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DOG OWNERS: Love your dog -- hate poop?
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THE INTERNATIONAL DIRECTORY OF DOG WASTE REMOVAL SERVICES
Scoopers & Friends Discussion Board Archives
Messages archived from the Scoopers & Friends Discussion Board,
going back to May of 1998. The discussion board board is an online forum about the business of pet-waste removal.
Browse the messages, CLICK HERE TO SEARCH
by keyword, or click here to participate in current discussions.
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Page Fifty-Seven
Message Date/Time:
Sunday, 09-Jul-00 23:45:28
dog ppop
I recently got a doggie dooley from a friend but it didn't come with the solution that goesin it. Does anyone know what I can putin to my doogie dooley that will eat the dog doo fast? I have eight dogs and the ppop is buiolding up. Thanks!!
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Re: dog ppop
Monday, 10-Jul-00 15:05:00
209.162.18.242 writes:
Shelly,
It is an enzyme that breaks down the poop. "R.C. Steele" (800)872-3773 or "Doctors Foster & Smith" (800) 826-7206 www.drsfostersmith.com both have catalogs with these products for "Doggie Dooley" systems. HOWEVER, there is more to it than enzymes. It has to be installed properly to work with consideration of soil type, drainage---and then there is the smell to deal with! You would be better off hiring a professional Pooper Scooper service. I have no less than 5 clients who have given up on theirs and hired my service instead...nuff said!
Tricia
Tricia---TAIL END PooPER SCooPERS
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Re: doggie dooley
Tuesday, 11-Jul-00 07:54:12
216.127.3.137 writes:
I hate to put a damper on a good idea, but you'll need at least 3 more dooleys.
As has been pointed out, many factors will determine how well it works. For example, they don't work at all in freezing weather.
Pete
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Re: Re: doggie dooley
Friday, 28-Jul-00 23:24:25
63.83.209.159 writes:
I was wondering what people do that have dogs that are in kennels. We live in a city and don't have a doggie dooley but have considered buying one. We just throw it in a garbage can. We dont have any services in the area that have been talked about. Any suggestions??
Shannon
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Re: Re: Re: doggie dooley
Monday, 14-Aug-00 21:14:01
207.159.62.123 writes:
i asked a kennel what they did with the poop and i was told they have thier own septic tank. makes me wonder if i could use mine at my house for that but i think i would still be labled a toxic waste hauler.
becky
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Best Type of Advertising
Tuesday, 11-Jul-00 11:51:39
4.4.32.219 writes:
I am just getting started and want to know if there is any "best" type of advertising. I don't have a lot of money to get started so I don't want to waste money on something that is not going to work. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Tami
K-9 Waste Removal
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Re: Best Type of Advertising
Thursday, 13-Jul-00 07:49:07
205.188.199.209 writes:
The single most powerful, and yet least expensive, marketing tool is publicity. Sending out news releases when your business is new or when anything significant and interesting to local newspaper readers, TV viewers, and radio listeners often results in getting your business into the news. People pay attention to news; the same information that people would ignore in an ad will draw a lot of attention and be given careful consideration when it appears in a news article. You also gain invaluable credibility when you're in the news, something you can't buy with advertising no matter how much money you might have to spend.
Of course, publicity is not entirely in your control. You send out news releases, keep up relationships with media people, but they decide when, if, and how to cover you.
For the most consistent results from paid advertising, in my experience the greastest number of new customers over the years came from a small classified ad in the Pets or Pet Services column of the classifed ads in neighborhood weekly newspapers.
The best results will come from the combined effects of using classified ads, publicity, business cards, vehicle signs, customer referral program, and all the other methods you'll be thinking of and using over time.
Matthew
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Caninettes
Tuesday, 11-Jul-00 17:07:00
152.163.201.206 writes:
Hi everyone, well while searching on the internet today, I came across a picture of the "caninettes", which are the motor scooter/ vacuums that French officials use to clean the sidewalks and streets. The article says that they clean a 14 mile area each, and clean up to 110 pounds of dog waste per day. The machine looked lightweight and easy to use, and I know that Matthew has mentioned them before. I would like to find out more about them, so that I could tell my engineer boyfriend and perhaps he could figure out something along the same idea...however, I have no idea as to how to find out about them. Any ideas anyone? I've searched the internet, but since I don't speak french, that didn't do me much good. If the machine truly works (which it must somehow or why would the govt. use it), and if someone could figure out a way to make it work over here, that would make apartment cleaning a snap. I'm just not sure where I can find out more...
