9 Ways To Get Rid Of Dog Poop In Your Yard Without Scooping

If you own dogs, you’re no doubt familiar with the constant struggle of keeping your lawn dog poop-free. 

While scooping is one of the most tried and true options in a pinch, there are thankfully plenty of simpler methods to make getting rid of your pup’s waste as easy as possible without gagging at the horrific smell. 

No more crouching over piles of dog poo with the pooper scooper in one hand and the other holding your nose with our 9 best ways to get rid of dog poop in your yard–without scooping!

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Use A Specially-Designed Poop Rake Instead Of The Standard Scooper

If you’re sick of leaning over your dog’s poo with a traditional little hand scooper, it’s probably a good idea to rethink the way you pick up your dog’s waste entirely. 

Rather than using the equivalent of a flimsy shovel to dig Fido’s feces off your lawn, consider a more elaborate tool designed to revolutionize the entire process of cleaning up after your pup.

For example, many manufacturers specializing in pet and household products have designed their own version of a poop rake tool rather than the typical scooper. 

Fortunately, there are several inexpensive and reliable sets of tools to make the whole process faster and a lot less harsh on your back, knees, and nose. 

This Pooper Scooper Set comes with three sturdy, long-handled tools, so you don’t have to bend down at awkward, painful angles. 

One tool is essentially a smaller rake to scoop the poo from a distance. 

The second tool is a spade designed for digging up more stubborn and hardened piles of dog poop with ease. 

Meanwhile, the third tool in the set is a wide, durable tray, which you’ll easily be able to scoop poo into and dispose of without cringing or gagging.

The set even comes with a durable set of gloves to strengthen your grip on the tools and protect your hands from nasty bacteria! 

What’s more, all three tools’ handles are adjustable to suit just about anyone’s height, whether it’s you, your family members, or even your kids doing the scooping.  

Hire A Pet Waste Removal Service

This option seems like a bit of a cop-out at first, but it’s still worth mentioning if you want to keep the job completely hands-free and hassle-free. 

Depending on where you live, you’ll likely be able to find a local company willing to come to your yard and remove your pets’ waste for you from time to time–for a reasonable fee, of course.

This isn’t the best option to go with when it comes to cost. 

Still, as far as convenience goes, you won’t find much better than simply paying a company to scoop up your dog’s waste for you, freeing up your schedule to get the more important – and less smelly – household stuff is done on your own.

Look on social media outlets like Craigslist and your local Facebook Marketplace to ask around about pet waste removal services in your area. 

Other people living in your town or city will likely be able to recommend the most cost-efficient local option for professional pooper scoopers.

Check out our guide to growing grass with a dog for related help keeping your lawn looking nice.

Use A Dog Poop Dissolving Product

Up next on our list, we have another fairly inexpensive yet easy-to-use option to make quick work of getting rid of your dog’s waste–by dissolving it with certain chemical products! 

If you’re hesitant about this one because you don’t want to damage your lawn, don’t fret, as the products mentioned here will only break down your dog’s poop, leaving your grass safe (when used correctly).

The best product to dissolve dog poo is gardening lime, sometimes known as agricultural lime or simply calcium carbonate. 

Something like Down to Earth’s Organic Garden Lime is an excellent choice. 

A five-pound bag will last a surprisingly long time for only about $15, and all you need to do is sprinkle some of the powder directly onto the dog poo and leave it alone for a day or two while it dissolves.

Keep in mind, though, while calcium carbonate is extremely effective, you should be careful about how much of it you apply to your lawn at a time. 

Just a few small spoonfuls of the stuff is more than enough to eliminate even a St. Bernard’s massive poops, so don’t go overboard with it! 

Just keep it away from very sensitive plants in your yard, and wear gloves while you apply the stuff since it’s fairly caustic and damaging to bare skin.

It also helps to have a larger yard where you’re able to move your dog around to different areas to poop while the poop in another area dissolves since you don’t want your dog’s skin to come in contact with it, either. 

Fortunately, most dogs tend to avoid it due to its acidic, bitter quality. 

Keep an eye on your lawn’s pH level for any sudden fluctuations and use the stuff sparingly, and you’ll be good to go.

Use Vinegar To Dissolve It (Best For Artificial Lawns)

It’s always good to have vinegar around, as it has a seemingly endless list of household and backyard uses. 

Although vinegar isn’t exactly the most effective option on this list, it’s a good one to keep in mind for smaller piles, especially if you’re cleaning the poo off of an artificial lawn rather than actual grass. 

Vinegar will still work fairly well for removing dog poop from most real grasses, but be aware the smell isn’t very pleasant, particularly when it’s combined with the scent of, well…poop.

If you’re not using an artificial lawn, check out our picks for the best grasses to use with dogs.

Pick It Up With Old Newspaper Instead

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If scooping your dog’s poop with a traditional scooper or shovel is a pain, consider simply picking it up directly with recycled newspaper if you have the stomach to handle the smell at such a close distance. 

This option isn’t especially brilliant, nor does it revolutionize the process of keeping your yard clean. 

However, it is still a slightly cheaper and simpler alternative to relying on a tiny poop scooper.

