The city of El Vendrell in Spain has set up a doggie comfort station along one of its main streets.
The stainless steel platform features a hole with a lid. After the dog makes the deposit, the owner must flush the toilet, releasing jets of water that carry the doo doo through pipes to the sewer system.
A doggie urinal sits next to it. This is a grid with small holes where the dog can squat or hike to pee. It is cleaned with a flush of water that doesn't remove all of the odor which attracts the dog to the spot.
Between the two conveniences sits a water fountain at dog height.
It was donated to the town by its creator, Enric Girona, as part of a pilot project. Depending on how well the toilet is received by the public (and the dogs), he will begin to market them to cities worldwide. This prototype was built entirely by hand, but costs would decrease dramatically if he could get as many as 25 orders.
Besides being a practical solution, the design was also focuses on being attractive since the units will be placed in parks and along city streets. Walls are not necessary since dogs don't...well, you know.
Girona, a dog lover and an engineer, has modified his models through the years as he learned more about the behavior of dogs.
"Over the years I've seen that if you train and raise dogs well, these animals can be just like humans."
Have we at last found the answer to dog fouling, as the British so delicately phrase it?