When you hire a pet waste removal service, you are inviting a stranger to walk directly into your dog’s primary territory. For many dogs, this is not an issue; they view the technician as a new friend or simply ignore them. But for others, a stranger in the backyard triggers a strong, protective instinct.
To keep our routes running smoothly and our team remaining safe, we have clear policies regarding dogs in the yard during a service visit.
Friendly dogs are welcome
If your dog is friendly, calm, and comfortable with strangers, they are absolutely welcome to stay outside in the yard while we work. Our technicians are dog people, and a friendly greeting is often the highlight of their day. They will walk their grid, bag the waste, and check the gate is securely latched before they leave.
When dogs must be secured
However, we cannot take risks with safety. Any dog that is highly anxious, territorial, aggressively protective of its space, or has a history of biting must be secured safely inside the house before we enter the property.
When a dog is aggressively defending its yard, it creates a dangerous situation for the technician and high stress for the animal. Even a dog that is normally well-behaved can react unpredictably if they feel cornered by someone carrying strange tools and wearing a uniform.
The technician’s call
The safety of our W-2 employees is our priority. If a technician arrives at a property, opens the gate, and judges the yard unsafe due to an unsecured, protective dog, they will not enter. They will not attempt to “win the dog over” or risk a bite.
If we cannot enter the yard because of a dog, it is treated the same way as a locked gate: it counts as a completed visit. The technician will leave a door hanger, send a text message notifying you of the issue, and the visit will not be credited to your account.
Using the route texts to prepare
We know that managing a dog’s schedule around a service window can be tricky, which is why we rely on automated communication.
When our truck is heading to your neighborhood, our system sends you an “on the way” text message. This is your cue. Use this time to call your dogs inside and secure them in the house. Once the technician finishes the cleanup, they will send a completion text with a photo of your securely latched gate.
That completion photo is your signal that the technician is gone, the gate is locked, and it is safe to let your dogs back out into a clean yard. By using these texts to manage your dog’s access, you check the service is safe and stress-free for everyone involved.