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Friday, July 08, 2011

DNA Used To Trace Pet Poop Piles

Just when we thought we'd heard all of the admonitions to pick up after your dog,  a recent New York Times article proves us wrong. According to the article titled: Tracing Unscooped Dog Waste to the Culprit, With Science, some apartment managers in various states are now turning to DNA swabs and laboratory analyses to track dog owners who fail to scoop up their dog's poop. Renters with dogs are required to offer up a cotton swab rubbed in their dog's mouth, which is then sent to BioPet Vet Lab, a company in Tennessee that enters the dog's DNA into a worldwide data base. Then if an unscooped pile is discovered, a sample will be mailed to the lab and the offending dog and owner discovered.

About two dozen apartment complexes around the country have signed up for the service, called PooPrints, that costs approximately $90: $29.99 for the swabbing kit, $10 for a vial to hold the samples, and $50 for the sample analysis. No word on which party, the landlord or renter, pays this cost, or what happens to the dog owner, if discovered.

A representative for BioPet Vet Lab said, "the company made the kits in response to the large number of dogs in the U.S. (75 million at recent count) and the health concerns connected to dog feces."
Read the full article here: www.nytimes.com/2011/07/02/us/02dogs.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=Katie%20Zezima&st=cse

What do you think? Does this sound like a common sense preventative measure to ensure the health and safety of all apartment dwellers, or an over-the-top symptom of a germ-a-phobic society? And why can't dog owners just be relied upon to always pick up after their dog?
Let us know what you think!


Important notice: We're still researching the post about our puppy trainer friend and will publish it this Sunday-sorry for the delay! Meanwhile, check out this photo of Nonna, the guide dog in training and her raiser, Belinda, that we were fortunate to meet.

7 comments:

FANCY the Red Standard Poodle said...

Hi Y'all!

My pet peeve when my Humans are traveling is people not pickin' up after their dogs! I often RANT on my blog about it!

Y'all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog

George The Lad said...

Hi Brocci
Thats a coincidence me walking for the guide dogs and you met Nonna a real guide dog in trainning.
Back to poop, that dosen't seam like a cost affective way of dealing with it.(in terms of man hours) Its a shame that Its only the odd few that don't pick it up give dog owners a bad name.
Have a good week
See Yea George xxx

Cherie K. Miller said...

Crazy job description - yes, I'm the poop patrol guy and I run DNA swabs to catch rude dog owners. Sheeze...


Stopping by on the blog hop today. I've posted the very best cat song ever - it features the cat band and the cat lady. It's destined to be a wildly popular song! Be among the first to see it!

BZ Dogs said...

Sounds a bit pricey to really be effective. Of course, if people THOUGHT they could get caught that way, it might be a deterrent, even if the management never actually did anything.

Bocci said...

Interesting thought, BZ. I'll bet that's what happens...:-)

Rachel Lauren Photography said...

I've always lived in the country so we've never had to pick up after the dogs...so the concept of that is just strange to me, but only because I don't have to do it on a regular basis (unless we are in town of course!)

I think it does sound a little expensive, I agree with the previous comment that perhaps it is just a scare tactic for renters!

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