Boise: Now Your Dog’s Poop Can Get You Evicted

As I searched the Treasure Valley for an apartment for my family, I was surprised to learn about a trend that is apparently sweeping the apartment industry. Every apartment complex charges a pet fee ranging between fifty to five hundred dollars depending on the type of pet or the breed of dog you are bringing with you. For some places, that is for the potential damage caused by the animal. Still, it might also be for a new service that an apartment building uses to identify the tenant that doesn't clean up their dog's poop around the property.

When you sign a lease at various apartment buildings across the Boise area, you may have to agree to have a DNA test for your dog. They do a saliva swab much like you might do for Ancestry.com. Instead of using this DNA information to determine the dog's breed or origin story, it is used to identify your pet's poop.

As you can imagine, this kind of technology and service isn't cheap for apartment complexes, so the price is passed along to offending tenants. For example, one potential complex that I visited charged a fine of $250 for the first offense and $350 for the second. The third offense carries a stiff $500 penalty plus the termination of your lease. This would most definitely persuade someone to pick up the droppings left behind by man's best friend. Some dog owners feel like this "big brother" type of policy should be outlawed and somehow violates their rights. I'm not exactly sure which rights it breaks, but some fur parents are greatly offended by the concept.

The company that provides this service is called, PooPrints and they are based in Knoxville, Tennesee. PooPrints holds on to all dog records to create a massive database. If you're visiting friends from out of town, this database will make it so that you can still be found if you decide to leave your pet's poop where it doesn't belong, no matter the city or state. They currently claim to be servicing complexes in all 50 states. See the video on how it all works below.