Many people will tell you they have crappy jobs because they hate what they do. But Jason LaMunyon goes to work smiling, and he has the crappiest job of all. 

He shovels poop for a living. Everyone’s least favorite kind, too – the kind waiting on sidewalks, left by careless or just plain squeamish dog owners.

No, seriously.

“It’s extremely busy,” he says. “It’s a lot of work. Let’s put it this way: It’s really picking up.”

LaMunyon picked up his first dookie about a year ago, shortly after adopting a Labrador from a friend. At the time he owned an independent sales agency and estimates he spent about 140 days a year on the road – often with his dog riding shot gun. And at every hotel they stayed, they found the same thing: a stinky brown mess all over the designated pet areas. The poo – and an article from a business magazine that showed how fast the pet industry was growing got LaMunyon thinking. He was tired of the long hours and the long miles. He wanted to spend more time at home.

“So I decided I was going to start my own bus and be home every day,” he says. And thus one crappy job was exchanged for another.

One year later, Smith owns Fido’s Poo Crew, a business specializing in, well, business. Starting at just $8 a session he and his crew will clear any kennel or yard – commercial or residential – left by any dog – be it that of collie, poodle or shitzu.

While a lot of people told LaMunyon his decision to chase down brown snakes was “a little crazy,” business has never been better. LaMunyon has a number of frequent customers in Salt Lake City, Davis County and the Alpine/Lehi area. New ones, he says, are calling for the poop mobile every day. Of these, LaMunyon says about half are gay – a population he’s been scooping for since the beginning.

“I have a lot of friends that are gay I realized that every single one of them seemed to have a dog,” says LaMunyon (who is straight). “It seems to be that a lot of the gay community is really open to dogs. I kind of went after the gay community from day one. I wanted to have a gay-friendly business.”

LaMunyon’s business is also friendly to a number of good causes. His crews clean the Humane Society’s kennels every week for free and sponsor a kennel during the organization’s adopt-a-thon. The plates on his unmistakable trucks also bear No More Homeless Pets Utah license plates. The bright yellow and blue vehicles, incidentally, have also been known to get some strange looks.

“You’re sitting at an intersection and every car is laughing at you,” LaMunyon laughs. “It took me about a month to get used to that.”

All kidding aside, LaMunyon’s business isn’t just the dogs’ business – it’s really about the dogs themselves.

“For me it’s not the cleaning up, I enjoy seeing the dogs every week,” he says. “Most dogs growl the first week, but about a week later they get used to it. And when we show up on our weekly service they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh! It’s you!’”

As for the toilet humor, he says he’s used to it – especially because clients (and reporters) always the first ones to come up with off-color potty puns about his work.

“Very few people can happily say they have a crappy job,” he jokes.

To get Fido’s Poo Crew to pick up your dog’s shit visit fidospoocrew.com.

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