Helping people isn’t new to David Parks, he’s been a firefighter in Augusta for 30 years. Incidentally, dogs have been a mascot for fire departments for centuries. Perhaps, Park’s passion for his pet waste removal business is part of his first responder DNA.
If you own a dog, you probably love them like family. We pamper our pups with grooming visits, buy them toys, and feed them, sometimes the freshest gourmet dog food money can buy. But what goes in, must come out. You can scoop the poop yourself or call a pet waste removal service like Parks’ Call of Dooty based in North Augusta. It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.
“I started Call of Dooty in 2007. It all began with an AKC dog show in Greenville. There was a lot of mess in the arena as you can imagine with more than 3000 dogs showing. We came in and cleaned up after them because the show must go on,” owner, David Parks explained.
As it turns out, the cleanup for #2 can be a #1 business. The pooper-scooping business is growing by the rate of 10 percent a year and is now a $3 billion industry, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Baby boomers with expendable income and empty-nest syndrome have helped make the services sector the fastest-growing part of the pet business.
The earning potential is only a fraction of the reason Parks started his company. The catalyst for the first responder was to make life better for families with pets and their yards cleaner for the environment. He would know, he and his team are dog lovers.
“Poop scooping is the chore of pet ownership that people don’t like, but some just aren’t physically able to do it. We picked up a client recently who is a combat amputee. I’m happy we can help him and so many others.”
Unmanaged pet waste is a potential health hazard, an environmental pollution problem, which carries bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause risks to human health and wildlife.
“It’s not just a luxury service, it’s a health service.”
Here’s another example, Parks and his team can text their clients to alert them of changes in the bowel movement of their beloved fur babies. They also give belly rubs free of charge and play fetch with your pooch, when time allows.
The opportunities for pet waste removal aren’t lost on Park. In three years, he’ll retire from his firefighter job and sees franchise possibilities down the road.
The path has been cleaned up for that to happen and as you can imagine, there is a pile of marketing ideas and puns for business franchises across the country with names like Grand Poohbah, Scoop De Doo, and Yucko’s Poop n’ Scoop.
Maybe there is gold in all those lawn land mines for Call of Dooty. In case you need to know, Parks’ business hours are from 8 turdy to 5 turdy. For more information, you can visit the website or Facebook.
