When winter rolls around, it’s tempting to get lazy with your dog poop clean up. Heck, it’s easy to get lazy with it all the time. That said, as temperatures cool and getting back inside becomes priority number one, it may be even more important to clean up after your dog, and to give your yard one final deep clean before snow falls.
Here are a few reasons to take extra care in cleaning up your yard before a snowy winter.
The winter poop fairy does not exist
This fact sounds obvious, but it’s important to clarify nonetheless. What we mean is: nothing is going to magically deactivate or disintegrate your yard’s dog poop when the snow covers it all up. While ice and snow certainly slow bacterial growth when freezing dog poop, this is like hitting the pause button, and the regular health hazards of leaving poop in a yard will reappear after the winter.
Spring is coming… with a vengeance
The fact that spring immediately follows winter, the season when many dog owners neglect to clean up dog poop, is almost poetic. Spring is a famously wet season, and wet weather has a tendency to make dog poop much more difficult to clean up. Also, running water from heavy rains or seasonal flooding can carry dog poop into water sources, polluting water meant for human consumption. Sounds like mother nature’s revenge on the irresponsible dog owner!
Start by cleaning your lawn entirely in the fall, when the weather is more conducive to cleaning dog poop. During the winter, be diligent about cleaning your pup’s poop. You’ll be doing yourself a favor when April’s showers arrive.
Melting snow is a bacteria highway
In addition to spring rainstorms, melting snow will inevitably wet your yard, making dog poop very difficult to remove, and creating a hotbed for hazardous bacteria in your lawn. This poop-infected snowmelt can hurt plant growth in your yard and pollute important waterways as well!
In addition to these reasons for keeping a clean yard before winter, its important to remember that responsible dog ownership is simply the ethical move. While a neighbor may not notice your dog’s forgotten poops when they are buried in snow, the poop-sicles will be an unwelcome surprise come spring.
So do the safe, green, and neighborly thing, and always clean up after your pet!