3 Reasons Why You Should Pick Up Dog Poop Before You Mow Your Lawn

Admit it: Picking up your dog’s waste isn’t a huge priority, especially during the winter months.

So why not just wait until the weather gets warmer when you can take care of it by mowing the lawn — after all, it’s no different than fertilizing your lawn, right?

Not so fast.

For starters, a lawnmower doesn’t get rid of poop. Instead, it shreds the fecal matter into tiny pieces, then distributes it all over your lawn. In some cases, the poop can affect the performance of your mower when it gets into crevices.

So you may no longer see or smell the dog poop, but it’s still there, everywhere. And that’s not only bad for your lawn and your mower, but it can also impact your health and the health of your beloved pooch.

Here are three reasons why you don’t want even the smallest traces of dog poop on your lawn.

It Can Ruin Your Lawn

Leaving dog poop behind is not like fertilizing your lawn. The opposite is true.

Dogs eat a high protein diet, and the process of breaking down the protein produces nitrogen. Dogs pass that nitrogen through waste. While plants need a bit of nitrogen to live, the amount in dog poop is too concentrated.

Instead of helping your grass, it actually burns it. With time, your luscious grass will start turning yellow and will eventually dry out.

2. It’s a health hazard

Pet waste is a lot more dangerous to your health than you might realize. According to the lawn care company GreenPal, one gram of dog waste can contain 23 million fecal bacteria and can include parasites and nasty bugs such as whipworms, E-coli, hookworms, and roundworms, corona, tapeworms, salmonella, and campylobacteriosis.

Think about all the times your kids or pets play in the yard. Now factor in what the CDC says: All it takes to catch any of these diseases or parasites is contact with the soil or grass.

The scary part is, that those parasites, viruses, and bacteria can stay in the soil for years.

3. It’s an Environmental Pollutant

Dog poop may seem harmless, especially as it dries up and the odor goes away. However, the Environmental Protection Agency considers dog waste an environmental pollutant in the same category as herbicides, toxic chemicals, insecticides, oil, and acid drainage.

When you let that poop sit on your lawn, the rainwater eventually drags it to local rivers and then lakes and oceans. Once there, the waste produces pathogens and nutrients that encourage the growth of weeds and algae in the water. This makes the water murky, greenish, smelly, and inhabitable.

Pooper scooper service near me

Just remember, it might be a hassle to remove all that waste from your backyard, but leaving it there isn’t healthy for your family, pets, mower, or your yard.

Too busy or just don’t have the stomach for it? Then contact your local pooper-scooper service. The rates are reasonable and, better yet, you’ll finally get full use of your yard again — just in time for your furry friends to make another mess!