New Invention: Dog Urinal

(Photo: Jose M Baselga)

Responsible dog owners scoop up their dogs' poops and dispose of them properly so that no one steps in them. At least, that's what you do if you don't have dog poop fairies living in your area or don't hire a professional dog poop cleaning service.

Spain takes the matter of dog sanitation very seriously. One town gathers dog poop and mails it back to its owners.

Yet dogs produce more than just poop. We dog owners should scoop up after our canine friends, but there's little that we can do about urine.

That may change, thanks to inventions now available in the the Spanish town of El Vendrell. The dog in the picture above is standing next to a flushing toilet designed to handle dog excrement. How one would convince a dog to use one is beyond me. Dogs are often pooping connoisseurs who are particular about their defecation locations.

But the device in the foreground looks more promising. It's a urinal. Dogs pee on the pole. The urine drains down into the steel grate and into the sewer system.

-via Nothing to Do with Aborath