Dog Poop: An Adventure, a Business

We had met on the Hill before, each time he was picking up dog poop and each time I thanked him. "I always do it," he said, "and it makes me angry when others don't."

It was during this latest exchange that I noticed he was walking different dogs. It dawned on me: "You're a professional dog walker," I said.

Yes, retired Bellflower resident Harry Ruiterman--seen here with chocolate "curly" lab Coco and mix-breed Chase--and his wife, Evelyn, operate the small business Affordable Pet Sitters, providing dog walking services for just $18 a 45-minute walk for up to two dogs. Add two dollars for an additional dog.

It begins with an interview where dog-human compatibility is determined. They walk some dogs daily and others two or three times a week; and it takes "dog people" like Harry and Evelyn to be successful. Harry takes the larger dogs, while Evelyn walks the smaller ones, since she suffered a health set-back recently.

They also provide overnight pet sitting services and plan to expand soon into poop scooping--a technical term of the trade.

Business is good. Harry and Evelyn have their hands full, working mostly in Signal Hill and Long Beach, and relying on word of mouth to bring in new clientele to accommodate turnover. In fact, Harry resists pressures to expand the business, decrying the unwanted complexities that would come with hiring others.

For Harry, picking up dog poop is not only the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense.

(Scroll down for more Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill or click on slideshow to the right for the complete project.)

---- RCH

A Beautiful Little Girl, a Dog Story and a Baseball Story--Irresistible

A friendly foursome meets up on the Panorama Promenade. Camryn, right, is a dog lover; she has her own small dog back at home in the Wrigley neighborhood of Long Beach, and is smitten by this "Wrigley," a dog named after the venerable Chicago Cubs ballpark, with its loyal and long-suffering fans. She and her dad, Fritz, walk occasionally on the Hill.

Chicagoan Margaret left, walks Wrigley--sporting a Cubbies collar-- daily on the Hill. She and her husband are recent residents of a townhouse on the Hill's north side. They love the neighborhood, its amenities and central location--She works in Orange County, he in L.A.

The Cubbies collar will come off after baseball season. "Wrigley can endure only so much," Margaret says.

(See other Pleasant Encounters on Signal Hill in slide show to the right.)

--RCH

Another Pleasant Encounter on Signal Hill

Glen and Mary pose in front of a stone pillar manufactured to look like old stone walls of the Denny Mansion, on the hill before oil was discovered in the early 1920s.

Mary--a terrier-chihuahua mix--gets her way; taken out daily for a walk on the Hilltop. Glen is very patient with her.

(Click on slide show at right for entire project to date.)

--- RCH