Do you know the dog that is pooping on your lawn?

Do you know that this dog is healthy, free from parasites and eating parasite free food?

I compost my healthy dogs poop all the time.

I never worry about it because I always mulch mow, so I never have grass clippings for the compost.

That minute amount of dog doo should not affect the health of your compost one bit. If you are concerned about what to do with your dog doo, try vermi-composting. Worm composters are a great safe way to compost your dog doo. The worms will eat the dog doo as long as that is their only diet. You cannot mix food scraps or anything else in it. They will make super organic castings and "Tea" out of it. Totally healthy and great for the garden!

Here is a link that might be useful: worm composter

A strongly reacting (hot) compost pile eliminates my concerns over animal poop.
A separate pile for "doubtful" material is OK too, if you have the space. I have a cold pile that gets used after a year or so.
Maybe a soil digester would be the ticket in your situation, I use one for the cat scat.

Thanks everyone for replying!

joepyeweed: I'm not concerned with the dog poop itself -- I have my methods. Just keeping the remnant pieces on the blades of grass out of my veggie garden in whatever form.

bggreen: I actually use the clippings as mulch and compost, but the concern is still the same. Altho I suppose compost is safer to apply to the veggie garden because of the higher temperature, versus just applying the mulch.

veracan, alphonse: thank you! That's what I was hoping to hear. Maybe others are of the same opinion?

alphonse: I do have a separate pile for "doubtful", but it's a hassle to try to keep stuff separated and get the composting action going. I was hoping to get down to 1 working pile.

Thanks again!

Cindy

I'm confused. If you're using a mulching mower, how is any of the grass getting into the compost pile? Mulching mowers puree the clippings and drop them right back onto the lawn. There's nothing to dispose of anywhere, unless the grass is very wet and clumps stick to the mower shroud.

In any case it sounds to me like you're going to way too much hassle for an inconsequentially tiny potential for 'contamination'. And, worm composting is a great option for you, been there done that. It does work.

I agree, the info provided is confusing. Does it rain where you live? If so then any "remnant pieces on the blades of grass" are washed right off into the soil. Not that remnant pieces are of any concern to begin with because they are diluted to non-existence in a large pile of compost.

dump the grass mulch in a not-on-the-vegetable-garden composting bin, and keeping the good compost bin just for the normal kitchen scraps.

So do I understand correctly that the only "compost" that is allowed on the vegetable garden is kitchen scraps?

If so, that's too bad. Not much benefit for the garden from nothing but rotted food scraps.

Your choice of course but 1 big compost pile full of multiple components poses no risk to you and would be far easier to manage and more beneficial to the gardens - all of them.

Dave

The manure of even healthy animals, and humans, can potentially carry disease pathogens. Even our pets, the domestic dogs and cats, can carry disease pathogens that will adversly affect you and your family with no signs and symptoms. If you do compost this material you need to be sure that the pile it goes in reaches fairly high temperatures and holds them long enough to kill those potential disease pathogens. Many people mistakenly think that healthy people, and animals, do not carry disease pathogens, but just reading the story of Typhoid Mary should be enough to cause concern.

I also wash my food before I eat it. Well except when I sneak a few peas or berries while working in the garden.

There is a multiple step approach that gives me the confidence to compost dog poo... my dogs are healthy, I wash my food, AND I am not eating dirt or compost, so I don't have a problem with composting dog poo. But its not for everyone. If you are not comfortable with it, don't do it.

I have composted my dog's poop directly in my compost pile along with chicken parts, fish parts and small dead animals. The poop and other questionables are put in the very hot center of the pile where they disappear very quickly and with the 140-160F heat I am never worried about viruses, parasites or bacteria. The hot composting of dog poop especially of my spoiled indoor well cared for dogs is not even an issue. All the worry that people have is more perception than science about this subject. In Alaska a study was performed on how to safely compost sled dog manure and it turned out to be a very safe and clean way of disposing of it. To each his/her own, but dog food is expensive and atleast this way the dogs are giving something back I can use. I use this compost on everything including veggies and fruit beds.

Seems a little risky to me, I think maybe I'd have the compoost tested. I wouldn't hesistate to use it on ornamentals and keep a seperate pile for the veggies.

