The Daddy gets up earlier than the Mama on week days, and Sampson and Delilah usually get up with him. Since Sampson had his partial ACL tear the Mama insists that someone go out with Sampson to insure he’s not running around and doing stupid things like jumping off the wall. Don’t laugh, I actually caught him trying to do that.
But when the Mama is sleeping and the Daddy is getting ready for work, sometimes the Daddy cheats and doesn’t go out with them.
This means sometimes the dogs poop in the yard without benefit of someone picking it up.
After the Mama gets up, and gets the dog’s food ready, gets herself ready and feeds the dogs, she takes the dogs outside again and then it’s a race to see who can get to the dog poop first.
Delilah has the advantage because she knows the potty spots.
Since I’m out there hunting poop piles, I can usually catch her and stop her with a “NO!”
Dogs who are raw fed have harder, more compact poop than kibble fed dogs. That’s a fact. And I think it freezes faster and harder. That is not in fact a fact, it’s a theory of mine.
As it is in many areas of the country, it’s been very cold lately. If I were Jen, I might go outside and throw water in the air to see if it would freeze before it hit the ground. But I’m not Jen and with my luck, I’d just drench myself OR the water would freeze on the ground and then I’d slip and fall on my ass.
How are you with math? Let’s add this up. The dogs are outside without benefit of supervision. It is cold and they are dropping warm poop on cold snow, in freezing air.
Are you following me?
Let me simplify it. Some mornings I am out in the cold trying to pry up hard poop that is frozen to the snow.
Which is how it came about that I scraped my thumb on either ice or dog shit.
Don’t get your panties in a wad, if it was in fact dog shit that cause my scrape I didn’t actually TOUCH the poop. The best thing I can figure is when I was trying to pry the turd up, I either hit ice with my bare finger or the poop was so hard, it scraped my thumb through the poop bag. My fingers were so freaking cold from digging in snow that I couldn’t feel anything and it wasn’t until I got inside that I saw the blood.
Naturally I washed my hands and put antibiotic cream on it.
The problem was I was outside without gloves because I can’t manage the poop bags with my gloves. Yes, I know Jodi Chick had a DIY pair of grippy gloves but what can I say, I’m lazy.
So there I was wondering how I was going to remedy this situation when guess what came in the mail?
I couldn’t remember ordering anything and couldn’t imagine what was inside, so I opened it.
OMG it’s FrostFingers gloves from Earth Rated!! I’m so excited about these gloves!! You can tear a bag off and open it without having to take your gloves off. Which means the next morning, I was safely able to pick up poop with no danger to my hands.
Have you ever had a special pair of gloves for picking up poop in the cold? Did you make them yourself or buy them?
Animalcouriers says
Timing or what? Don’t generally have that kind of cold when picking up poop on our journeys, luckily 😉
lauranne says
I so need some, as I can not open poo bags!!
Molly The Wally says
Great those will keep your fingers warm and protected. We so hope you get a break in the weather soon. Have a marvellous Monday.
Best wishes Molly
2 brown dawgs says
LOL you need the gloves, but you also need a shovel and spade!
Callie, Shadow, and Ducky's Mom says
OR, a “super-dooper pooper scooper” as my Mom used to call it. The one I have now is big enough for a week’s worth of poop; but I usually use it at least once a day.
Genevieve says
I can manage with fingerless gloves. Which FYI are NOT gloves and should not be called gloves and should not be treated like gloves and do none of things that actual gloves do. I’m freaking freezing out there in those things!
emma says
Katie has had the runs a few times lately, but it is out on the street right by our house. Mom won’t leave it there, so she takes a shopping bag and a shovel and picks it up. With it being below zero most of the time, it is frozen solid quickly and easy to shovel up. I don’t think she would recommend trying to get frozen poop out of the snow unless she had a shovel. Snow/ice is sharp stuff!
Frankie and Ernie says
Our Mom has a Poop scoop thingy that she FLIPS the Poops onto… with a steel flipper thingy. BUTT our poops FREEZE into the Snow sometimes and she has to use the flipper thingy to GOUGE it loose.
Sorry your mom got INJURED while scooping YOUR poops.
Jenna,Mark “HuskyCrazed” Drady says
I entered a giveaway for those gloves also!
Nice!
Your poor thumb! I know exactly how you feel about trying to pick up frozen dog poop!
I don’t ever pick it up the second they poop, I wait till everyone is done pooping at the end of the day then pick it all up. But I suppose if I picked it up sooner, it would be easier haha! Ah well, live and learn I suppose!
((husky hugz)) frum our pack at love is being owned by a husky
Sherri says
Lol! I call those “poopsicles” around here. I’m a cold weather wimp and can’t fathom sticking my bare hand in snow / ice cleaning up after the dogs. Thankfully it’s been cold but not snow/icy here. Cool gloves! Glad they work and will spare your hands. 🙂
Oz the Terrier says
OMD! You got the FrostFingers gloves! They are great…I think…actually, I don’t know because it doesn’t get that cold here. BOL I cannot believe that you may have cut your finger on POOP! Now that is funny.
