[midoh]

Have you ever had the nasty job of tryng to get dog-poop off the sole of your shoe after you've inadvertantly walked in it? Usual coping strategy: find a loose twig-somewhere and scrape repeatedly (yuk!) or failing to find any loose twigs, find a grassy lump somewhere and again, wipe, wipe, wipe untill most of it is gone from the bottom of your shoe. Is it possible to devise some small nifty poop dispatcher? If a hose & tap are nearby-no problem, simply hose the muck off. But supposing you are far away from base, and you need to get rid of the doggy-do pronto. You are visiting someone say, and you don't want to leave dog-poop all over their carpet. What would James Bond use, in this situation?

Reward: One for me, free.

[Steve]

I would be the first to buy such a tool.

May I add that a hose & tap often don't solve the problem either. When the dog has a bad digestion (pretty common with the crap most people feed their pets) and your shoes have a deep profile, it's an uphill battle. Sure, you can always go under the shower and use a lot of water and a brush, but then your shoes are ruined anyway.

Glad this doesn't happen to me too often, but when it does, it's really a mess.

[Michael D. Grissom]

Just a wild hair-brained thought but, how 'bout mandating manufacturers mix 'GLITTER' into all relative (to the problem) pet food. Tasteless, odorless, harmless, but can be seen before that horrible squish. AND,.. yes,.. flash light would be needed at night and radium might be impractical and Teflon coated soles won't work. The trick is to solve this problem BEFORE it happens. Suggestions anyone?

[Steve]

http://www.creativitypool.com/viewtopic.php?t=297

[midoh]

Michael D. Grissom's last post has given me an idea,what if some kind of microbe that loves to hang around in dog-poop, could be genetically engineered to transform it into something less disgusting-say by a type of fermentation process, to a harmless soup that would either dry into dust or wash away with the rain?
But in the meantime while waiting for a breakthrough in genetic engineering there still remains the basic problem of dealing with the muck!
Midoh

[midoh]

Oh! I almost forgot,
I believe there is a type of bacteria that is phosphorescent ,and the gene in the bacteria responsible has been decoded. Maybe this could be added to the pet food. So you could walk across a park in the dark and walk around all the phophorescent (glowing!) piles of dog-poop.Thanks for the brainwave Michael D. !

[Steve]

So you could walk across a park in the dark and walk around all the phophorescent (glowing!) piles of dog-poop.

This could also help save a lot of electricity!

[Michael D. Grissom]

I just went to check out the previous topic on this subject posted by Steve above (wanted to know how I missed it). I thought I had read every post on this site.

The previous topic was "Dog Poop Kelidoscope" and DUH!.. I never looked at that one because I assumed that someone was suggesting the use of dog poop in making a Kelidoscope (kids toy) -- YUK!!! This was NOT the case. Anyway,.. once again I have learned never to ASSUME anything.

[colacool2003]

OK
I was thinking dog poop is one thing to step in but what about gum and other materials that stick well on the bottom of your shoe. maybe you could add that in the same invention.


ALSO: about that other dog poop issue for all the cost to make it glow. why not add mini lights to your shoe to fit around the laces to see it before you hit the poop. JUST AN IDEA [/quote]

[Michael D. Grissom]

Funny you should suggest that because I just saw an episode of "Married With Children" where Al Bundy the professional shoe salesman invents the same thing but for taking out the trash at night. The only difference is that his had spot-lights mounted on the shoes and a car battery strapped to his back to power it. Really funny!

In reality, it's hard to spot the stuff even with a bright flashlight.

Dogs are really smart so, I'm thinking there must be a way to teach it to use the toilet and flush.... then put the seat back up where MEN like it.

WHOA,... that should get some responses from the women that see this.

[midoh]

What about a small/compact holding 'tank' which holds a reserve of water,so when you inadvertantly step in the poo-you press the toe-cap of your shoe and ...sssqqquuiirrrrtttttt! The poo is squirted away by the 10s?,100s?1000s? of miniature water nozzels embedded in the shoe. Neat or what?
Midoh.

[Michael D. Grissom]

That would probably work for one "oops" but auxillary water tanks strapped to the legs would probably be needed for more.

[midoh]

Fair point,
how about some sort of one way valve ,which allows the tank to be topped up by walking in pools of water-this would reduce the need to carry external tanks.The increasing complexity is worrying though, it makes me feel we may be heading off on the wrong track altogether.I think we may have broken the golden rule of inventing...K.I.S.S.(KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!)
-midoh.

[midoh]

A better and simpler approach might be the use of small tailor-made dog-poop scrapers.What I have in mind,is something the size of a coffee stirrer that you get for 'free' when you buy coffee in fast-food restaurants.The coffee-stirrers are made of cheap plastic & are mass-produced. The poop-removers(maybe someone can think of a catchier name?) would have the business-end shaped to fit the groove contours of the most popular shoes &running shoes on the market. As they would be reasonably cheap to manufacture, they could be packaged & sold in lots of 10-20. It's the stuff in the grooves that's hard to get at -so this would be their main function. The plastic could be made bio-degardable (breaks down with exposure to sunlight) to protect the environment.
The 64 thousand dollar question is: How much would the average John Doe be prepared to pay for such a product?

[midoh]

Sorry, CORRECTION: Bio-degardable should have been Bio-degradable
-Midoh