Part 4 in the HOA Compliance Series. View part 3, HOA Trash Can Compliance here.
The Scoop on Poop: Four Ways Your HOA Can Manage Your Dog Poop Problems
Picture this: you’re walking through your community’s common area with your family, enjoying an early-evening walk when you hear a distinctive “SQUISH”. You’ve just stepped in poop. Gross!
There are very few things that can ruin a nice walk faster than stepping in a pile of dog poop. If your neighborhood suffers from constant “gifts” from man’s best friend, here are four ideas to help you and your board clean up the poop:
1. Adopt a community policy on pet waste.
Layout clear simple guidelines and distribute them to the community and post them around your community. You may also consider posting permanent “Please Clean Up After Your Pet” signs. Reflective aluminum signs can be found for as little as ten dollars; they look nice and remind your residents that they are part of a larger community.
2. Send out a reminder.
If you know who specifically isn’t cleaning up after their dog, have your management company send them a letter, or if you are self-managed, send a letter from the board. Sometimes all it takes is a gentle reminder for people to adjust their behavior. Regardless of if you are talking to one individual or many; point out the health hazards associated with fecal matter. No one wants their pets or children getting sick. Plus, no one likes looking at it either.
3. Consider a professional cleaning service.
If your community is full of dogs (or even ducks or geese!), consider hiring a professional service to come clean up the animal waste. This is an especially good idea if the animals leaving the unwanted poop don’t necessarily belong to an owner.
4. We find that collaboration works best.
Make it easy for your homeowners to take care of their dogs’ “business.” Consider providing waste bags and a trash receptacle to make clean up easier for dog owners. Sometimes simple conveniences are the quickest, easiest solutions to problems like this.
Hopefully poop isn’t something your community struggles with, but if it is, we hope these four ideas help you get the cleanup processes moving quickly!
I live in a condo building. Today, for the first time ever, I saw dog poop on the carpet of our common hallway, heading to the elevator. Yikes! A trail of the stuff, with a tell-tale orange color (I think the dog might be sick?) also on the snow outside of our backdoor. I’m not sure who the owner is and maybe they didn’t realize that their doggie had the “drizzles” as they walked back to their unit. I don’t want them to get in trouble. Should I simply call our association’s management company to report the dirt, so that they can clean it?