‘It’s a crappy business, but it works for us’: Pet waste remover makes a clean living

David Parks’ business has been picking up – literally.

His business is removing pets’ business from their owners’ yards. For a fee, levied per dog, workers with Call of Dooty will visit a client’s house once or twice a week to clean up what pets leave behind.

“It’s a crappy business, but it works for us,” Parks said.

Parks has been collecting poop – and puns about poop – since visiting a January 2008 convention of the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists at an Atlanta hotel.

“I work for the fire department – actually January will be 30 years – and I was just looking for something to do when I retired, just a service-based business,” he said. “A lot of firemen cut grass and I’m allergic to grass. I tried it and just couldn’t do it.”

Now Parks performs a different type of yard work, which didn’t seem to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic because its status as a waste-removal business exempted it from closure.

“We’ve grown but not by leaps and bounds. A lot of businesses were struggling but we just kept on moving,” he said. “When everybody was quarantined, we were still out there. We were considered, I guess, a waste disposal thing so we kept chugging along. We didn’t really see a decrease. I guess that was a win. It definitely was good to us.”

Call of Dooty appears to be the only business in the Augusta area devoted exclusively to pet waste. Other businesses across the country, with names such as DoodyCalls and Pet Butler, have grown so successful that they offer franchising opportunities.

“We’re doing like 40 yards today so it’s still a small business but it’s definitely growing,” Parks said Tuesday. When people started going back to work, I guess, we jumped a little bit.”

Health professionals don’t consider poop a problem merely by stepping in it. One ounce of dog waste can contain about 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Also, common parasites such as roundworms often are spread by contact with dogs’ fecal matter.

And with an estimated 11.32 million new pets acquired during the pandemic, according to the American Pet Products Association, the demand for services such as Parks' is piling up.

Parks estimated his business increased about 20% this year, keeping Call of Dooty’s three full-time employees and several part-timers busy. One of his full-timers, daughter Jessica, graduated from the College of Charleston, and Parks often quips that he “scooped her way through college.” She now has a 10% stake in the business.

“You could scoop 20 yards a day,” he said. “Some days are busier than others, but my employees are putting in between 30 and 40 hours a week.”

Charging by the dog instead of by pounds collected puts chihuahuas and Great Danes on the same level, at least on paper. One of Parks’ clients owns three mastiffs, the heaviest breed recognized by the American Kennel Club. The yard is a few hundred square feet. Call of Dooty has visited there twice a week.

“You’d come out and your arm would hurt trying to carry that stuff,” Parks joked. “Scooper elbow is definitely a thing.”

But his love of pets wins out. His business card lists his job title as “senior belly rubber and stick thrower.”

"It’s been good to us. We’ve got some good customers who take good care of us,” Parks said. “They always tell me, ‘We appreciate what y’all do,’ very grateful. So we’ve been lucky.”

Parks can be reached at (877) PET PILE or online at callofdooty.com.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta firefighter makes clean living in pet waste removal business