There is no significant risk if the poop and other stuff like fish and meat are composted properly and well cured. I have yet to have a problem and my wife who is a micro biologist found no pathogens in several tests she did on our finished compost. Key word is "finished" compost since it needs enough time to break down properly. In fact, farmers are being encouraged to compost whole dead animals like cows, pigs and poultry and when the compost has been finished it is spread on the fields with no problems. Now, if the compost was not allowed to become finished or aged in the fashion of Asian Night soil, then you would have a problem. Having the right amount of high carbon materials covering the poop is key too since it should be well insulated by the other compost materials to prevent odors and pests. This isn't a problem with a home composter for 3-4 dogs with an average sized pile, 5 or more dogs will require a larger set up. Putting some dog poo in your pile and covering it up to compost will not cause any problems if done with common sense and again, there is the "perception" that it is bad under any circumstances, but this is simply not true.

You mention Asian Night soil.

I lived in Korea when I was a kid , and the smell was horrible. After about a month we got used to it and didn't notice it any more. I know that they fertilized the rice paddies w/ honey buckets.

Buckets kept under the outhouse hole in the floor. I don't find any thing w/ google and to the best of my knowledge it went straight into the paddy.

I wonder if any one has better knowledge, it seems the humanure book is way past what they did.

Yes, that is a huge difference between the honey pot method of Asian night soil that is raw waste that has not been treated and composted human manure that has been aged and composted with the right amount of plant material. In the end the human compost is harmless, the same can not be said for "night soil" which can be a health hazard. Composting basically renders any manure safe if given enough time and can be done with no leaching ordors. My composting dog poop has yet to cause ANY problems in my garden.

I shake my head when I read "no significant amount of disease"...

Dogs and other animals have in them, certain pathogens that can very well harm humans when they confront them.
What is a "significant" amount of disease?

If you are too lazy to pick up the poo and dispose of it properly, then go ahead, put it into the compost and feed the compost to your vegetable garden and feed what comes out of that to your kids.

And one day wonder...."now how in h..name did he get sick...I wash all my food?

The mind is a terrible thing to waste........but evidently...

I guess you should put on a protective gown, rubber gloves and wear a mask before you finish up in the bathroom too to avoid "ANY" risk of being exposed to pathogens. If properly done and aged well, human manure and dog manure can be composted safely and used in the garden. I have done it for over 20 years with NOT ONE INCIDENT of humans getting sick. Use common sense and best composting practices with these manures and you will stay out of trouble. If you don't, then I would agree that it would be a risk like the use of night soil. Many US servicemen in Asia came home with parasites from exposure to fields that were covered with night soil and then the fields dried out and got dusty. The men breathed in or ingested the dust with the eggs of worms or other parasites in it and they either got sick, or had a new "buddy" coming home with them. This occured in WWII, Korea and in Vietnam. My Dad was a Vietnam era US Air Force doctor and he said it was common and told me the US Army and Peacecorps in Vietnam encouraged and trained the farmers there how to compost their waste first before putting it in the fields. Incidents went down after that program was instituted, but alas, it was not followed by all farmers. My point is, if done properly with dogs you know that go to the vet regularly and are fed inside, there should be no problem of the composting process is done correctly. Nothing is ever 100% sure and even regular composting with no dog poop carries its risks.

I am one to trust a person who I believe has earned a place in society by proving one way or another of the qualifications he/she speaks on matters that may affect me and other people.

When someone in a garden forum can put letters or other sign of respect after his name for the subject at hand, then I'll accept it as an opinion of someone who has earned the respect.

Since every person who speaks on the subject of such pathogens in pest poo suggests that it does indeed pose a danger to adding it to composts that are given to gardens of food sources, then I gotta believe they know what they're talking about.
WE can make wild suggestions about such veracity of statments and not have to prove it....and goes on to suggest not one incident has come from their actions, is just that....a balloon of hot air that comes down to earth sooner or later.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste

So is good clean dog poo. ;-)

jeannie7: I have consulted with PhDs, MS and MD degreed folks on this, plus I have reviewed data from many institutional sources that indicate that pet and human manure can be composted safely. I don't know what else to tell you, besides what I have experienced in over 20 years composting, gardening and eating home grown veggies and fruits. If you are afraid to do it, don't, but that does not mean that it can not be done safely under the right conditions.

joepyweed: LOL! Good one!!!

