We have been using the Doggie Dooley for one month. I heard about it on a pet podcast and thought it sounded interesting. Then I went home and checked the price and decided that for $89.95, I could continue putting the poop in plastic bags! A few months later, I found the Dooley on Costco's website for $37.99, including an extra one-year supply of enzymes. I decided to give it a shot.
I purchased the Model 3016D, which is said to handle 2 large pets or up to 4 small pets. So far, I have been very pleased with the product. It handles the waste of my two Sibes just fine. The instructions recommend depositing poop daily, but I have gone as long as three days before scooping and haven't had any problems.
Every time you deposit poop into the Dooley, you also add one gallon of water. Even if I've gone more than one day between poop scooping, I still just put in one gallon of water and it works fine. Once per week, you add some of the enzyme digester powder. The enzyme powder breaks down the poop and then the water washes in down a pipe and into the ground for absorption, just like a septic system.
The installation was a pain. The instructions say to dig a 4-foot deep hole. I think at 3-feet, we gave up and went ahead and put the Dooley in the hole. So far, no problems. The Dooley it's self is only about 15-inches deep, so there is still plenty of open area under the Dooley for the water to wash out.
The Dooley instructions say that it's not suitable for use in clay soil or when the ground temperature is less than 40 degrees. I would also add that if you have very rocky soil, you may have an even harder time digging the hole for installation and perhaps not want to purchase this product.
One more note: The company sells the enzyme digester powder in 6-month supply quantities. That's 6-months for one dog. With two dogs, we have to add twice the amount of digester powder each week, so the 6-month supply is really 3-months. Just something to keep in mind.
I'm rating the Dooley at 3 Claws. It performs just fine, but may not be suitable for some huskies, such as those in colder climates or with rocky or clay soil. It's also a pretty pricey poop disposal system and I'm sure some people don't mind just throwing the poop in the weekly trash pickup for free.
