Apartment Complex Hires DNA Lab To Make Sure People Clean Up After Dogs

Published November 11, 2021

Aside from "I love pizza," you're not likely to find a more popular opinion than "I love dogs."

Their boundless energy is infectious, it feels comforting to cuddle them, and it's hard not to love little friends who are just so excited to see us all the time.

But as much as we love dogs, we also have to admit that they produce a lot of poop. And if their owners aren't conscientious about picking that stuff up, they can create some pretty gross problems for everyone around them.

And while those problems might compel some landlords to ban pets outright from their properties, one Missouri apartment complex has a much more unorthodox yet sophisticated solution.

From the sounds of it, the staff at the Gallery 1014 Luxury Apartments in St. Louis are stopping at nothing to make sure no dog poop befouls their premises.

Getty Images | Chris Jongkind

According to People, part of their no-poop policy is to make cleaning it up as convenient as possible for pet owning tenants as they provide them with scoopers and waste bags.

As one resident named Jake Bearden put it, "There's really no excuse to not pick it up."

But anyone who leaves their dog's droppings behind anyway will soon find they'll have a hard time getting away with it.

Wikimedia Commons | Rob Hanson

According to the complex's district manager Mike Kueker, residents are required to submit their pets to a cheek swab upon moving in.

The DNA information obtained from this is then sent to PooPrints, a testing lab in Tennessee that specializes in animal waste management.

In the words of the lab's CEO Jay Retinger, "At first their reaction is, 'Are you serious? You can do that? We get hundreds of pieces of poo in the mail a day. Bags and bags."

The lab's stated mission for doing this is to prevent the bacteria in dog feces from contaminating water systems as well as harming other animals and people in the area.

CBS via YouTube

And when wayward droppings are discovered at the Galaxy apartments, a sample is then sent to PooPrints so they can match the DNA in it with that of the pets they have on file.

If a tenant is found to have neglected to pick up their dog's waste, they'll receive a fine on their first offense and lose pet privileges altogether in further instances.

Since opening in 2010, PooPrints now helps 6,000 properties in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Wikimedia Commons | Peter Wadsworth

And considering how much easier things have become for the Galaxy apartments since they've hired the lab, it's not hard to see why they're so popular.

As Kueker said, "Having Poo Prints really helped with that because we weren't having to go through video footage to try to find somebody or just giving up on it and just doing it ourselves."

h/t: People

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