Dog Poop DNA Tracking Introduces Spy Tech to Our Backyards

Companies say they can pinpoint tenants who aren’t cleaning up after their pets. But is a clean lawn worth giving up your dog’s DNA?

Illustration: Eva Cremers

Three years ago, Giovanni Peluso was struggling to secure an apartment in Post Falls, Idaho, with his dogs, Rufus and Mac, who together weighed in at a whopping but lovable 250 pounds. After months of rejection by landlords not keen on the canines, a desperate Peluso thought he had found it: a pleasant community with all the trappings of suburbia — manicured lawns, neat picket fences, and, best of all, dog-friendly.

Only there was a catch.

Peluso’s property management company required him to surrender DNA from Rufus and Mac as part of a biometric program to catch people who don’t clean up after their pets. The service boasted the ability to match errant poop to a dog’s genetic profile, similar to police running a suspect’s DNA or fingerprints on law enforcement databases to pin them to a crime.

Peluso had no choice but to comply. The process took less than 15 minutes and was administered through a service called PooPrints. Under the supervision of his landlord, Peluso swiped Rufus and Mac’s mouths with a cotton bud provided in the PooPrints…