All you have to do for this method is put on a pair of inexpensive, disposable rubber gloves beforehand to protect your hands from harmful bacteria and grab a few sheets of newspaper! 

The newspaper and gloves will keep you from having to touch the icky mess directly, and you won’t have to go searching for your usual pooper scooper every time your dog has to go.

Another great perk of using this method is how it’s surprisingly eco-friendly. 

Newspaper breaks down much faster than plastic bags do, and it does the job more or less the same way.

Use A Claw-Like Scoop Tool With A Long Handle

We’ve already briefly touched on one of the many different styles of tools used to scoop up dog poop earlier. 

Still, there is a wide range of different products designed for different pet owners’ preferences to make poop scooping easier than ever. 

One particular design we love for this purpose is a tool that combines all three of the MOICO tools we mentioned above. 

At under $20, the Bahlvit Non-Breakable Pet Pooper Scooper is sturdy and effective, and it has a super long handle you’ll be able to easily fold in half for when you need to store it in a small space. 

You even have the option of using it to pick up other yard waste and debris!

The bottom part of the tool is designed to sort of like a claw from a claw machine you’d see at an arcade or mall! 

The handle part controls how much and how quickly the claw opens and closes, giving you full control with just a quick, gentle squeeze. 

If you want a simple, all-in-one tool to make picking up dog poo in your yard faster and easier than ever, this product is without a doubt at the top of our recommendations.

Using this tool makes scooping and disposing of your dog’s waste a one-step, seamless process. 

Just put a plastic bag over the scoop, use the handle to grab any offending piles of poo, tie the bag, and toss it. 

You also have the option of putting the plastic bag directly on top of the poo then placing the claw on top, scooping up both in one swift motion.

Regardless of how you choose to use it, Balhvit’s uniquely designed tool is far from your typical pooper scooper.

Use An Aerosol Spray To Freeze The Poop

Nobody likes picking up warm, mushy poop, no matter how much you love your furry companions. 

For the average dog owner, the texture and odor of their dog’s mess, whether it’s poo or urine smell, is understandably just a bit too much for their stomach to handle. 

Fortunately, certain aerosol sprays are designed to freeze certain materials on contact, including your dog’s waste. 

This minimizes the odor drastically, makes the doggie droppings easier to pick up, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time messily scooping it, and makes the texture a lot less horrible to deal with. 

It isn’t the most environmentally friendly option on the market, but it’s fast, simple, and reasonably inexpensive for most people with one or two dogs in their home (and yard).

One important thing to keep in mind, though, is to not spray the product too close to fresh piles of dog poo. 

Certain reviewers noted that the spray spreads the poop around if it isn’t applied carefully from a safe enough distance.

Once you’ve applied the freezing aerosol spray to the poop, it’ll freeze very quickly and become hard. 

You’ll then be free to pick it up directly with a bag or use a more specialized tool to pick it up and dispose of it as you please.

Use A Dog Waste-Specific Compost Bin/” Septic Tank”

If you’re sick of spending hours scooping up dog poop and carrying it to the trash or wherever you regularly dispose of it, consider investing in something like the Doggie Dooley so your trips are a lot shorter and easier. 

If you combine this dog waste septic tank with something like the more modern scooping tools mentioned above, you’ll instantly cut the time and effort you normally spend on this normally unpleasant chore in half!

While this niche product isn’t the same as a standard septic tank, it functions similarly. 

You’ll be able to find it from most retailers for less than $60 or so, and you just assemble it, install it in the ground, and add water and the brand’s Waste Terminator tablets.

You’ll get a decent starter kit to begin with, and afterward, you’ll only need to occasionally restock on bags of the waste disposal tablets from time to time. 

This product is ideal for very large yards or people with multiple large dogs who produce a lot of waste each day. 

Instead of worrying about where you’re going to dispose of your dog’s poo, just install the Doggie Dooley in the middle of your yard, so it’s never a long walk away from where your pups do their business every day.

Train Your Dog To Use An Indoor Dog “Potty”

Depending on how well your dog is behaved and how well they take to training, there’s a chance this won’t be a viable option for you. 

Some dogs simply don’t handle being trained to “go” in the same spot over and over very well, while others take to the habit almost instantly.

However, if you don’t have much yard space and are sick of scooping up your dog’s poo at the dog park every day, consider investing in something like the Indoor Dog Potty Tray

It’s available from most retailers for under $60, and it’s surprisingly durable and long-lasting. 

All you need to buy for it are pee pads to place under the grate to collect any liquid messes, while your dog’s poo will generally sit on top of the grate, so it’s easy for you to pick it up.

There are many similar products on the market, and all of them function sort of like how cat litter boxes do, with a raised tray or grate above a thick pee pad underneath to catch any messes falling through from time to time. 

Rather than following your dog around and waiting for them to do their business, opt to train your dog to use the indoor “toilet,” so all you have to do is pluck it off the tray and dispose of it with a bag or bundle of newspaper.

Best of all, you have the option of also using this product outdoors. 

Just keep it sheltered from rain and snow, like under a small awning, and keep it placed somewhere your dog will always know where it is, so they just have to walk out the door and over to their new toilet. 

Using incentives like treats will go a long way in getting your pup used to the new habit.