 Couple Does Canine Dirty Work By Sarah Umphlet
It all started in May when Todd and Jennifer Vogel opened Dog-Gone-It Pet Waste Removal. Essentially, the duo comes in and cleans up after man’s best friend. “We have three dogs ourselves and are also involved in the Henrico Humane Society so we know a lot of dog owners,” said Vogel. “One night while we were attending a humane society meeting, one of the members asked if anyone knew if there was a pooper-scooper service in Richmond. My wife checked into it and found there weren’t any. “We had thought about starting our own business for quite a while, but could never agree on what we should do. When we saw there was a need in Richmond for this type of service, we decided to go for it.” Researching the idea was relatively easy – there was material on the internet and a book by a successful scooper in the Cleveland area, Vogel said. The couple also recently joined APAWS in June. APAWS, the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists, has a website dedicated to the profession and includes a pooper-scooper database so citizens can find one in their area. The Vogels say they went through several possibilities before settling on the name Dog-Gone-It. “We wanted something catchy and fun,” Vogel added. Dog-Gone-It services parts of the city of Richmond, all of western Henrico County and some parts of Hanover. The business currently has 15 clients, and the Vogels are still trying to get the word out. The Vogels charge $10 per week for one dog and $4 for each additional dog. There is a one-time initial clean-up charge of $20 in addition to the weekly service fee. They also offer a discount to the elderly and people with assistance dogs. Most clients, Vogel said, prefer weekly service but bi-weekly and monthly service schedules are available as well. The process isn’t very time consuming. “It takes anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes depending on the number of dogs and the size of the yard. First-time clean-ups can take an hour or more,” said Vogel. No special tools are needed, either. “We use a janitors dust pan and a small shovel or rake to scoop with, along with plenty of garbage bags. The job isn’t tough, but dealing with the weather can be at times,” Vogel said. The Vogels double-bag the waste and take it to the county dump. They contacted the landfill beforehand to see what the regulations were regarding the disposal of pet waste. To prevent the transfer of diseases to themselves or to other dogs, the Vogels use a veterinarian strength disinfectant to spray down the equipment and shoes in between cleanings. And though owners love the service, some dogs do not. “If the dog will not allow us to enter the yard we will try to make an arrangement with the owner to have the dog in the house when we are there to clean the yard. We treat all situations like that on an individual basis,” Vogel explained. However, there is still a fear that he or Jennifer could be bit by a disgruntled pooch. “There is always that possibility. But as in all things, some common sense goes a long way,” Vogel said. “You can usually tell if a dog is going to bite or is just protecting his territory by watching the dog’s reaction to you.” Dog-Gone-It holds a liability insurance policy that covers the business. “Our greatest fear is a dog getting loose on our watch. We would be devastated if a member of someone’s family got out and got hit by a car or something equally terrible,” Vogel said. Though the Vogels have three dogs (Petey, Bear and Casey) and two cats (Johann and Misty), the business, has only two employees: Todd and Jennifer. “We hope that eventually we will grow enough to hire a couple of employees. Our immediate plans are to get around 60 customers so one of us can concentrate solely on the business. Then we’ll try to grow to 140-200 customers so we can expand to a small office and hire someone. Our long range plan is to trademark the Dog-Gone-It name and possibly franchise our business model,” Vogel explained, but added, “that is a long way off.” But for now the duo will simply continue spreading the word about their business. “For a reasonable price Dog-Gone-It does the chore nine out of 10 dog owners detest – and the tenth one is lying,” Vogel joked. To learn more about the pooper-scooper profession, visit APAWS on the web at http://www.apaws.org/. |
It’s
a dirty job but someone has to do it. And thanks to a new Henrico based business, that
someone doesn’t have to be you.