Help! Suggestions For Pet Products: Microchip Dog Door And Waste D

[bagof4grapes]

Hey, folks! First-time greyhound foster and soon-to-be-adopter here. We just got our girl Xena on Saturday and we're quickly learning our way around owning a dog in adulthood. My husband and I both grew up with dogs but we've never had to figure this stuff out for ourselves so it's new, but not new at the same time.

 

First thing, waste disposal: We have a rather small backyard, much of which is taken up by a pool, and dog waste really needs to be cleaned up every day. As of now we don't have a proper disposal can and the smell and flies are starting to become a bother. I've done some looking around and I can't seem to find any one waste disposal system that might work for us. They either look like they're for much smaller dogs (super small capacity), they use plastic bags like crazy (I'd like to avoid that, it's expensive and it's terrible for the environment), or they get really bad reviews for not getting rid of the smell properly. We already have a poop scooper that works well, we just need something to put it in.

 

I've been kind of eyeing those doggie dooleys, the underground septic tank thingys that break down the waste (like this one) but I'm wondering if you guys have any suggestions for dog waste disposal. What system do you use? Do you have experience with dooleys and do they work? Are they usable in a smaller back yard or do you need more space?

 

Second topic, microchip dog door: Usually we're able to let Xena out on a regular schedule but we don't know for sure that we'll be able to keep that up all the time. I'd feel much better if we gave her a dog door to the back yard so that she doesn't need us there. We have a sliding glass door so it'll be easy to fit one of those panel doors.

 

However, we also have two cats who are strictly indoors, and our neighborhood has raccoons, so we'd like to keep the kitties in and the wild critters out. We live in SoCal and the coldest it ever gets during the day is 55-60 degrees, so I'm not concerned about her getting locked outside for a couple hours if the door fails, and I think a microchip-activated door would be perfect for us. The problem is that I haven't been able to find any that will fit a 27" tall greyhound.

 

This is the closest I can find, but the rise plus the height of the door only brings it to 23.75". Does anyone know where I can find a microchip panel dog door that's greyhound-sized?

 

Thanks in advance!

[greysmom]

Doggie dooleys are a bust for large breed dogs (too much waste per day, generally), so don't waste your money there.

 

The first place to investigate is with your municipal garbage district to determine how they recommend disposing of dog waste. Most will probably say to double bag the poop and put it in your regular garbage weekly. We have a five gallon bucket - cheap at hardware or big box stores - and use that.

 

We used to anyways. Now we use a service called "Green Pet Compost Companies." For a monthly fee they will deal with your pet waste on a sliding scale depending on the level of service. The fee is totally worth it for us to not have two five gallon buckets of poop a week going into the landfill.

 

They take the poop to their facilities and, using special high temp digesters, turn it into compost which they then sell.

 

You might see if they have a service area down there:

greenpetcompostcompany.com

 

No info on a doggy door since we don't use them.

 

Congratulations and Welcome!!

[Hubcitypam]

When I had greys I used a "The Claw" scoop. and 5 gallon bucket. double bagged and put it in the trash. Doggy Dooleys do not wok here because of the black clay soil. If you have the budget get neighborhood papers and find a scooper.

I am the biggest dog door fan in the world but have no experience with the sliding door sort. My 80 pound greys went fine through an 8 x 12 flap installed in a solid door but I had the rise at 10 -12 inches.

Just a thought. If you have smart cats they can watch learn and figure out how to go out between the dogs legs as it exits. I had an adopter who's ferret did that.

[HeyRunDog]

You can get Eco friendly bio degradable dog poop bags from Amazon. I use ones with handles as they are easier to tie and carry.

[Banjoman]

Some locals collect the poop from their garden in bags (I have had biodegradable ones too) and drop them off into the general dog waste bins that the Council provide in dog walking areas.

 

You can use a wormery for animal waste as long as you don’t use the resulting compost on food plants.

https://www.originalorganics.co.uk/wormeries/pet-dog-poo-wormeries

No doubt there are US suppliers.

[JaimeL]

My concern would be a pool in the yard and a unsupervised dog. Is this a in ground pool?

[ShebasMom]

I used to have the septic tank disposal thing when I had a Great Dane but it didn't work very well. Too much poop. Scratched that and now use a 5-gallon lidded can with a plastic bag liner and keep it outside. I use biodegradable poop bags to pick up the poop real time (I don't let it sit because I, too, have a small yard) and on garbage pickup day put it in my regular trash. Granted the plastic bag liner in the can isn't biodegradable so rather counterproductive on that end. Guess I could just put the biodegradable bags directly into the can with no liner--just thought of that lol.

Never heard of a magnetic chip dog door. I don't have cats so no issue there and have never had another animal come inside through mine. My dog door (a Magnadoor brand) is installed on the enclosed porch wall so I don't use one in the slider. In hindsight I should have had the installer raise the door up about 6-10 inches (or even more) so it's easier Sheba to get through it because she has to crouch down and as she is now 11 years old I worry it will become more difficult. Sheba's dog door opens to the side yard only so no access to the fenced-in front yard or back yard pool because there are gates at both ends.

[greysmom]

My concern would be a pool in the yard and a unsupervised dog. Is this a in ground pool?

 

I think pools in Cali have to be securely fenced off?????

[robinw]

I'm really lazy so I hire somebody to clean poop on a regular basis and to let them my dog out at lunchtime. Both are really inexpensive and I don't have to worry about the cat getting out.

[bagof4grapes]

Thank you so much for the replies and suggestions! I found a 6 gallon lidded bucket at Home Depot and I bought biodegradable garbage bags on Amazon. I think that'll be a great solution for us, so thank you for the tips!

 

 

I think pools in Cali have to be securely fenced off?????

 

They do but it doesn't have its own fence, just the yard fence. Our dog has already been pool trained and she knows how to get out if she falls in... which is unlikely because she's now very wary of the pool ever since I tossed her in there LOL. It's super easy to pool train a dog and that's the way we've been doing it since I was a kid. Always had dogs around pools and once they know where the steps are there's no problem. One of our dogs used to go for a morning swim on his own every day, just down the steps, paddle around, then back out again.

 

Still thinking about the dog door and weighing our options. I had already considered hiring someone to come over for noontime potty breaks, so that's definitely still on the table. Though I'd like to have a dog door picked out and saved in my bookmarks just in case we ever decide that it's necessary. If anyone has a product to recommend I'd still love to take a look at it.

 

Thanks, everyone!

[Trudy]

We had a sliding door, not collar activated, but w the highest rise, they fit out just fine.