To want to burn our puppy poo garden

I have never restricted my children from playing in the garden and yes, the dog poos there. This isn't something to be getting worked up about.

Hope you are feeling reassured OP.
Just as a note you don't need a vet to test for worms. I have used a site called www.wormcount.com
You send them a poo sample you get get an e mail listing types of worms and if any are present in your dog's sample.
I'm not saying it's needed, especially if pup is regularly wormed but it might be useful to someone.

Oh OP every outside grassy area you or your kids walk on, sit on and play on will have been pooed or weed on by dogs, cats and other wild animals.

OP - it's all the OCD. Dog owners without OCD pick up the dog poo in their gardens and give no further thought to it.

Immediate pick up, no contamination. Your kids will be fine. Once your puppy can go for walks, it will poo elsewhere - obvs, you'll still pick up, but it won't have the same worrying effect. If you keep your dog wormed (though don't overdo it, follow the vet's advice) - your kids will be fine.

What a lovely post, acknowledging the helpful MN people.
I had been about to spout all sorts of reassuring crap, but not needed now - enjoy your puppy and accept your children will be rolling in all sorts in the garden, at parks, in a swimming pool..... its normal, and on the whole, healthy🙂

Oh, hadn't thought of that?

@alwaysalwayssomething was that you??

Not sure it was I think the age of the children are very different, that could be 'tweaked' for posting?!

If it wasn't you, I wonder what the other woman decided to do??

Because OCD doesn't work like that. U can't anti back a living lawn. That will feed an anxiety and then OP will be going to further and further lengths to 'decontaminate' a living lawn. You can't make a living plant free of bacteria.

Why do you think young puppies would be worse?

I think it's good to prove it with your own dog going in a particular spot in the garden, but I'm afraid you're being very silly not to let your children play in the garden, they play out everywhere else and the chances of them getting ill from anything in your garden is tiny. Keep your own dog wormed and just get on with life this is why getting a dog was suggested not so you could keep your kids in the house!!

We hose area down after poo. We use some washing up liquid that doesn't affect the grass. Dog wee also, as it causes yellow patches. I think you can buy special dog waste cleanser for lawns.

If it reassures the OP then why is that funny? She’s obviously quite stressed.

Lol at antibacterial treatment for real grass 🤣🤣🤣

This is your OCD looking for reassurance.
So I'm not going to give you any, because you know it doesn't help long term. There is no certainty and with OCD we have to lean into that and accept it. I know it's easier said than done, it's hard.

I'd really recommend fighting the compulsions to Google/Reddit/Mumsnet reassure seeking.

Long term I think dog owning will be fantastic for you ( full on exposure therapy 😅)
Really wishing you well OP and I hope you begin to really enjoy the dog experience.

Massive hugs 🤗

just treat the puppy for worms with a preventative tablet, the kids will be fine! Let them play in the garden. I guess you're the same OCD person who decided not to return the puppy to the breeder in the end...

@alwaysalwayssomething I find fears are easier managed if you understand the details a bit more!

I’ve never been overly concerned, although obviously if there’s residue left then I would hose that area. But I have friends who do worry about this and some have fenced off the children’s play area so dog cannot get in, others have put slabs in the dog area so it can be easily hosed off (one evening bleaches that area), another poo picks and sprays an eco-friendly antibac. I just wander out with a roll of biodegradable poo bags. We have a pedal bin round the side specifically for poo bags (lined with a thick bag) which gets emptied regularly.
I worry more about cat and fox poo - at least having the dog should warn these off!

Please dont do this.
A very won't test for worms if you're worming them
There is absolutely no need to keep your children indoors.

You need to address your OCD my love.

Our dog has pooped in the garden for 12 years. She’s never had worms, it’s always picked up right away, no one has ever become ill from it. My kids are out there for hours and hours playing.

Don’t keep the kids out of the garden. Kindly, this is how your own issues will start to rub off on them. This isn’t a dog issue, this is your mental health condition rearing its horrible head again.

This. Mine won't poo in the garden. As long as you take them out for morning and evening walks at good times, dogs are more likely to wait until then.

Don’t take the dog to be tested for worms, unless you have seen symptoms which make you think it might have worms. The problem is your intrusive thoughts, not the likelihood of the dog having worms. Getting the dog checked by the vet won’t help if the problem is OCD because your next thought will be ‘what if the test came back wrong?’ or ‘what if the dog has picked up worms since being tested 24 hours ago.’ You are doing everything right and the risk to your children is so minimal it is almost nil, the issue here isn’t that there is a high risk of them coming to harm, the issue is your anxiety/ intrusive thoughts. You need to continue to get help (eg: through extra therapy, increased medication) to hopefully manage the thoughts, not start restricting your children from normal activities or subjecting the dog to extra vet visits. You need to change your thought processes (easier said than done I realise) and not your behaviour around this risk, you are already doing enough by picking up the poo quickly and worming your dog.

Why have you jumped to that as a course of action, when posters have been reassuring you and giving you normal strategies? I think it's true that any worms your dog does have will stay inside it while they're alive and you're worming him, so any it poos out will have been killed by the medication. If he does poo out any live ones, they'll be dying already and won't live long in the open air anyway, even less so in the kind of heat we're having at the moment. Don't go making a ridiculous fuss at the vets - a vet who likes you and your pet is to be treasured and will stand you in good stead through the years but they're busy and don't take kindly to time wasters. I know you have OCD, but please don't let it run your life for you, and more importantly, don't let it affect your children's lives. If you're going to get rid of the puppy, which it sounds like might be where you're heading, do it now rather than later for its and your children's sakes. If you have diagnosed OCD, then I think you've been given appalling advice when you were told getting a puppy is a good idea. That's in the same school of therapy as telling someone with depression to "snap out of it". I'm totally sympathetic to you, I know how awful true OCD can be. I have a cousin who lost her children when they were very small (5 and 3) because of it. But please, please don't let it affect the life of your kids or the poor puppy.