Picking Up Poop Is Prospering
By DEBRA ALFARONE
Updated 1:40 PM EDT, Mon, Jun 8, 2009
You might be cutting down on dinners out, or that morning latte at your corner coffee shop, but it seems there’s one thing that some people aren’t giving up, and it’s hiring someone to pick up -- dog poop, that is.
Just ask Barry Wallett, whose company Doggie Poo Pick-Up is picking up, literally.
"Our business is doing great, we had a few customers fall off because of the economy, but there are so many dog owners and the price of our service is so inexpensive we keep growing. Things are good," Wallett said.
Monday, Wallett was doing his weekly cleaning of a corner yard in Vernon. With just one dog, it costs the owner $10 a week.
Wallett’s company covers most of the state. In fact, he's expanding and has just hired pooper-scoopers in Ansonia and Darien.
For an inside look at the world of poop-scooping, Wallett explains. "What we do is we grid the person’s yard, so make believe I’m cutting the lawn with a lawn mower. I’m looking at that area and I’m picking up any waste in the rows that I go in."
Armed with an eagle eye, a shovel and a pooper-scooper pail, Wallett looks for what he calls "product," because, as he says, it's bad for the lawn, bad for the environment and after all, no one wants to step in it.
Despite that, he says he loves his job.
"It’s an easy business, it’s wonderful. You’re outside, you’re exercising, the people love you, they think you’re a superhero. It’s a great business."
Wallett is not the only person hired to keep yards and streets clean of doggie doo.
The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists and Pet Butler list several additional local scoopers, including Doggie Doo Not!, based in Stamford; Doody Calls; Poop Patrol; Happy Scoopers and more.
First Published: Jun 8, 2009 10:16 AM EDT
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