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- Hamilton Man Developing Pooper Scooper for Wheelchair Users
View News Article: Hamilton man developing pooper scooper for wheelchair users
Published: July 7, 2025
Source: The Hamilton SpectatorMark McNeil, right, and Mark Ewer show off the prototype for a retractable pooper scooper that McNeil can use from his wheelchair. McNeil, who will get a new service dog later this month, wants to be able to clean up after the canine.
You’re out walking your dog when suddenly, nature calls for your canine friend. As a responsible pet owner, you’re supposed to stoop — and scoop — the poop. But if you can’t stoop to scoop, what do you do with the doo doo?
It’s a problem Mark McNeil, who uses a motorized wheelchair, has had in the past when his special skills dog did its business. While he noted service dogs are trained to hold it while on the job — and he takes them out prior to going anywhere — sometimes it can’t be helped.
The Mount Hope resident, who developed juvenile rheumatoid arthritis at age five and uses a wheelchair as the result of a vehicle accident in 1990, will be paired with a new special skills dog later this month. The dog will be able to fetch and pick things up for him — including items as small as a dime — and even go fetch a person.
But while he’s out with the dog, McNeil doesn’t want to leave a minefield of canine fecal matter in his wake.
“I want to make sure I’m not leaving a pile of crap in the middle of the sidewalk,” he said. “It’s not my first time trying to find something that would work — but I thought I really need to step this up a notch.”
To deal with the potential for unplanned dog feculence, he turned to Mark Ewer.
Ewer met McNeil more than 20 years ago when he was working with the March of Dimes, but now works for Tetra Society of North America. The group is a not-for-profit organization, that builds innovative solutions for people with physical disabilities to overcome environmental barriers, providing greater independence, quality of life and inclusion.
McNeil had created a prototype of a pooper scooper that he hopes to be able to use from his wheelchair out of a telescopic magnetic reacher and a coat hanger.
“It’s basically a retractable, collapsible lacrosse stick,” said McNeil.
Mark McNeil demonstrates the prototype PooperScooper 2.0. The project aims to allow McNeil to pick up after his service dog while out and about.
Armed with the prototype, Ewer went to work. At the same time, Ewer saw a story in the Spectator about the Hamilton Poop Project — a grassroots campaign trying to remind or shame people into picking up their dog’s excrement.
“I thought, ‘Here’s a guy who is really going to some lengths to do exactly what this guy in the paper was saying — be a responsible dog owner,’” he said.
Ewer, who is a social worker and worked as a director or administrator in child welfare and long-term care, said the project is a bit different than the normal Tetra process where the client would present an issue and he would come up with options.
After getting McNeil’s prototype, Ewer started the research and design process for the scooper, but as he does not have a dog — or a ready supply of scatological deposits to be scooped — he turned to his neighbour. The neighbour, equipped with a small dog, readily experimented with the scooper.
The experiment brought up a problem with the excrement handler — if the user tries to push the scooper forward to collect the dung, the telescoping rod retracts. To that end, Ewer said he plans to create a new version with a lip on it that can capture the poop while pulling the feces collector back toward him.
While there is still some fine-tuning required, the current prototype — what Ewer calls PooperScooper 2.0 — is made of a telescopic hot dog roaster fork with a plywood frame attached to hold the dog poop bag.
But why is the project necessary? Why doesn’t McNeil just buy a commercially available pooper scooper?
The majority of pooper scoopers utilize a claw that requires users to drop it into a bag, which wouldn’t be useful for him, McNeil said. Additionally, although there are some pooper scoopers available online that share a similar design to McNeil’s and Ewer’s, they are quite large and would be difficult for McNeil to transport.
“The problem with disability items is they’re really expensive, because they don’t sell many items,” he said.
Mark McNeil’s special skills dog Zadie, helps him remove his shoes and socks in a 2000 Spectator file photo. McNeil will get a new service dog later this month and is developing a pooper scooper to use from his wheelchair.
This will be McNeil’s fourth service dog and, while some people cannot pick up their service dog’s deposits unless they have assistance, he said that has never been an issue for him.
Previously, at his office there was an area where his dog could go to the bathroom, and often someone would come with him and help with cleanup. However, as he is now retired, McNeil said he expects to be venturing out more regularly on his own — which may mean more frequent dog bathroom breaks.
He noted the dogs have been trained to not go to the bathroom when they have their service dog vest on, so the pooper scooper is something of a “break glass if needed” item
“If I need it, it’s with me and I can be responsible,” he said. “I wanted something like this just in case.”
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“This is everything I’ve wanted to do as an engineer — helping people directly through design,” says chapter president Ispeeta Ahmed.
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Listen to the full interview below:
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Read the full Gizmo newsletter by clicking the button below:
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