Green Living Ottawa » pets

Living Car-free with a Big Dog: The Pet Taxi

greenlivingottawa — Thu, 31 May 2007 23:13:57 +0000

We have a standard poodle, and black poodles need to get their hair cut every 6 weeks or so during Ottawa summers (poodle is pictured above pre-haircut). Since we are now car-free (more about that in a week when we celebrate our 6 month anniversary), we had to figure out how we could get the poodle places he needed to go, such as the vet and the groomer’s.

Enter the pet taxi, a service specifically aimed at getting pets and their owners from one place to another. The one pet taxi I know of in Ottawa is Pets Go Taxi (no website), which as far as I can tell is a one man, one van operation. Unlike people taxis, the pet taxi usually needs to be reserved a few days in advance as it books up fast. In my experience Pets Go Taxi has shown up promptly at the time booked and got me and my poodle where we needed to go efficiently and economically (it costs about the same as a people taxi). Plus the driver loves animals, what more could you ask for?

Pets Go Taxi, Ottawa, 613-235-7387

Biodegradable Bags for Composting Dog Wastes

greenlivingottawa — Mon, 28 May 2007 16:37:48 +0000

I posted earlier on the possibilities for composting meat, cooked foods and pet wastes in your own backyard. However, things can get a little messy if you want to dispose of your dog’s wastes in a bardmatic digester composter (or green cone) as I suggested in that post. Enter the biodegradable and compostable poop and scoop bag. These bags can be dumped straight in the bardmatic where they will compost along with the poop. The bags must be marked specifically as “compostable” to be used in this way. Many products just marked as “biodegradable” are not suitable for composting because they break down into components that are not good for composters (such as smaller pieces of plastic).

Those compostable bags specifically aimed at the doggy market (such as the BioBag Dog ones pictured above) are also more convenient to use than plastic bags for scooping poop because they are smaller and thinner and therefore much more compact to carry (at least when they are empty).

These bags are available at many locations in Ottawa including The Wheat Berry health food store and Wag pet shop and café.

Wag, 1071 Bank Street, Ottawa, ON, 613-730-4647

The Wheat Berry, 206 Main Street, Ottawa, ON K1S 1C6, 613- 235-7580

Composting Meat, Citrus, Coffee Grounds and Pet Waste

greenlivingottawa — Tue, 15 May 2007 18:27:44 +0000

The “bardmatic” composter manufactured out of recycled plastic by the Ottawa-based company Envirocurb can compost all those items the standard backyard composter can’t handle: citrus, cooked foods, meat, bones, coffee grounds and even dog and cat poop. The plastic body of the bardmatic is placed over a hole in the ground (12″ deep) and then is anchored in place by backfilling the soil around it and tamping it down. Many, many years ago the city sold a similar product called the “green cone.” The only difference between the two products is that the greencone had a basket that had to be dug into the ground, whereas the bardmatic unit is solely above ground.

I purchased my unit directly from Envirocurb at the Green Energy and Transportation Fair this past weekend, however I’ve been informed that they are being sold at local Rona Stores.

Envirocurb, 333 Catherine Street, Suite 201, Ottawa, ON, K1R 5T4, (613)233-3854, 1-800-655-0827