It seems unlikely, however, that public areas will be poop free anytime soon. Boston’s proper scoopin enforcment — criticized as lax in normal times — is exceedingly difficult to enforce weeks after the crime.
Still, for the right price, your lawn or backyard certainly can become palatable again.
For owners of dog poop cleanup services — a surprisingly robust market with more than a dozen operators in the Boston area alone — this week has been a rancid gold mine.
Candace Conroy, owner of Scoop it Up removal services, which services the Western suburbs, spent Monday “dodging landmines,” as she cleared cocktails of poop, sticks, mud, and trash from 21 yards along with her husband, Steve. They booked another 16 jobs for Tuesday.
In a normal summer week, when business is stable, they are lucky to have four clients, Steve Conroy said.
“It’s kind of a disaster back there,” Candace Conroy said as she left a messy job in Natick.
Scoop it Up charges customers $45 for each bag of waste filled for one-time cleanings or during rush periods, Steve Conroy said, (a bag holds about 10 pounds of poop).
“A lot of them need more than one just because of the amount of the neglect on the yard,” Conroy said, explaining the process takes around an hour per house. “If you have three dogs, it’s basically going to be three times the amount.”
The most Candace Conroy has ever filled on a job is 11 chock-full bags, she said, though in the post-thaw rush this week she already encountered a yard that filled seven.
Michael Packard, who lives in Dedham, has Conroy clean his yard each week as part of a subscription service that starts at $23 per week.
“We cooked on the grill last night and a lot of the snow was melted,” Packard said. “I was like, oh boy, she’s going to have her work cut out for her this week.”
While he waits for his appointment on Thursday, his small yard has turned into a “wet, smelly, nasty,” warzone thanks to Reese, his two-year-old black lab.
“I’ve cleaned up my dog’s waste in the middle of summer and I’ve cleaned it up in the middle of winter,” Packard said. “I’m not spoiled or anything, but if somebody else wants to do it for a fair rate, they can have it.”
For the Conroys, who own three dogs and started their business last year after they failed to find anyone who could service their yard, the poststorm boom has proved their budding business concept may have legs.
“The phone’s basically blowing up off the hook,” Steve Conroy said. During a phone interview with The Boston Globe, he said, three calls went to voicemail. “This is obviously showcasing a need for full-time folks, which is good. The business is really starting to grow.”
And they aren’t the only company finding pet owners who are willing to pay to be off-duty, especially during colder months.
Poop Scoop Mass, a branch of a company that started in Utah in 2018, expanded into Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire in the last two years.
“It boomed so fast out [there]. And I think for Mass, it’s going to do the exact same thing,” said Amanda Simkins who runs marketing for the company.
Charging cleaning rates that start at $16 and increase by $2 for every extra dog a customer has, the company has been able to expand its operation to 30 full-time scoopers for their Massachusetts outfit, and nearly double that out West.
March and April are generally the two best months for Poop Scoop’s business, Simkins said, but even the usual seasonal numbers have been dwarfed by this year’s postmelt demand. On Monday alone, Poop Scoop saw 50 new signups in New England. A normal week may see 5 to 10 client calls per day, she said.
Both scooper businesses have a list of recurring clients that provide the most consistent business, though quick-service demand periods like this week are a helpful sales boost. Simkins, herself a dog owner, takes advantage of the service to help lighten her load.
“I’m so overworked that I’m like, ‘This would be great just to take it off of my to do list,”’ she said. “A lot of families are just extremely busy . . . but they still want help to take care of their dogs. I see it no different than just hiring like a dog walker.”
Bryan Hecht can be reached at bryan.hecht@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @bhechtjournalism.
