Clayton Gullick is the owner of Poopy Paws, LLC. He says his business is built to try not to waste anyone’s time. “Everybody’s busy working a couple jobs and kids, going to their school things and all that and even people that do have kids, the kids don’t want to do it. Somebody’s got to do it so we’re going to take care of that.”

Picking up pet waste is not the most glamorous job, but Clayton has come up with his own way to keep his hands clean. Dust pan in hand, the poop is scooped into a connected bag. After the yard is cleaned, the bag is detached and the scoop is sprayed with disinfectant. “It’s pretty much a touchless process.”

Starting off as a part-time lawn and waste pickup service, Clayton has seen his business nearly double every year since he started the business three years ago. Now full-time, Gullick has hired on a couple of employees, Tricia Claussen and Mary Williams.

Both employees enjoy the job because they get to play with dogs all day. They do admit not all animals they encounter are friendly. “There are some that are aggressive," says Williams. "I just won’t go in the yard or go knock on the door and see if they can put them away.”

They work in different areas of town five days a week, splitting about 300 locations.

Claussen says most people understand what they do, but there are occasionally some strange looks. “People will pull up next to you at a stoplight, they read the side of the truck and look up and kind of laugh. They wonder how you can do it, but it’s something that needs to be done.”

The cost of the service averages out to around $7 a week. Gullick says even with the down slope of the economy recently, his business has continued to grow. He credits a lot of it to advertising and their Web site.

He sees growth in the future and is always looking for new ways to make something of the waste. “What the great thing would be is if we could find someone to do composting or methane recovery.”