Katie
Katie
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Re: Caninettes
Wednesday, 26-Jul-00 07:54:56
216.127.3.212 writes:
I have that picture on my employee bulletin board for a giggle. My workers average over 200 lbs a day without it.
You might want to see how that is going these days. The Paris government wanted out and sent bid requests to several people, including me. That's a LOOOOOONG commute from Columbus OH!
I suspect that a non-motorized worker could outperform the fancy stuff.
Having said that, if you come up with a good system, patent it and tell everyone about it. I'd come to see how it works. Mount that on a golf car or ATV for parks & apartments.
Pete
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Question about my pricing
Tuesday, 11-Jul-00 22:15:38
152.163.213.211 writes:
Hi everyone, question for you. In my area, houses vary a lot in price range and yard size. I figure that about half my business will come from house lots around a quarter of an acre or less. The other 50 to 60 percent will come from houses above a quarter acre, with a few above a half acre. I'm figuring that it will be about 5 to 10 minutes of driving between houses that I service. So, I'm thinking of charging 9$ per yard for one dog, 1/2 acre or less. 3.50$ each additional dog, and if the lot is larger then half an acre, then I'll scoop first and then price...what do you guys think? I'm hoping to eventually be able to make 32 dollars an hour, on average. That's not quite 4 houses an hour, but it could be 10 minutes between each house, because of the way roads are set up in my area. Since most of you are experienced with pricing and lot sizes, how does this sound? It seems to take me forever now to walk a half hour lot, but maybe I'll get quicker...Matthew, how long did half acre lots take you? Thanks you guys are the best :-)
Katie
Katie
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Re: Question about my pricing
Thursday, 13-Jul-00 07:42:26
205.188.199.209 writes:
Katie, your prices sound OK to me. Of course, what really matters is what the busy dog-owners in your area think of them. :) I would say to go ahead and start with those prices, and if you need to adjust them later you can do that.
And yes, I am certain that you WILL get much faster with more experience. People usually increase their speed and productivity quite a bit after the first several weeks. You'll become more familiar with the yards you're working in, develop your scooping and searching techniques and get a lot more comfortable with the whole routine.
You'll also find that your productivity increases as your customer list grows. After a while, every new customer you get will be somewhere between two other customers on your route, cutting down on travel time.
I never really paid that much attention to the sizes of the yards. Of course I noticed that some yards are much bigger than others, but I wouldn't really know if a yard is a half-acre or quarter-acre. I always kept the option of charging extra for extra-large yards, but in ten years of scooping I never actually had to charge extra for yard size.
Even in very large yards, I found that dogs would generally use only a part of the yard for pooping.
While a very large yard might take 20 minutes or even half an hour (very few yards would really take that long, though) there are always the little tiny yards that take only 5 minutes, as well. The way I figure it, it all evens out and I like to keep pricing as simple as possible to make it easy for customers and prospects to understand how much their service will cost.
Rather than figuring times in each yard, I would measure the average number of yards cleaned per hour over the course of the week. Averaging 4 yards per hour is OK, though most people could do more than that after some experience. I personally would average about 6 yards per hour over a week's work, and I've had some employees who could do better than that.
Matthew
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Receiving payment by debit card
Wednesday, 12-Jul-00 08:04:36
205.188.196.22 writes:
How do you go about setting up customers to pay you via their debit card? Is it a bank service or are there internet services? Or both? I'm still in the dark ages where I pay my bills with a check through the mail!
barefootbackyards@yahoo.com
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Re: Receiving payment by debit card
Thursday, 13-Jul-00 19:43:51
205.188.198.53 writes:
There is a company called PayPal. (www.paypal.com) This is a pretty good way for people to pay you via internet. Plus you get an additional $5.00 from PayPal for every new customer that uses it. I ahve used it many times and I think only 1 customer has not like it. So check out there web site.
Major Doody