The Dog Dropping Dilemma: Why DNA Testing Might Not Be the Answer

The idea of DNA testing to get to the bottom, so to speak, of dog droppings left around a community struck many as absurd when it first came on the scene. The practice remains far from widespread, but more associations’ boards are giving it a second look as they and their managers struggle to cope with the persistent poop problem.

“The number-one complaint we get in all of our associations is that people don’t pick up after dogs,” says Ken Bertolucci, CMCA, president of NS Management in Skokie, Ill, which manages around 90 associations. “The frustration for us when we get calls is that the caller doesn’t know who it was who didn’t pick up — just ‘it was a fluffy white dog.’”

But DNA testing may not be the silver bullet some boards are hoping it will be.

How It Works (in Theory)

One of Bertolucci’s boards passed a rule requiring all people with pets to pay a fee to register with a DNA testing company and submit a DNA sample from their pets (samples typically are collected via a cheek swab). The company compiles the samples in a database for the association.

“If maintenance sees poop,” Bertolucci says, “they send it to the testing company.”

If a DNA match is found, the association assesses a fine and requires the dog owner to pay for the lab test. “In theory, it makes a lot of sense.”

How It Works (in Reality)

There was a problem, though. “Almost all of the tests come back without a match because it’s outsiders who don’t live in the complex who are the offenders,” Bertolucci says.

“It’s a suburban condo property, kind of a combination of townhouses and condo units, with lots of low-rise buildings. It’s a pleasant place to walk dogs.”

Still, Bertolucci hasn’t completely soured on the concept. “The good part is that it’s a deterrent to those who have registered their animals because they know they’re going to be busted.”

Paul Grucza, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, director of education and client development at the Seattle-based CWD Group, Inc., agrees. “We have a couple clients that have gone through the process of registering their dogs’ DNA,” he says. “What it has done is raise the awareness that this step can be taken if dog owners don’t clean up. It makes them more mindful that they could get fined.”

Overall, though, Grucza thinks it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Like Bertolucci, he says the results usually come back without a match to a dog in the community. “Then you’re back to square one,” he says. “It doesn’t really solve the problem.”

Other Options

So what’s a poop-riddled community to do? Grucza reports that his clients have had some luck with surveillance cameras — but those come with their own issues, of course. (For more on cameras in associations, see our article “Cameras in Common Areas: Yay or Nay?”)

Dog relief areas in a protected area on a deck or roof are another potential solution.

“A lot of properties are now offering these areas in buildings so the owners with dogs can take their dogs there. Staff hoses off the astroturf regularly, and that has mitigated the problem,” Grucza says. More sprawling communities, like Bertolucci’s client that tried DNA testing, similarly can provide “poop stations” and bags to be used by owners and others who pass through.