Green Dogs

It is not super easy to have an eco-friendly dog in the city. At least, it is not easy for us. Aside from the myriad food and treat containers (cans, bags, boxes, etc.), you also have to deal with the fact that your small furry creature cannot use the toilet.

(I know a couple who successfully trained their cat to use the toilet, which both impressed and freaked me out).

Dogs do all their pooping outside (hopefully), and in the city that means you have to reach down and pick up that poop and throw it in the trash. And since we don't really use plastic grocery bags anymore, we end up buying rolls of neatly perforated Poop Bags for this purpose.

The ridiculousness of this scenario has not escaped me.

We are BUYING plastic bags to use to carry poop around for 5 minutes. And then we throw it in the dumpster.

When Jackie and I watched the movie "Bag it" (a movie about single-use plastics, not dog poop, FYI), the guy used a handful of newspaper to pick up his dog's poop, then gently crumpled up the page of newsprint and tossed it in the trash. I like this idea, but we don't get the newspaper. So today I swiped a lazily discarded Chicago Tribune from the metra seat next to me on my way out the door to see if I could get used to the Newspaper Poop Grabber idea. I know it will take more than a little convincing to get Les to use paper to pick up after the Augster, but it's worth a shot.

And then today on ReNest, I saw info about dog poop bags that dissolve in water. They are called "Flush Doggy" bags.  Hmmm.... I like this idea better than newspaper scooping, but it still involves buying something to use to pick up poop. Definitely better than landfilling, but maybe just ask big an "ick" factor as using newspaper, and newspaper is free for the taking.

Of course, the convenience and neatness of rolled up plastic bags are a big selling point. Who wants to carry around old papers? But as I inch closer to sincerely desiring simplicity, economy, and gentle practices for every area of my life (rather than just telling myself that I SHOULD desire those things), this kind of unpalatable stuff seems less daunting.

Maybe if I can get myself to use discarded Tribs instead of purchased plastic poo bags, I can figure out a way to wean AugDog off of the pee pads that we have come to depend upon. Tiny dog + tiny bladder + long nights and not-quite-early-enough mornings = Thank Heaven for Pee Pads! The pee pads have saved a lot of paper towels, if you can rationalize it that way.

Right now the greenest thing about our dog is his blanket.