A company called Yuckos, a professional pooper-scooper service in Missouri and Illinois, reminds us that pooper-scoopers across the country will be flocking to Las Vegas for the 4th Annual Meeting of the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists (aPaws).

From what I understand, there will be a "Turd Herding Contest" where pooper scoopers face off to see who can pick up the most poop in the shortest amount of time. I've never witnessed one of these contests; I wonder if they use real poop or fake? Seems like it ought to be real poop, with a variety of hard stuff and soft stuff, if you really want to put the skills to test.

Not just pooper-scoopers are allowed into the meeting, anyone with a profession in the pet industry can attend.

There's also some statistics to "pick up" on. The American Pet Association estimates that there are more than 71 million pet dogs in the United States, producing over 4.4 billion pounds of waste every year, which is enough to cover 900 football fields with 12 inches of dog waste.

The folks in San Francisco, are interested in getting more of this free material. Maybe aPaws ought to host their meeting there.

BTW, check out Yuckos website, they have some interesting "no dog poop" signs and stickers you can buy.