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A real pooper scooper

One of Elite Pet's services might not seem so elite, but it is popular.

By Jodie Tillman, Times Staff Writer
Published April 14, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Brendan Fitterer] Chris Brooks of Elite Pet Service gives Sidney and Sierra some attention after taking the two shepherds for a walk. [Times photo: Brendan Fitterer] Brooks cleans and disinfects his boots after removing pet waste from a New Port Richey yard.

TRINITY - Through this Pasco County backyard, Chris Brooks moved like a cougar wearing combat boots. He clomped, gingerly, until he honed in on his prey.

"You start to know the pattern," he said. "Some are very sporadic, but these two seem to like the fence line."

Sure enough, in a shadowy patch of grass near the fence, Brooks found what he was looking for: clumps of excrement, courtesy of a pair of German shepherds. He took his rake and swept the find into his bin.

Brooks, 29, is in the pet-waste removal business. People pay him as much as $8.25 per week per visit per dog. He hauls their waste to a trash bin he shares with a Trinity veterinarian.

When he goes to an appointment, he dons a canary-yellow shirt with his business's name, Elite Pet Service. He carries a rake, plastic trash bags and a five-gallon bucket he calls "Big Red." He keeps Glade air freshener in his pickup truck's cup holder.

"I'll do anything to make a buck," he said, with a grin.

In the year that Elite Pet Service has been in business, he has found about 50 customers for the waste removal. (Elite also offers dog-walking and pet-sitting services.)

The waste-removal customers include elderly people who can't get out to clean their yards. People who live in tony neighborhoods and can pay to avoid the task. Apartment complexes and homeowner associations.

"Some people just don't want to do it," he said, "and that's fine."

Brooks said he and wife, Jessie, came up with the idea when he was installing tile. He remembers hearing someone say they hated to clean up their pet's mess. Later, he read a newspaper article about it in the Midwest. He and his wife, both dog lovers, decided to go for it.

They tried to train for the job. Jessie used to hide flour mixtures around their backyard. Then Chris would go outside and try to find them.

Without a doubt, theirs is a business especially susceptible to prank calls, jokes and silly puns. Once, someone called him and asked for help. Their dog had been left inside all week and the caller was "knee deep" in the mess.

But when Brooks rushed to the scene, a hard-of-hearing elderly man answered the door. Huh? he asked, and Brooks knew the joke was on him.

Still, Brooks remains playful about his line of work; he calls himself an "entremanure," and the hold music for Elite Pet Service is "Who Let the Dogs Out?"

After he finished up the German shepherds' yard, he surveyed the grass one last time and headed toward the gate. As hard as he worked, as carefully as he looked, he figured he might have missed a few.

"You're never going to get it all," he said. "I mean, I can only do what's humanly possible."

Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or 727-869-6247.

[Last modified April 14, 2007, 08:01:38]