Where there’s muck, there’s brass.
That’s certainly true for 37-year-old Emma Garner who makes her living as a full-time dog poo picker.
Emma left a stressful job with a national law firm to set up The Dog Poo Professionals, visiting dog owners at their homes across Huddersfield and West Yorkshire to clean up the mess left by their pets in the garden.
Now she says she’s earning more than she did as a claims adviser.
She said: “About three years ago, I read an article online about a guy who picked up poo for as living. I’ve kept dogs and horses all my life and I did that every day.”
After researching the topic, Emma started offering to clean up for people’s pets on evenings and weekends while holding down her unfulfilling full-time job.
“I was going out in the dark with a lamp in the wind and the rain, but that didn’t bother me,” she said.
“I had a corporate lifestyle in an office, working under strip lights, having to ask permission to take a break. The stress of it was getting me down. One day they called me on the phone to make me redundant – and it was the best day of my life. I was so happy because I would never have taken the step of setting up the business otherwise.”
Emma’s dedication to the cause means she even picks up the mess on pavements and fields left by other people’s dogs when out walking Minky and Dave, her two Chiweenies – a cross between a dachshund and a chihuahua. She said she got strange looks from other people who wouldn’t dream of clearing up after anyone else’s dogs.
She said “repeat offenders” who let their dogs foul the streets deserved criticism, but said complaints aimed at some people were unfair.
“It’s one of the biggest things people moan about – that if you have a dog you should pick up after it,” she said. “A lot of my clients adore their dogs, but physically can’t clean up after them.”
Emma’s clients include elderly dog owners unable to bend to pick up after their pets – and a heavily-pregnant dog owner with similarly restricted movement! She also works for estate agents who call her in on behalf of landlords to clean up after outgoing tenants with pets have left a property in a mess.
Emma charges £8 per dog to visit once a week plus £3 per extra dog. She disposes of the mess and uses a sanitiser and deodoriser to tackle any “nasties” left behind. Other services include playtime with the dogs, giving them their food, administering medication and dog walking.
In one case, Emma had to use a snow shovel to clear a garden covered in a huge amount of excrement. “Goodness knows what the dogs were trailing into the house,” she said. “But by the time I left the garden was clear and the dogs were running around happily.”
And the service isn’t restricted to dogs. Emma cleans out up rabbit hutches, hamster cages and chicken runs and even picks up after horses and ponies.
Emma, who lives in Batley with partner Ash, 37, has clients all over West Yorkshire. She said she enjoyed the work. “I’m chatting to lovely people and sometimes I’m the only person they see in the week if they are elderly and housebound. One lady rang to say she didn’t need me to clear up one week, but said come along anyway for a coffee.”
Emma is used to getting a ribbing for what she does. “When I tell some people what I do they say ‘that must be a c**p job’. I’ve heard all the jokes!”
