Dog droppings

BeerBasket · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 36 Location: Burleson

Can you put dog droppings in a compost pile? I have been getting conflicting information on this.

Dchall_San_Antonio · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 2001 Location: San Antonio,TEXAS

You will always get conflicting information on this one. The question is easily misinterpreted by our common use of English.

"Can" you put dog poop in the pile? Yes you "can." It is physically possible to put poop in a pile.

"May" you put dog poop in the pile? Actually, yes you "may" but most people will give the other answer. I will go on to caution you that if you are not getting heat from your pile, then I would not compost the poop. If you can get a hot pile and keep it hot for a couple weeks at a time, then you are an expert enough composter to handle a little dog poop. OR, if you have tons of leaves and you keep the pile relatively moist, then you can probably bury the poop deep in the pile and it will decompose nicely before the leaves do.

Personally I leave my dog's poop on the grass and the flies, pill bugs, and microbes take care of it in 4 days, max (summer time). In the winter the poop lasts about a week but then disappears. With my new dog she's trained to poop back by the compost pile, so no problem on my grass anymore. One nice thing about a Chow-chow is they don't poop anywhere close to where they play or live. They get as far away as they can. In my case that's back by the compost pile.

You will continue to get conflicting info on this question. 99.99% of all the articles written on composting say not to compost meat or the droppings from meat eating animals. Well, don't say anything to Mother Nature but she's been composting meat and meat eater droppings for several billion years. Apparently these article writers missed the event. So everyone who takes these beginner-level articles to be gospel will tell you that you cannot compost meat or carnivore droppings. I have composted several squirrels, several rats, and my golden retriever. Our commercial composters out at Garden-Ville composted over 100 head of cattle, horses, or deer last year. It can be done no matter what anyone else tells you. But again, this is not something beginner composters should be doing.

Gar · Joined: 08 Mar 2003 Posts: 533 Location: Lavon,Texas

Thanks for the info Dave. didn't realize that GV composts large animals as well. As the Dirt Doctor says, 'anything that was once alive can be composted'.

BeerBasket · Joined: 04 May 2003 Posts: 36 Location: Burleson

Dave, thanks for the info. If I read you correctly, I should not put dog droppings in my compost pile unless it's hot (it isn't) and I know what I am doing ( I don't ). I have an acrea and put all my weeds, clippings, coffee grounds, etc on the ground. I do not have a bin.

northwesterner · Joined: 02 Jul 2003 Posts: 153 Location: Fort Worth,TEXAS

I'm reviving this thread because this topic came up (again) in a different forum where I post, and the usual party line came out, the bias against poop from "carnivores."

My dogs eat Muenster large bite, so it isn't like they're eating raw red meat anyway. I don't worry about throwing the droppings on the compost every week or so. It is always intermittently mixed with weeds, dirt, branches, grass and leaves.

My compost isn't hot, but it is left in place for a really long time (I have a large yard and every year I start a new pile, and it takes me about two years to get back to a pile to dig it up to spread around). When I'm ready to use it, it has the classic dirt look and forest floor smell (described elsewhere in this discussion forum).

Any thoughts?

Northwesterner