Isaacs mum Rachel Hawes loves to walk and loves dogs. Her daily walks with her three dogs Angus, Milo and Baxter are precious.
The only thing ruining it was the dog poo. Multiple dogs meant multiple poos and juggling multiple dog poo bags, which left her gagging from the smell and feeling terrified one of the bags would tear.
She'd sometimes have to carry the bags the entire walk, keen to be responsible and not leave bags on the ground to collect later (and then maybe forget about them) or hide them behind a tree or some such.
But carrying all those bags of, frankly, "revolting" poo was really starting to affect how she enjoyed her outings.
"My dogs would always do a poo five minutes into a walk," she said. Can. Relate.
She went looking for some kind of lightweight, airtight dog poo collection system online and in pet stores.
When she couldn't find one, she invented her own.
The result is the Pupoon which has only hit the market in the last month. After much research and the kickstart of a $25,000 ACT government innovation grant.
Lightweight and odour-resistant, the Pupoon has an airtight chamber and a built-in bag dispenser that attaches to a dog's lead like a cocoon.
The Pupoon fits standard biodegradable or compostable poop bag rolls available from pet stores.
When the dog does a poo, the owner puts it in the bag like usual, but then puts the bag in the airtight Pupoon, meaning everyone can carry on with the walk without any smell or inconvenience. (Rachel says she sometimes gets an extra lead and carries the Pupoon herself cross-body-style.) The Pupoon can hold multiple bags of dog poo and is made from medical-grade polypropylene to resist odour. You dispose of the bags of poo when you get home and repeat for the next walk.
Dog poo is a big problem in Australia. Rachel has crunched the numbers and says the nation's more than 6 million dogs are each day producing the equivalent of a 900km long poop sausage. And that's a conservative estimate.
"Dog poop is full of bacteria, and studies show that only around 40 per cent of dog walkers pick up their dog poop. That leaves around 300,000 tonnes of poop lying on footpaths, streets, parks and to be washed away into our waterways, beaches, rivers or left to decompose," she said.
"A lot of people think the answer is to provide more public bins, but bins need to be serviced, and then you have the problem of bins accumulating a lot of dog poop, and becoming awfully smelly.
"I think the solution is in providing a product that makes it easier for dog owners to collect their dog poop and take it home with them."
Rachel says dog owners should look after their animal's own waste and not expect a council or government to fix it for them.
Recently, Gold Coast City Council revealed it spent about $720,000 supplying 12.8 million plastic poop waste bags and servicing 274 bag dispensers during 2022-23. This contributed 23 tonnes of plastic waste into landfill and the environment, despite it being home to fewer than 69,000 registered dogs.
Rachel said immediately addressing the waste significantly lowered the risk of spreading disease to humans and other animals.
A mum of three and a public servant, Rachel has started selling the Pupoon online at pupoon.com and promoting the product in the local dog community.
Her kids aren't overly thrilled their mum has come up with a dog poo invention but for her - and many other animal-lovers - it's been a game changer.