I did a bit of searching last month after reading another GW dog waste thread.

The CDC site and the Eugene Oregon composting site were both wary of using composted dog poop.

The Eugene compost expert ran tests on cold compost pile material that had been aged an additional year. The tests came back positive for three or four different things.

Of course they found "things", but the question is "which things"... and are those things any different that could be found in any soil or compost. And are those things that would be washed away, when I washed the food.

And did they compost MY dogs poo, where I know what exactly what they've been eating and I know their health status.

For the past 40 years I have had a dog kennel and compost every poop I can get my hands on aqnd all other organic material that is suitablea couple time a year I buy a bag of REd Wiggler worms and put them to work their is no smell or down sides to this practice.

That is the key, it comes from your dogs that are taken to the vet and well cared for. I too have PROPERLY composted dog manure and even human manure after a hurricane took out the plumbing temporarily. To date we have had ZERO problems from eating food crops grown with my dog manure infused compost. The key to composting it properly is keeping it in the hot part of the pile for 5-10 days. It completely disappears in the pile as the heat and good bacteria break it down. Using proper techniques it is very safe and easy to compost dog manure. If it bothers you for some perceived safety or health threat, then by all means have the garbage collector haul it away to the landfill. I won't waste good poo and make it a valuable component of my compost.

"Things" is this case are:

Here is what we found.

At One Year: Helminth Ova Assay: 8 viable Helminth Ova/4 grams total solids. At 18 months: Helminth Ova Assay: 2 viable Helminth Ova/4 grams total
solids.

At One Year: Salmonella Assay: 2.4 MPN / 4 grams total solids. At 18 months:
Salmonella Assay: less than .84 MPN / 4 grams total solids.

At One Year: Fecal Coliform Assay: 330,000 MPN / gram total solids. At 18
months: Fecal Coliform Assay: 620 MPN / gram total solids.

At One Year: Total Solids Assay: 46.1%
At 18 months: Total Solids Assay: 36.2%

In short, While Fecal and Salmonella levels decreased over time, and even
viable Helminth Ova numbers decreased from 8 to 2, that is still 2 too many
for me to feel comfortable recommending backyard composting of pet waste.

We have not done any further testing. We don't recommend composting petwaste to the public based on this information. I include picture of viable toxocara ova found in our pet waste compost when I teach Composting 101 to
our new Master Composters. The risks are real. More testing certainly
needs to happen before best practices recommendations can be made to the
public. For now we recommend burial, and landfilling.

Anne Donahue
Compost Specialist
City of Eugene Planning and Development Department

Translation anyone? If anyone feels they would like to discuss the info, maybe they could include a sentence or two about their expertise as well.

Fecal coliform and Salmonella are present in other things that we are told are "good" to compost like egg shells and horse/chicken and cow manure. No raitos of materials is given or length of time at what temperature for thermophillic composting. Also, infected animals for the worm parasites presence is mute since well cared for pets DO NOT carry the parasite from regular trips to the vet. What controls and methods were used for this test. Seems long on conclusions, but under what conditions? Proper composting of pet waste from your dogs should be fine.

Thanks everyone for replying. I didn't realize it was such a hot issue (I know, bad pun).

Anyways, expanding on what I was trying to say in my OP, we do NOT compost the dog poop itself. We toss it. The husband is non-negotiable on this one.

My concern was with the dog poop remains stuck to the grass that got sucked up into the mulch bug. I had insisted the mulch bag contents be put on the flowerbeds and not into the "good" veggie garden compost.

After reading everybody's posts and talking it over with the hubby, I've decided I was going overboard -- it happens every now and then.

We will continue to bag and trash the dog poop (I respect my husband's wishes). The dog poop remains that are mashed into the grass will get sucked into the mulch bag and then placed either as mulch on any garden bed or into the compost. We will no longer discriminate. :)

Thanks again everyone,

Cindy