There's no waste as pet-poop cleaners cooperate
March 4, 2006
By Kurt Blumenau
Of The Morning Call

What could bring rival businesses together in happy collaboration?

Try pet dung.

One might imagine that the Lehigh Valley's pet-waste collection companies would fight like cats and dogs. But the owners of In The Bag Pet Services, Dog-Gone Doo-Doo and Yard Guard have started sharing customers, referring calls to each other and working together on advertising.

In and of itself, that's not an unusual, dog-cleans-up-after-man story. Small local companies — painters, for example — are known to toss business to each other when they get more calls than they can handle.

What makes the poop partnership distinctive is the role played by Christina Fenstermacher, business manager of In The Bag, of Allentown. In The Bag, open since 2001, ranks as the biggest and longest-established of the three partners.

Dog-Gone owner Michelle Uribe and Yard Guard's Dax Diehl, who both entered the yard cleanup business in the past year, called Fenstermacher for advice. Fenstermacher gave her prospective competition the scoop, so to speak, on the pet-waste business. From that cooperation, the partnership was born.

At first, that might seem counterintuitive, like Yocco's giving its chili sauce recipe to a start-up hot-dog counter in North Catty.

But Fenstermacher said her company was getting more calls than it could serve. In The Bag, which employs four scoopers on a contract basis, was also reluctant to shovel too far from Allentown.

''When you're only charging $10 per yard, you can't afford to drive 30 miles to go service a yard,'' she said.

Each company serves a different area. Yard Guard, of Kempton, Berks County, covers the west end of the region. In The Bag specializes in the Allentown area. And Dog-Gone, of Bethlehem, serves the eastern end of the Valley.

''Customers call us when they either can't or don't want to clean their yards,'' Diehl explained. ''We go out, and we move the product for them.''

The three companies charge different, though similar, fees. Dog-Gone, for instance, charges $10 to $25 per visit, based on the number of dogs and the size of the yard.

All three businesses are part of a growing national trend that sees busy double-income families paying more for pet care. Poop collectors have their own trade organization, the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists, and an online discussion board at http://www.pooper-scooper.com. Some estimate that 300 companies are in the poop business, though trade group founder Deb Levy said no one has formally counted.

Will they also lead a trend toward collaboration between companies? That remains to be seen. For now, the three scoopers are keeping their eyes on business.

''It's going to benefit all three of us in the long run if we work together,'' Diehl said.

kurt.blumenau@mcall.com

610-820-6664