One of the issues we faced travelling with a dog while trying to reduce the waste we created and not wanting to leave garbage in the many communities we visited across Canada was poop; Piper’s poop to be precise.
So here was the challenge of being a responsible pet owner and trying not to make garbage while staying in hotels and being in unfamiliar communities.
While Piper may think toilets are wonderful water fountains and great places to drop balls into, she is not about to sit on it and read the morning paper. Instead she prefers that walk and think about it approach that produces going on the go.
Leaving mounds of poop in the place that nature called was out of the question.
Using the regular biodegradable plastic bags to pick up Piper’s donations to our cause and placing the plastic and poop in the garbage was highly problematic. Many hotels and other establishments do not have outdoor garbage receptacles to access and even some areas do not have garbage cans. More importantly the poop would go to the landfill to be buried and the biodegradable plastic needs oxygen to degrade.
Piper is larger dog so carrying poop in a napkin was not an acceptable alternative.
While we can create a dog poop composting system at home for travelling carrying composting dog poop in a car in the summer across Canada seemed an olfactory nightmare.
With some research we came up with a solution. We discovered that there were flushable dog waste bags. They are made of water soluble film.
We were unable to find these in pet stores so we had to order directly online. We found two manufacturers and ordered from both.
Flush Puppies Doodie bags was the superior product of the two. While the other product came in small rolls, we found them more difficult to pull apart and any moisture droplets caused holes in the bags.
The bags are white and hold large portions. Even when Piper had heat tummy issues in Nelson the bag managed to hold a double helping while climbing the hills back to the bathroom in the room. There is a no problem with toilet blockage (if the toilet takes yours; it will take your dog’s). A tip is to not tie a knot in the bag so you have a balloon in the bowl.
These bags can also be used with septic systems. The film is also used to coat those laundry detergent capsules and pharmaceuticals
Yes, we carried filled bags through the lobbies of hotels to flush and our trips to restaurants and park restrooms included a Piper bag deposit. Sometimes we had to carry and save the bag until we reached a rest stop.
It was all part of our Zero Waste road trip- poop happens.
