While most people know about pet sitters and their usefulness, sometimes they might just want someone to pick up their pet’s poop from the yard.
That wish can be a reality as Claire Grothe has started a business in the Madison area that will take care of that least favorite of chores for a nominal monthly fee.
Grothe’s business, Doody Duty, is nearly a year old and got its beginnings after she heard a story from her husband’s job as a landscape designer for Martinson’s Garden Works in Madison.
One day, he came home and said one of his clients was having an issue he couldn’t solve.
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“She was complaining about the dog poop in her yard and that there was no pooper scooper service in the area. She wished there was one,” Grothe said. “He had a light bulb go off.”
When he came home that night, he said he had an excellent idea for a new business – a pooper scooper business.
“I said, ‘Wow, that is a great idea. Who is going to be the pooper scooper for this business?’”
He looked at his wife and said, “You are.”
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Grothe is a former teacher in the Gluckstadt area, and she had decided to stay at home last year with her two toddlers.
“It took me a little while to wrap my head around that,” Grothe said. “But after we started talking about it, I realized there is actually a need and a market for this. It is something that people do want.”
Grothe started with two clients, and the business has grown over time. The growth has mainly been word of mouth, but Grothe said she is in the process of hiring a marketing firm and wants to buy a truck and hire someone else to help.
A Doody Duty client, Angela Marcus, said Grothe’s service makes spending time in her yard more fun for everyone.
“Doody Duty is an incredible service that allows me to enjoy my dogs and my yard that much more,” Marcus said. “Claire has been totally dependable and so patient with my two dogs, and one of my dogs probably outweighs her. I would recommend Doody Duty to anyone who doesn’t enjoy cleaning up after their pets.”
With warmer temperatures already in the area, Grothe believes people will enjoy their yards more if there is less poop in them.
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“It has just been a blessing,” Grothe said. “And, I have decided that if the Lord wants me to scoop poop, then that is what I am going to do.”
At the moment, Grothe works one full day a week, but with a growing number of clients, she is prepared to scoop poop for one or two more days per week.
As for the name, she said she and her husband were sitting around one night bouncing ideas off of one another, and between their hilarious banter back and forth, it just came together.
Dealing with dog poop is one thing, but sometimes dealing with dogs can be challenging. While she picks up poop in some yards, the pups hang around.
On a visit to one yard, she said she and a rather large dog surprised each other. She panicked, dropped her pooper scooper, scaled the nearest fence and waited. At some point, she realized the big dog was more likely to lick her death than anything else.
“He is a scary-looking dog, but really he is not scary or mean or anything like that. But neither one of us knew the other was in the yard that day. I hoped they had cameras in the yard and saw me and laughed at me later that day.”
Grothe said she loves when the dogs are in the yard with her.
“I love spending time with them,” Grothe said. “They are happy. It brings joy to me, and I know who is laying these poops.”
She said she is looking forward to using a more professional truck in the near future.
“It’s kind of funny with me driving my personal car around with a little storage basket on the back,” Grothe said. “We are excited about growing our business and hiring someone to help out.”
