attracts bugs I would rather not encounter. Bugs aren't my thing either. We are not talking about butterflies and bees, we're talking about stinging and bacteria collecting things that will seek you out to deposit their dangerous load on to. Not to mention worms of all kinds. Blach!
So, every morning, I go outside with my plastic bags and pick up poop. In the summer this can be rather disgusting. In winter however - everything is frozen! No problem if somebody had a bit of a tummy-upset the night before - it's frozen! No smell either! Or at least to me, no smell.
The frontyard girls come through the sideyard to help me. This is their time with me. I will have a basket of laundry to hang up and other outside chores to do. They help. I do my work between chasing them around and rubbing their tummies. Works for us.
Mickey (the black lab) is my poopfinder dog. She is also (if you let her) a poop-retriever. As mentioned before, these girls are the left-overs from a litter of 10 that I found by the side of the road. They were never adopted by anybody and so are growing old right here, with me. When they were little bitty puppies some of them developed the habit of eating other dogs poop. I have tried everything. Stuff you can buy and put in their food, meat tenderizer - you name it. It always only works for as long as you give it, and I don't believe in giving them stuff that really shouldn't be in their bodies. I have read over and over that this behavior is not harmful and so have decided not to fight too much with them about it any longer. Best thing to do is to pick up the poop.
Back when I was fostering, the yard was divided by a lot more fencing then what there is now. Only Grover's pen is still there. So one morning I was on the outside of that pen and Mickey on the inside. When I see her pick up poop I always make that sound every dogperson can make in their sleep -"AEAEAEHHHH!!!!!!" which usually makes her drop her wonderful find. Not that morning. She took off running and guess what - brought it to me. Layed it at my feet as if to say "I'm only helping you!" Since then she is my poop retriever and I'm pretty sure I am the only person who has one.
The pic above is of my Sheria. Her hair is wonderful and long and she is a princess.
But (which hardly ever happens, thank the good Lord) if she gets sick, all that hair is a mess. One day she had the runs sooo bad and after two times outside and a look at her back end, I knew I wasn't going to be able to clean that up with a towel. In the tub we went and scrubbadubdub my princess was beautiful again. Not an hour later she had to go again and great day in the morning, did she ever! I didn't want to have to bathe the whole dog again, so what to do? Aha, lightbulb and all that. I got an old milk-crate, put that in the tub - miracle of miracles - it fit perfectly. Stand the dog on top of the crate (and she will stand there like a model) and wash only the hindparts without getting the rest of her involved. Yeah! We did that five times that day. I still have no idea what caused her little episode as none of the others had it, but boy, was I glad when it was over! Hope this little invention will be helpful to some of you.
Stay safe and warm.