Did you clean up after your dog? This DNA company could find out if you didn’t
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BLACKFOOT — A neighborhood in Blackfoot has found the solution to unscooped dog poop littering the community.
PooPrints is a company based out of Knoxville, Tennessee that specializes in DNA dog waste management. The company’s client base is more than 8,000 multi-family units, and five properties in Idaho Falls and Blackfoot are on that list.
One of the newest clients is Chaparral Meadows in Blackfoot.
“I’m not happy that we have to deal with this problem, but I am excited that we have a solution to the problem,” property owner Jolene Huseby says.
PooPrints operates similarly to a DNA ancestry test. The company has a record of DNA attached to dogs and their owners, and can match a sample sent in by a property owner to the database.
Business development director Patrick Kenneally says the company doesn’t keep a record of the dog’s breed in the database, and they don’t sell that data to advertisers. Rather, they build a community profile of every dog in a multi-family living area.
When a maintenance employee finds unscooped dog poop on the property, they use a sample kit to scrape off a small amount, put it in a solution that kills bacteria and allows the sample to stabilize.
The property owner mails the sample and in within seven to 10 days, PooPrints will let them know the dog it came from.
Chaparral Meadows is still in the early stages of implementing the program.
As of Friday, Huseby had taken a sample from one dog on the property. She plans to schedule time with the rest of her tenants.
While “not all of (her) tenants are thrilled about this,” she says her property has needed it for awhile.
“It’s totally disgusting looking,” Huseby said. “It’s horrible and it doesn’t matter who I talk to, everybody claims they clean up after their dog.”
Kids will frequently step in dog poop while they’re playing outside, she says, and people have to watch where they walk.
Huseby regularly receives complaints from residents who don’t own a dog about the amount of waste on the property.
“It’s just not fair for those that don’t have dogs,” Huseby said.
Kenneally says PooPrints will help Chaparral Meadows manage this problem.
“When you implement a dog waste management program like this, it really promotes responsible pet ownership,” Kenneally said.
Property owners may decide not to allow pets because of the hassle with unscooped waste. One of the benefits of PooPrints is how it helps keep multi-family communities pet friendly, says Kenneally.
Kenneally said the number one driver for new customers to PooPrints is referrals.
“(Residents) love it because they’re no longer falsely accused of not picking up after their dog, or even maybe feeling the need to pick up after another dog. So they can walk their dog with confidence that they’ve done nothing wrong,” Kenneally said.
They’ve even heard from property owners that there was an immediate improvement once they announced the program.
Huseby plans to enforce this by having the owner of the identified dog pay for the test they send in. The price around the country varies, but the average cost is around $78.
“If I see it on camera and I confront them, they go clean it up, but that doesn’t stop them from doing it the next time,” Huseby said.
She expects residents to start taking it more seriously now.
As PooPrints continues to expand, they’ve even gotten inquiries from municipalities and met with them to discuss what the process would look like.
Over time, Kenneally says the idea of a company like PooPrints has become more normal, and he expects the company to keep on expanding.
“I do think it’s only a matter of time before DNA eventually becomes part of the registration process for the town,” Kenneally said.