Happy Monday,
Oz
Roxy the traveling dog says
If your injured while picking up poop, does that qualify for workers compensation? I think it should. LOL I bet those gloves are handy, and safer.
Dogs N Pawz says
I need some of those gloves! I hate to pick up poop when it is freezing cold outside. Hope your thumb is okay!
jan says
The universe sometimes seems to know what we need at certain times and provide them…although I would not have thought poop gloves was in that category…
Laika says
Aww that thumb. Hope you didn’t stick it in you mouth, when it was bleeding he he. Have a great day.
Callie, Shadow, and Ducky's Mom says
So far I’ve been lucky enough to not need gloves on a day when I’ve had to collect a poop sample for the vet. I use the pooper scooper around the yard. And since I don’t take the girls to the park on cold/wet days because of Callie’s arthritis, I don’t have to worry about gloves then either. BUT I can see how those grippy gloves might come in handy for other times…like getting stuff out of the freezer compartments at the grocery store.
Blueberry's human says
When I pick up poop in the yard, I use a small, garden shovel and place it in the bag that way. I only use the hand through the bag method when I am out walking B cause there is no way I’m carrying a bag AND the poop shovel. There are drawbacks to the shovel method, especially if it is warm out and the poop is quite soft. Once upon a time…I went to pick up a soft pile of poop in the grass with my poop shovel and the shovel got caught on the grass and flung a piece of soft poop in the air until it landed on my lip. Thankfully, I had my mouth closed, otherwise, it would have had a different landing pad.
I am glad you have those gloves now – seems safer and warmer!
Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes says
I want to see the glove review after you try to scoop frozen poop. Does it really keep you safe?
Of course you could also make the dogs wear diapers. But I don’t want to know what that would do for Delilah’s snacking habits.
Do you want to know the secret of scooping frozen poop? Use a shovel to scoop the poop and some of the surrounding snow into a heavy plastic bag. Cut a small hole into the corner of the bag. When the weather warms up, the snow will melt out of the bag leaving the poop behind.
Retro rover says
We have had similar problems thus winter
Jan K says
The story sounds familiar….the part about the Daddy cheating and not going out with the dogs! However, I haven’t hurt myself (yet) trying to pick it up. We have a garden shovel that I carry around the yard to pry up the frozen ones!
I have been seeing those gloves on the other blogs too, and they really do look like a good idea. I have actually on occasion picked up a frozen poop with my regular gloves, and then had to throw them in the laundry!
Sand Spring Chesapeakes says
No more scraped poopy fingers. Your stories are the best. I’m sure glad you got really cool poopy gloves. They look super cool.
Kirsten says
Hey those look pretty neat! I have a couple pairs of fingerless gloves with the foldover mitten things so I stay toasty but can use my hands. I find the poops are easier to find in the snow, a small consolation prize in this wacky winter.
Dawn says
I hope those gloves help. How awesome is that? I can completely relate to the frozen poop. I pay more attention to Maya’s poop so that Pierson doesn’t get a chance to eat it. But because I’m watching Maya, I don’t always see when Pierson poops. So it sometimes means picking up frozen poop-cycles.
Donna says
Ouch. Good luck with the gloves. We of course have the same problems (1) frozen poop and (2) dog that races us to the frozen poop. We have resorted to using a spade shovel. Not to hit the dog that is racing us to the frozen poop, as tempting as it might sometimes be, but to chip the sh*t out of the ice. It saves you from having to pry it out with a flimsy bag over your hands.
Jen K says
Gloves that open poop bags!? This is revolutionary! I have risked frost bite many-a-time this winter on walks due to that very issue (and have not yet been wise enough to pre-open them before putting them in my pockets).
As for the back yard… I take the lazy route and pay a weekly service to clean that up. Based on your story, I’ll now chalk that up to risk mitigation.
Sue says
Wow. Very cool gloves!
Carol Bondy says
I have not been out there to pick up poop since all this snow…my yard is a sheet of ice…so i can imagine what is out there…I’ll wait for spring thaw…luckily i dont have labs so dont have to worry about my guys eAting it. Lol. Heard it was a lab thing. Hahaha
Maggie says
Aw, jeez. I’m sorry that happened. Obviously we’ve had a freeze-free winter down south, but there were many times when I’d rip the bag trying to pry frozen poopcicles out of the yard. No fun at all. Those gloves look AMAZING. If we find ourselves up north again (which may actually be in the cards by next winter) I’m going to get myself a pair!!
Hawk aka BrownDog says
Hi Y’all,
BOL! My Human uses surgical gloves for lots of stuff, including when she uses the sprayer on the fruit trees or garden. She also uses them when she cleans my eyes or ears.
Y’all come by now,
Hawk aka BrownDog