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Today's Featured Biography
Joshua SANTANA
"Somebody has to do it,' Ashley Davis said about a growing business where the partners never rise above the ground floor.
"When people ask us what we do, we always get a double-take like, 'Huh. What did you say?' said Josh Santana, Davis' fiance.
For P.A.W.S. Poop-Scoopin', it is exactly what it is.
Many people who have dogs prefer not to make it their business to clean up after their pooches do their business.
It happens.
Thus, the idea for Professional Animal Waste Services, or P.A.W.S., arose about a year ago.
"I researched it for a while and talked to a friend at the Humane Society about a cleanup service,' said Santana, 31. "I saw an ad on the Internet for this kind of services and thought, why not do it here? We started looking into it as a way to make extra money.'
After an extremely cold and long winter, the couple, in their second year of stoopin' and scoopin' -- they also offer cat litter-box cleaning, sidewalk cleaning, deck washes, deodorizing sprays for urine, plus repellent -- have been busy with spring cleaning on customers' properties.
"We do this year round, and for some of our customers, we have been cleaning all winter, so they don't get hit up with a big spring-cleaning price,' Santana said.
"One day of work on a Saturday or Sunday with the two of us takes 12-13 hours of hard work, and the average house has between 100 to 200 pounds from sitting out there all winter long. A lot of people don't have the time or are just unable or don't want to do it."
Fees for cleanup vary, but, with a discount coupon, spring cleanup for a fenced yard that's smaller than an acre probably runs about $50.
The couple, Strong Vincent High School graduates who have five children ages 1 through 9, use rakes, hoes, and bleach-based disinfectants to sanitize the feces that are put into trash bags and then trash cans.
They clean their tools and shoes after every job before they leave for the next client.
Dog waste can contain fecal coliform bacteria, the eggs of roundworms and other parasites, as well as other substances that can cause serious illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If not disposed of properly, these substances can endanger humans and animals who come into contact with it. It also might run off into drains, streams and other nearby bodies of water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
"People don't understand how harmful it is to have dog waste sitting in the yard, where a dog or child can step into it and bring it in the house,' Santana said.
Davis, 32, said the process of walking, stooping and scooping demands cross-checking for stools.
"One of us walks east-to-west, the other goes north-to-south, and we go over the yard twice and check each other's work,' she said. "When he's not with me, (Santana has a regular day job), I will go over the yard twice. Sometimes you miss things because of the angles or the reflection of the sun, so we double-check.'
Stefanie Kazmierczak, who owns a Great Dane-German shepherd mix, a very large dog, found P.A.W.S. Poop-Scoopin' on Facebook and called them for a cleanup.
"I normally would take care of it, but we had such a long, cold winter, and there was no way I was going to do it,' Kazmierczak said. "They did a great job. Sometimes there are mounds that flatten out and are hard to see, and they caught everything.'
As Davis said, "Anytime we finish a yard, we give customers a card, saying, 'Your mounds are trashbound.'"
"We give free estimates based on the size of the yard, size of the dogs and waste in the yard, and we've averaged about five spring cleanups a day," Santana said. "We have a weekly service based on how many dogs (a client has) and yard size."
Davis and Santana are looking to build a reputation and to branch out to different areas such as parks, event venues and housing associations. Wherever they sign on, there's reason to believe that they might, well, doo-doo a steady business.
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