Turning Poop Into Profit

What's a homeowner to do? More people across the country are calling dog waste pickup services-turning the landscape sideline into a kind of growth industry.

Computer programmer Steve Relles found something to do when his job was outsourced to India.

It was right under his nose. Relles has spent the past year making his living scooping up dog feces as the "Delmar (New York) Dog Butler."

"My parents paid for me to get a degree in math and now I am a pooper scooper," Relles, a 42-year-old married father of two told the Reuters news service. "I can clean four to five yards in a hour if they are close together."

Relles, who lost his computer programming job about three years ago, got the idea of cleaning dog dirt from people's back yards from Mark Booth, a friend in Buffalo, New York.

Ralles has over 100 clients who pay $10 each for a once-a-week cleaning of their yard.

Relles competes for business with another local company called "Scoopy Do." Similar outfits have sprung up across America, including Petbutler.net, which operates in Ohio.

Also in Ohio, a Galion couple recently started their own poop-scoop operation. After dating for two years, a couple that identified themselves as Dave and Stacey went into business and now call themselves Pooperscoopers Inc. The pair will pick up your dog poop for a $26 monthly fee.

In the United States, there are about 63 million dogs, each laying about 23 "landmines?EUR??,,????'?? per week, which can be unsafe for children, pets and local waters.

Relles says his business is growing by word of mouth and that most of his clients are women who either don't have the time or desire to pick up the droppings.

"St. Bernard (dogs) are my favorite customers since they poop in large piles which are easy to find," Relles said.

His "scooper" is a converted ice scrapper duct-taped to a ski pole. He flicks the poop into a dust pan lined with a plastic bag, then loads the waste into a large garbage can which he takes to the dump when full.

"It sure beats computer programming because it's flexible, and I get to be outside," he said.