Pet Waste Solutions FAQs

This is a matter of personal choice and budget. The most common pet waste station is the type that dispenses poop bags from a roll of 200 or 300. These dispensers also have a trash can connected on the same  mounting pole. The next choice is the single pull strap bag dispenser. These dispense one bag at a time from a flat card of 100 bags. You can read our blog about this here: pet waste stations and your HOA.

Determining what kind of poop bags to buy will depend on your decision of what kind of dispenser to buy. Flat pack cards are available from our main Scoop Masters website. When it comes to rolled bags, I suggest Bark+ bags, also available from the link above. They come in rolls of 300 instead of 200 so there’s less time spent on refilling them. Of course, you can read more details about poop bags on our blog.

Using DNA testing labs can be used as a preventative method for your community. If dog owners think that they will be caught and fined via DNA if they don’t pick up, they may be more apt to do so. But, if they do a quick google search about it, they will discover that DNA testing can be spurious at most.

Many precautions need to be taken when collecting samples that errors abound all the time. From the time the dog poops; then a sample collected; processed; shipped to the lab; tested; then a database search performed and finally returned to the management company, 6 months could pass. Read our detailed analysis on dog poop DNA in our blog.

Yes! OK, I may be a little biased here since we are in that business. Depending upon the size of your community or HOA, you may not need a professional service. However, for larger communities, it may be prudent to hire a professional pooper scooper service to maintain your pet waste stations or walk the common grounds to pick up, or both! If you’re in our service area, Scoop Masters can give you a free quote for service, including sales and installation of pet waste stations.

You have to ask yourself, “Do I want to pick up dog poop from my community?” Chances are the answer is a resounding “NO”. “I have maintenance staff that can take care of it.” For smaller communities, that may be OK. I’m sure it’s in their job description. But, for larger communities, your maintenance staff would be better served for tending to more pressing issues like busted pipes, broken appliances and other repairs. “The landscapers will do it.”

That may be true as some landscape companies will. We’ve found that most do not and would prefer that any dog poop be picked up before they mow the lawns. “Can’t we simply ignore it and it will turn into fertilizer?” Uh, no. Dog poop does not turn into fertilizer. In fact, it will turn your grass brown because of the acids in the waste. In addition to that, it will also attract rats, and flies, and it smells, especially in the hot summer months.

First and foremost, you want a professional. There are several hundreds of pooper scooper companies in the U.S. and Canada and you can find a directory listing at aPaws.org, The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists. Not all companies are professional! You want to make sure that they are fully insured with General Liability, Commercial Auto and Workers Compensation insurance.

You want to make sure they have a dedicated phone, website and email. Professionals will have uniforms for all their employees and they will have actual employees working for them. Not 1099 “sub-contractors” that use their own vehicle that are not lettered with official company logos, contact etc. Of course, if a company is just starting out, they won’t have employees and that’s OK. It doesn’t preclude them from building a business with commercial clients.

Scoop Masters has been helping homeowners associations, apartment communities and residential dog owners pick up after their dogs for over 35 years. That makes Scoop Masters the oldest pooper scooper company around. We have the experience that very few companies have, so can guide you to make an informed decision regarding where and how many pet stations to install.

All of our trucks are professionally lettered, so you know who’s roaming your property. Not only do we maintain pet waste stations, we sell, install and make minor repairs. We’ll even even haul the waste away, not many companies will. 

In hiring Scoop Masters, you’ll get a true professional that can take care of all your pet waste needs. Our team members go through a rigid application process, background checks and extensive, ongoing training, to make sure you receive only the best service.