DETROIT – If you've ever stepped in dog poop, you know it's the worst.
Cathy Schoonover is so tired of the problem in her Westland neighborhood that she's resorted to picking it up herself.
"Because I don't want to step in it," Schoonover said.
Her apartment complex, Westwood Village, has doggy bags available for use, but pet owners don't appear to be using them.
"We're getting a lot of complaints with the residents," property manager Nicole Hymzes said.
Schoonover said she always grabs a few extra "doggy bags" when she takes her dog Zoey out.
"If you have the responsibility of having a dog, you should clean up after him," Schoonover said.
To try to curb the problem, Hymzes said she's turned to science.
"(We) swab the dog's cheek and then we take the swab and mail it to PooPrints, and then they have everything on register," Hymzes said. "Once we have all the dogs DNA, we then go around and if we see the pet waste on the ground, we then pick it up, we have a little test kit, we take it and send it back to PooPrints and then they tell us what dog it was."
Hymzes sent out a letter to all dog-owning tenants letting them know that the complex was amending rental agreements to include a $25 cost per dog for the testing.
Any dog poop that is found on the complex's property will be tested, and the owner will be fined $150, or also risk having their lease terminated too.
"They shouldn't be upset about it. It's a small fee to have a really nice, clean community to live in," Hymzes said. "The people complaining are the ones that don't want to pick up after their pet."
While some dog owners support the program and the price tag, others Local 4 spoke with think it stinks. This issue is so heated, most wouldn't go on camera, except one man who asked that he not be identified.
"Them charging extra, I'm totally against it," he said. "Twenty-five is a lot, considering how many people they're charging $25 to. I think they should pay for it, because when I signed my lease, it was nothing about paying extra."
Hymzes said the testing costs more than $25, and that residents are only paying a portion of it. If there's a serious financial issue with the payment, Hymzes said she's willing to review them on a case-by-case basis.