Find the Poop, Earn the Points!

April 11, 2011 - PRLog -- Oxford MS, April 1, 2011 – In recognition of International Pooper Scooper Week, The DogSmith National Dog Training and Pet Care Franchise encourages all animal lovers to support The Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists (aPaws) by cleaning up after your pets.  aPaws was founded in 2002 by a group of professional pooper scoopers who want to make everyone aware of the importance of  picking up and properly disposing of pet waste.  With the growing number of dogs and other pets in the US, pet waste can pose a health hazard and it is disgusting in our yards, parks and public areas.  

One artist is applying a clever solution to the problem of pet waste by combining services and gaming to help solve urban problems.  Aram Saroyan Armstrong, a student at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea in Milan Italy, has developed Pooptopia LBS: Mobile Poop Awareness & Avoidance System, an urban game of pet waste removal.  

The goal of the game is for teams to discover dog waste, photograph and email it, including the location of the disgusting ‘find’ with the name of your team. You earn points by finding the waste and you can double your points by marking the exact location of the waste on Pooptopia’s online ‘Dark Treasure’ map.  Contract pet waste removal teams use the treasure map to optimize routes to clean up the offending waste.  With enough data 'Pooptopias' and 'Puptopias,' zones are then established which are the basis for the fees the contract pet waste removal contractors charge.  Higher rated communites enjoy reduced pet waste removal fees.

According to Saroyan, "Pooptopia LBS is much more than a super smart, fun and high-tech poop scooping service.  It's a lifestyle.  We serve the people, not just wealthy dog owners.  We encourage good citizenship and are helping people to reclaim their streets in a playful and positive way."  In addition, to make pet waste cleanup easier for dog owners of Milan, the city has installed pet waste stations on the streets.  Pet waste stations provide waste cleanup bags and a convenient trash receptacle for the waste.

To learn more about Pooptopia visit   http://aram.posterous.com/13368482.  If you can't pick up the pet waste yourself then you can always hire a professional pooper scooper to do it for you.  There are hundreds of pooper scooper companies around the U.S.
committed to making your yard or neighborhood poop-free.  

For more information on the hazards of dog waste or to locate an aPaws professional pooper-scooper, visit http://www.apaws.org and use their convenient Find-A-Scooper Directory to find a scooper near you. You can also fetch your local DogSmith® at http://www.DogSmith.com

# # #

The DogSmith Franchise Services Inc. is a Florida based company whose mission is to enhance the lives of pets and their owners by improving their relationship, and the quality of the life they share, through providing professional support and training to pet dog owners, supporting and assisting animal shelters and rescue organizations to minimize the number of unwanted animals and offering affordable and professional care to family pets so that pet ownership is never a burden. To learn more about The DogSmith, or to become a DogSmith Dog Trainer, visit www.DogSmith.com or call 1-888-364-7648.