we did a 'trial' at the local compost education site on pet waste - buried a plastic trash can so it stuck a few inches out of the ground, added some wet coarse sawdust, some worms, and 'donations' - every addition got lightly covered with some carbon, sawdust, paper, etc - never filled up

I'd think in clay you might get by without the container, but it does help prevent any leaching or dilution, and usually a hole in clay will fill with water in a good rain

Bill

I have seen several quite successful systems for dog poop that just use a hole in the ground. As noted above, you really can just keep adding material. The worms and other soil critters keep it going down. I saw an interesting system of this sort near a beach in California. The locals wanted to encourage owners to pick up after their pets, but did not want to have trash cans filled with the products. They put a metal trash can with the bottom removed into the ground just above the beach, and provided nominally degradable bags for the poop to be picked up with. (You put your hand in the bag, pick up the poop, and turn the bag inside out.) The system had been in use for almost two years, and seemed to work fine. I'm told it really improved the ambience of the beach. I think that folks put seaweed over the materials periodically as they returned from the beach. If the hole were to fill up, it would not be a big deal to dig another.
Renais

We have one in the backyard made from a 5 gallon plastic pail with 1/2 inch holes in the bottom. Maybe should have cut the bottom out, but oh well. We just lay the lid on top to keep out flies and visiting children.

This is our second summer using it and it's just over half full. We are frozen here for 5 months, so we don't use it during the winter. The poop just won't break-down when the bactiria are frozen and because of the size, it would fill up quite quickly.

We layer the poop with dry stuff (leaves, shedded newspaper) and I've just started wetting it when I think it needs it. We also have a cat who is an remarkable hunter. The carcases of the animals he kills (often mice, moles, pigions and once a crow) and scatters all over the backyard also go into this bucket.

This spring we got some worms, soooo I'm going to add some when the night time air temps stay above freezing.

Anita

I thought there was some concern about parasites/diseases that can possibly be carried in dog poop. Is this system strictly for environmental purposes or do worms take care of the parasite/disease issue?

I like the idea of digging a hole and covering it...can you just leave it there for the benefit of the lawn, maybe even move it around to spread the benefit?

Pet wastes do carry some pathogens that you wouldn't want to leach into your water supply or into your vegetable garden. Most of these germs would be eliminated or neutralized during the composting process and the rest would be passed into the soil and eventually disappear. So you would want to locate your bucket or pit far away from areas that could seep into your food or water sources.

Before you locate your system, watch the next rainfall to see which way the runoff goes and then locate your system on the downhill side of your veggies. If you have a well just make sure your system is not within about 90 feet of the head since that's your seepage radius and it would be a little farther on the uphill side. Cheryl

Alright, I dug my hole today. We'll see what happens. So far I've gathered that you layer the poop with browns, is that right?

Anything else that can be added in? I have a regular compost pile also so a lot of my browns and greens, other than poop, goes into that.

Watching thread closely, as I have 2 Border Collies.

I bought a doggie digester a long time ago, but never used it, since it said on clay it was not good. (same idea as a bin with bottom cut out buried etc, with a liquid that is called "Digester"). I've got worms now (Worm Factory stacking system with 4000+ reds), and am interested to throw some in a hole with the barker's eggs to see what will happen.

Have heard that you need to season the dropping for a couple of weeks so as to avoid killing the worms (from worming dog treatments). Is this a problem for the above mentioned system?

Cheers & thanks.
Jay

I would be concerned if you use a de-worming treatment on your dog, to put it into the earth?

I am watching this thread closely and since my dogs take heartguard every month I wonder how reds would do after it starts to decompose.

On the issue of pathogens... I've read several suggestions of basically cooking the waste prior to putting it in the worm bin, mostly with disgusted responses.

Would it not work actually cook the finished worm castings after being processed? This would avoid much of the ick factor and while it would kill many of the good micro-organisms in the castings, it seems most people composting pet waste are doing it simply to get rid of it than to make great fertilizer.

There would still be plenty of good things for the plants left in the castings without the dangerous pathogens so I would think you could actually use this on edible plants afterwards. Even the Toxoplasma Gondii present in cat feces can be killed by getting it up to the right temperature.

OK, WYZARD360, all I can think of is the hilarity factor of cooking pet waste. The 'ick' occurred second. I'm still chuckling here. Cheryl

I have my kennels under a stand of very tall spruce trees. When I clean the kennels, I estimate that I flush over 50% of the dog waste and all of the tree litter off of the slab and onto the soil under the trees. About twice a year the debris piles up about 4" and I rake it up. I spread some of it under my blueberries and pile the rest aside where it rots for at least another month before layering it into the hot compost pile.

While it sounds gross and smelly, it isn't. The pine needles dominate the mix. The worm activity is enormous, and the end product is surprisingly earthy. I don't work the soil under the blueberry bushes with my hands. By the time I've finished hot composting the rest, it's so old and processed, I figure it's safer to handle than using a public restroom.

Hi to all, im wondering if anyone can answer some of my questions. I help run a dog rescue center in in the south of spain were the climete for the best part of the year is quite hot wear tempretures can reach up to 47 degres ct but as we are 1000mtrs above sae level we can also experience very sevier winters. We have about 70 dogs under our care and we have capacity for up to 30 bording dogs, so it would be fair to say that we can fill a 50ltr container per day on averidge. The sistem we have in place disgusts me on a enviromental level and ovious concers for owr health, so how many containers do u think it would recuire to sostain the amount of waste thats produced, also can the bins be placed above gruond level as the ground here is like concrete and allthought im 23 an would like to think im fit and strong i dont know that i could dig that deap, ha ha. Please can some one help as the must be a solution to owr problem. thanks

They do make a composting cone, basically what others are making and doing already.

Here is a link that might be useful: Compost cone

I am going to add my 2 cents here re: dog waste - I live in SoCal (near the beach) and there is a huge problem with contaminating our ground water (and then the beaches - ocean) when dog waste is not disposed of properly. It adds e.coli, other bacteria, viruses, and parasites - and in some cases so much that the beaches have to be closed. I think composting it (with worms) is a fabulous idea and one that helps this situation.

Those areas where the waste is just buried - or even left on the ground - and not combined with other things (worms etc) to compost the wastes are actually adding concentrated matter to the area and thus not really solving the problem. Pet waste (uncomposted) - contaminates our ground water - and eventually rivers, lakes, and the ocean. It also decreases the oxygen supply in the water - and kills fish. There is also an issue of accelerated algae and weed growth.

So I commend you all for composting dog/pet waste instead of adding to the problem.