To want to burn our puppy poo garden

[alwaysalwayssomething]

We got a tiny puppy a month ago - first dog, two smitten children, both under ten. We have a decent garden - the puppy wees at the side but has been pooing randomly in the garden and we just pick it up immediately.

Which I now realise was totally stupid as this is where the children play every day and now there are probably all sorts of nasties in the grass now just from the poo being there. I made a mistake of googling this and almost vomited reading things like worms lasting years in the soil that can cause blindness etc.

Full disclosure that I have severe OCD - ironically my therapist recommended the dog as helping from an exposure perspective. Instead, I now just want the kids to stay out of the garden for the next two years!

Can anyone please talk me down and / or give me some advice on whether this is a relative normal concern or just pure OCD? Even a handhold would be great. Thanks very much!

its still going to be in I would - like you - guess the millions OP. Obviously no one wants their children to roll around in dog shit but you’re picking up after your wormed dog, which is completely responsible. Train the dog to poo in only one bit and pick it up as you are doing. You’re doing everything right as it is; it’s your OCD that’s telling you you aren’t.

How do people train dogs to go in one spot?

Have your children never played in a park, anyone else’s garden? Did someone own the house before you? Did they ever have a dog?

You need to take a deep breath, otherwise you are going to be taking your poor dog to the vet every other day, restricting your DC and passing on your fears to them

@crumblingschools yes actually, DS plays football most days in a small green outside a group of houses near us. So you’re right, probably dog poo there too, maybe not young puppies though which are meant to be the worst

Thank you all for posting, it’s a comfort

Maybe you weren’t ready for a dog

Train using a word. no pee or poop unless on command with the word. Then only say the word when they’re in the designated spot. It’s how guide dogs are trained

do you have help with your mental health issue?

Maybe send the dog back to the breeder if it’s such an issue that you won’t let the kids in the garden. Not fair on the dog or your kids.

I definitely wasn’t but the kids had talked about getting one for years. There was never going to be a good time with the OCD.

This.
Is it really fair on your puppy, who will already be picking up on your anxiety?
For now you're fixated on poo and worms, but puppies are also active, playful and destructive.
Is the inevitable mess/destruction of a playful puppy going to set you on edge and restrict the puppy from normal activities as he grows up?

Seriously don't worry. My family have had dogs forever and no one has suffered because of the dog poo. You're being responsible, just let your children enjoy being children, no need to keep them inside.

@BCSurvivor will be fine with the chewing / chaos etc as my fixations are around extreme germ scenarios, wee on the floor or chewed anything wouldn’t bother me

Make a doggy toilet area - clean up any stray poos from when someone inevitably lets him out but doesn't take him to the toilet pen - worm regularly whilst a puppy (I don't think it necessary as an adult unless you feed wild caught game, have cats that go out (source of fleas = source of tapeworms) or otherwise go places your dog may catch fleas (flea treat your house annually, flea treat the dog if you see signs of fleas, this puts the majority of the chemical treatment on the house not the dog).

The chances of toxocara canis from tiny smears of dog poo in the soil are absolutely minute.

The eggs need to be in the poo (ie the shedding host needs to have not been wormed for some time/be eating wild caught meat - unlikely for your dog. Likely for a fox, cat, hedgehog.) - that poo then needs to sit on the soil at a consistent temperature and humidity for a week or two...too hot and dry and they won't activate.

If you're picking up straight away or even the next day, the eggs won't be activated.

So the risk is not zero, but it would not be zero if you didn't have a dog at all. As long as you worm appropriately, keep the garden clean and tidy, encourage the kids to wash hands before eating, not smear mud etc in their faces/eat mud... everyone will be fine.

The biggest risks for us are sandpits where cats crap, these often sit nice and moist and damp and kids often shove sand in their mouths or play in the sand and put fingers in mouths..

And eating wild caught game (rabbit, duck) that has eaten the eggs from a more hospitable environment (damp leafy riverbanks, woodland etc), that has not been cooked enough to kill any encysted worms.

@WiddlinDiddlin that is such a thoughtful and balanced post, thank you. Have been picking up immediately and the poos are still small which is a positive. Also positive is that the children are too old to eat mud, main risk will be from the hours outside of playing football.

The risk is not zero, but it would not be zero if you didn't have a dog at all is a good way of looking at it.

Do your children ever go outside, walk down the street, play over the park or go anywhere?

There are germs everywhere and your children are at no risk in playing in their own garden of being contaminated by your dogs poo unless they are picking it up and eating it or rubbing it in their eyes!

Your dog doesn’t need to be tested at the vet, but you do need to seek help for this severe and completely unnecessary worry about your children playing in your garden.

Why isn’t your husband reassuring g you that there is NOTHING ago be concerned about at all if you are picking the poo up?

Hose the grass down. Make the kids wash their hands when they come in. Humans and dogs have been cohabiting for centuries.

Just pick it up, it will be fine. Especially easy when it dries out a bit. No environment is pristine as a pp said.
I thought pets helped kids build immunity and be less likely to get allergies.

I was disgusted by it when we got our puppy and wiped and wiped where it was with loo roll and then ‘watered’ it in. But with time the disgust wore off and now I just pick it up. there are creatures in the garden that are cleaning up the remnants for you.

Just follow vet’s worming regime. Dog will probably keep other people’s cats out, which is good as you wouldn’t know it they were wormed anyway.

you will get used to it, let them play in the garden, just instill hand washing before eating, puppy was hard but having a dog best thing we’ve done, good luck!

A friend of mine has the garden segregated with a fence and a gate- kids play on the opposite side of the fence and dogs have the section in front of the gate to do their business to keep everything segregated. When the puppy is toilet trained you will know all of it’s cues so once it’s done it’s business and it’s all sorted it can go off through the gate to play with the kids and make use of the entire garden but it’s a good way of keeping the two separate! Didn’t cost much and works really well!

Also to add I have two dogs, three kids and no fence 😂 I keep them wormed and stay on top of the garden and no issues so far other then a very crowded garden 😂

Stop reading everything and panicking

I've done volunteer work with hedgehog rescues in the past. Their shit is unbelievably hideous and often riddled with parasites.

If you ensure your dog is wormed regularly, you ruminate the dog's risk to your children.

Also remember that plenty of detritivores will be eating up any remnants left on your grass. We live near a popular dog walking spot and the poos just disappear after a few days (entire ones). Make sure your garden is a healthy micro environment with lots of different plants, and it will all look after yourself.

Handwashing after playing in the garden is a good habit to instil anyway. And as puppy gets older, you’ll be walking it and it will be doing its business outside the garden most of the time.

OP this is not a problem. Thousands and thousands of kids play football and rugby on fields that have to be poo picked before the game starts - gross but not a problem. Your worker dog whose mess is picked up immediately is fine. The only time I have bothered is when they have had the runs then I have waited a few days or for some rain or hosepipes the area too after the clean up. Natures makes a mess too and children should naturally wash hands before eating but other then this their immune system benefits from the dog and from being outside.

This is part of the “joy” of dog ownership.

Grasping still warm shit.
Smears of toxic biohazard on the lawn.
Hairs everywhere.
Scratched furniture and plaster.
Bits of dogfood on the floor.

And people pay for this !!

But.. surely your kids roll around in grass, stomp in muddy puddles, run around playgrounds, go to the shops, sit on bus seats, go pond dipping, paddle in rivers, climb trees, touch everything in sight?
What makes you think the the world is sterile???

Your immune system is pretty fucking hard you know.