Great dog poop caper of Bellingham leaves mystery

Be aware. The following story is about the great dog poop caper of Bellingham, as Jason Rantz likes to call it. As that name suggests, it’s about dog droppings … a lot of dog droppings.

“I went out to my car Monday morning, getting ready to head to work and I was faced with about 100 pounds of dog feces all over the front of my car,” Angela Lenz told KTTH’s Jason Rantz. “There was no note. No information. Nothing. It was just poop.”

It was an odd act of vandalism. Lenz wasn’t quite sure what she was looking at when she approached her car. There were also scratches and dents. But as she got closer it was clear what was left on the hood of her car — dog feces. She’s a dog trainer and runs a doggy daycare business — Tails-A-Wagging — so Lenz is familiar with the material. Given her professional background, she feels this was a deliberate act.

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“I’ve been a dog trainer for over 28 years — dog poop is my thing,” she said.

Therefore, in Lenz’s professional opinion, big, medium, and small dogs were involved in the incident.

“I could also tell from looking at it, that it wasn’t that old. There was very fresh poo along with maybe week-old poo,” she said. “It wasn’t that old. This wasn’t someone’s personal, backyard poo bin. I’m worried it was, maybe, another commercial poo bin.”

In all, it was about 100 pounds. Lenz is a weight lifter so she “knows what 100 pounds feels like.”

“I could see that it wasn’t just the windshield of the car, and the hood of the car, and the side of the car, as well as smeared into the door handles, and the back of the car,” she said. “There were scratches and dents. This is was a pretty deliberate act.”

Dog poop suspects

As Lenz mentioned, she is concerned that a competitor could be a suspect. But she has no specific competitor in mind. There have been many doggy daycare businesses that have come and gone in the more than 20 years her shop has been up and running. A disgruntled employee is another theory. But at this point, it’s all just theories. She has no idea who could be behind the vandalism. Lenz has hired a private investigator. The Bellingham police are also on the case, reviewing video footage from the area.

“I think we are going to be able to figure this out,” she said.

“We have staff that have been with us 15 years,” Lenz said. “We have staff that have been with us a short time. Daycare staff and dog training staff … We’ve had quite a few employees over the years. We’ve been around for 20 years. Could it be a disgruntled person? Sure, I guess that’s possible.”

“I think the thing that hurts my heart the most, is that in this world all we want is to be heard,” she added. “To make sure we are valued and appreciated and feel that someone is listening. And no matter what, this person doesn’t feel heard. So that hurts my heart.”

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