The Promise of Dog Poop DNA Testing and its Limitations
Dog DNA testing has become increasingly popular among apartment communities and HOAs in recent year. Using dog DNA can be used to detect who is not picking up after their pet. The premise is, that as a property manager, you would get a DNA sample from every dog owner when they sign the lease. That sample is sent to one of the few labs (not short for Labrador) that will analyze the sample and store that information in their data base. Biopet Laboratories is one of those labs.
Armed with this information, when a rogue dog pile is found on the property, a (yuck) sample is extracted, sealed, and sent to the lab for analysis. The results are then compared to their database and voila! The perpetrator can be named. What you, as the property manager, does with that information is dependent upon the policies you have in place. Typically, a fined is levied against the dog owner and that fine is used to pay for the service.
Sounds good on paper.
However, it is important to note that there are limitations to dog DNA testing. While these tests have significantly advanced in recent years, they are not 100% accurate. Factors such as sample quality, database size, and the complexity of a dog’s genetic makeup can affect the reliability of results. The sample itself needs to be un-tainted. The surrounding area of the sample can affect the results, and even sprinkler systems have been known to contaminate the sample.
What are some other difficulties with dog DNA
The initial gathering of the samples in and of itself can be a logistics nightmare. If you manage a large complex with a hundred dogs, that can take quite a significant amount of time to collect. It’s been recommended that a whole weekend is planned out for DNA collection day and registration. That is, if all of the dog owners attend. And then there’s the handful of dog owners that will try to hide their dogs or simply not register them. Especially if they get a new dog sometime in the future.
Once all the swabs are collected and registered, they are sent to the lab for analysis and recording into the database. The hard part is over. Now, when a new tenant signs a lease, or a new homeowner moves in, you simply include the swab sample gathering as part of the process.
The Fun Sample Collection Process
Let’s talk about the “other” sample collection process. Yeah, that’s right, the rogue dog poop that accidently gets left behind. First of all, that sample needs to be found. That’s not too difficult. Afterall, your maintenance staff, tenants, maybe your landscapers are always walking around and finding dog poop. Whether they are looking or not. Once that poop is found, a sample needs to be processed. It’s not a matter of simply picking up the poop with a bag and mailing it to the lab. You have to process it correctly as to not contaminate the sample.
The sample needs to be fresh, no more than a day or two. It can not have been watered with the irrigation system. It can not have been peed on by another dog. We all know how male dogs are about that. And there can’t be any contaminates on the outside of it, like grass, dirt or insects. OK, brace yourself. You need to cut away the outside of the poop and scoop a small nickel size sample from the inside of the log. That’s what gets sent to the lab in special packaging for analysis. Hopefully, it’s not a dog from the surrounding neighborhood that is not registered.
Alternatives to Dog Poop DNA
Isn’t this fun? Of course, there are a few alternatives you can choose from to make this task a little more, well, let’s say, not gross! You can hire a professional pooper scooper to come through regularly and pick up the dog poop and maintain the pet waste stations. Many companies, like Scoop Masters, will walk your property 5 or 6 days a week and collect the DNA sample for you. That may be a little overkill, but after the first few weeks or months and a few fines are levied, that can be cut down to once or twice a week.
While dog DNA has improved over the years, it still has its challenges. One company we worked with had a 6-month backlog of processing the swab samples. If you’re managing an apartment complex, the turnover of dog owners might make this more challenging. You might be better off spending your resources on a pet waste removal company to simply maintain the common areas. This will help keep the area clean and more attractive to renters or buyers. Feel free to use our quote form to obtain a free, no obligation quote for service. Enjoy!