The Super Duper Pooper Scooper

Poop, there it is!

Scoop, there it is!

(with apologies to Tag Team)

Your dog is a machine, a biological machine that takes dog food and converts it into hair and poop. You are going to have to deal with both, in one way or another. This instructable deals with the poop, more specifically, large quantities of it. Your little bags and your tiny, pet store scooper may be adequate for the average, single, small dog household, but if you have reasonable numbers of larger dogs, you need more capacity. Yet the tools sufficient to address that task are not available in stores. After years of testing alternatives, I have arrived at an optimal solution: the Super Duper Pooper Scooper.

Like many families, we had one or two dogs for a long time. However, our pack ultimately grew to a total of six full-time residents: one miniature schnauzer, three standard schnauzers, and two giant schnauzers. At times, we have had additional foster dogs for a total of ten. That's a lot of poop production. I used to use a large grain shovel (with a "spade"), but it gets hard to carry as weight accumulates. I arrived at the ideal solution largely by chance, after seeing a large scoop dust pan at a big box hardware store.

Materials

Large Scoop Dust Pan, such as the Libman Model #1168: https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200836949_200836949?gclsrc=aw.ds&&utm_source=google_PPC&utm_medium=NT%20DSA%20Feed&utm_campaign=DSA%20Feed&utm_content=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkZiFBhD9ARIsAGxFX8Djfkadlivz2qusAhl6n6qwluiHYW9tAVQTrt5YZxBHO1XsbFD_-7QaAhanEALw_wcB

String trimmer loop handle

PVC pipe

sheet metal

1/4" machine screw and nut, 1.5" long

Bicycle handlebar tape or grips; crutch hand grip cushions

Tools

Hack saw

Screw driver

Electric drill

Vice

Tin snips

Scooping poop, AKA minesweeping, is a two-handed job. You need one hand to carry the scoop that holds the poop and another to manipulate a device (the "spade") that pushes the poop into the scoop. This device goes by various names that I just made up, such as fecal flicker, turd tipper, poop pusher, manure manipulator, doo-doo diddler, and others that I may make up as I go along. These spades are often sold at pet stores in combination with a small scoop that might be useful if you have a small dog, such as a Poodle-Shih Tzu cross (a "Shitsapoo"). If you can get a spade used and cheaply, you're in business. If you want to spring for a new one, more power to you. But they are easy to fabricate.

Take a piece of 3/4" to 1" schedule 40 PVC pipe and cut to the desired length. Forty-three inches is about right. Place the end in a vice and use a hack saw to make a 1" cut longitudinally down the middle of one end (see figure). Sand the rough spots off of the cut parts if you like. A light metal pipe can also be used, if available.

The sheet metal you use will probably depend on what you have lying around, but you need something fairly stiff and light. Cut a piece of sheet metal approximately 6" x 6" using tin snips. For a fancier spade, cut one end 6" wide for the bottom and taper it to 4 inches wide at the top. Place your metal piece in a vice 1" deep at the top end and bend it about 45 degrees. You may need to move the metal piece over and repeat the process. Insert the metal into the cut end of your pipe, snug it up against the end of the cut and center it. Find a machine screw that is 1/4" longer than the diameter of your pipe. A screw from 1/8" to 1/4" in diameter should do. Drill a hole of the same diameter as your screw through the pipe and metal about 1/2" from the end of the pipe. Insert the screw through the hole. Hold in place with a nut (see figure). A washer and lock washer are optional. You should need only one screw because the edge of the metal flush against the end of the cut in the pipe should keep it from rotating. For an extra-fancy spade, fold over 1/4" of metal along each side. A bending brake will make this easy. Otherwise, it's going to be difficult. This fold will improve the rigidity of the metal and hide the sharp edges.

You might think that you are done at this point, but if you live in a temperate climate, you will want to insulate the handle, especially if you have used a metal tube for the handle. Even with gloved hands, that pipe is going to chill your fingers terribly when it's 5 degrees F out. I have used bicycle handlebar tape effectively, wrapped around the end of the pipe. More recently, I've used old bicycle grips and an old crutch handle, as both were the proper diameter (see figure). The thicker the insulation, the warmer your hands will be.

The large scoop dust pan has all the capacity you could want, but it's not quite ergonomically designed for industrial poop scooping. You must find the loop handle from an electric string trimmer. Such trimmers are readily obtained at garage sales these days for next to nothing. You might be able to get one for free if it doesn't operate. Function doesn't matter in this case because all you want is the handle. I was at an auction where two string trimmers were cast aside because no one would bid even a dollar on them. Usually, the loop handle is held to the main handle by a small bolt with a wing nut. Loosen the wing nut and remove the handle. Attach the loop handle loosely to the handle of the dust pan below the bend, with the loop facing forward (see figure). Adjust the loop handle on the vertical axis so that when you are holding it with your arm fully extended, the dust pan clears the ground by an inch or two. Tighten it in that position. In this way, you will expend very little energy carrying the scoop around the yard. I've held as much as 13 pounds of dog poop in mine (yes, I measured it). Furthermore, when carried by the loop handle, the dust pan will tilt upward a bit, which helps prevent the dog poop from rolling out of the pan (see figure). Mine has a handy clip to hold the turd flicker when the unit is parked.

Timing is everything when it comes to scooping poop. You want to do it fairly often, so that there's not too much accumulation, but you also want to catch the ideal times. You want to scoop hard poop, not soft, gooey poop.

Scoop when it's frozen. If the forecast is for a freeze overnight, try to scoop the next morning. On the other hand, if the forecast if for a thaw, try to scoop before the temperature increases.

Scoop when it's dry. If rain is in the forecast, get out there and scoop before the poop becomes half dissolved. Yuck.

What to do with all the poop? You can put it in the trash of course, but there are other responsible means of disposable. Composting is an option if you have sufficient space. Those plastic composters you put in the ground are useless if you have many large dogs and if you live in a temperate environment where there is no decomposition during the winter. I live on a hobby farm, but my method should be possible in a large yard. Pile all of your poop in one place, right on the open ground, ideally far from the house and downwind. Given most of the US experiences primarily westerly winds, I put mine on the east side. Be aware of the drainage from the site when you are selecting it. For example, you don't want to put it uphill from a pond you swim in because that pond may experience a high bacterial load from the run-off. Put all the poop there for one year. Then start another pile, perhaps a short distance away. After the first pile has sat for a year with nothing added to it, it has composted to soil (see figure). You can put it on your garden or spread it somewhere. It's harmless, and makes good fertilizer. Then you can use that spot for the next pile, and so on, alternating back and forth between the two spots. I use my manure pile to dump the litter from other animals, such as chickens and pet rats. It's also good for fireplace ashes, banana peels and other organic matter that chickens won't eat. Sometimes I'll throw on some grass clippings or leaves, but I don't follow a strict composting formula.

"Ordinary average guy"

Joe Walsh