SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A two-year-old residential and commercial cleaning company in the city is expanding its portfolio to include pet waste removal.

Starting this week, Taylor Maids Cleaning Services began offering weekly waste removal for its current residential clients, with plans to offer the service to other customers, including local businesses and apartment buildings, in the near future.

Taylor Maids Cleaning Services technician Dour Rowland, left, and co-owner Mark Feldberg, right, are joined by camera-shy company mascot Shadow as they stand on the lawn of a customer who has requested weekly pet waste removal - a new service Taylor Maids began offering this week. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Co-owner Mark Feldberg said idea came from his customers.

"There seemed to be a lot of clients asking for it," said Feldberg. "So I researched it a little bit and we thought it was feasible. It's good for Yellowknife. It's good for neighbours."

"It was one of those jobs I didn't think anybody would want to do," said Feldberg. "But there are quite a few businesses in the United States that are operating quite successfully."

Feldberg said Taylor Maids has trained existing staff in the art of picking up waste safely, to avoid the spread infectious pet diseases like parvovirus.

Staff will use a biodegradable bags, a rake and a dustpan to scoop up the waste while wearing protective booties around their footwear. The booties will be disposed of after each job.

"A lot of people throw their pet waste into the garbage or into the city landfill," said Feldberg. "We thought we'd run out to the Fiddler's Lagoon and dispose of it correctly."

According to Feldberg, families that have a tough time divvying up pickup duties among their children - or who simply don't have the time - are making up most of his requests. Currently the business has six customers lined up.

For Range Lake homeowner Helen Malmsten - who has a three-year-old Chocolate lab, three teenage boys and a medium sized backyard in the Range Lake area - it's not a matter of time - just inclination.

"No one wants to go back there after (the lab) has been there," said Malmsten, who has already been serviced by Taylor Maids three times this year in addition to an hour-long spring cleanup.

"I'm not going back there. My husband's not going back there. We can't force our kids to do it. How unfair would that be?"