ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

A town in north-eastern Spain - a country well known for its zero-tolerance approach to dog fouling - has taken a drastic step in the war on negligent pet owners: the dog toilet.

El Vendrell, a small town of 36,000 people, has set up a canine toilet along one of its main thoroughfares. It mimics a human toilet in many ways; its stainless steel platform features a hole with a lid.

Dog owners must flush the toilet, releasing jets of water that carry the excrement through underground pipes to the sewer system. Next to it sits a doggie urinal - a grid with small holes over which dogs can squat. Between both sits a water fountain for dogs.

The toilet was donated to the town as part of a pilot project, said its creator, Enric Girona. Depending on how the toilet is received by the public, he'll begin marketing it to municipalities around the world.

Girona has spent much of the past decade photographing and documenting dogs with the goal of creating a contraption that could extend the luxury of a toilet to dogs. "Over the years I've seen that if you train and raise dogs well, these animals can be just like humans."

Careless dog owners in El Vendrell who allow their pet to foul the pavements face fines of up to 750 euros, while in Barcelona and Madrid this can rise to 1,500 euros. The town of Colmenar Viejo went even further earlier this year by hiring a private detective to catch owners and their pets in the act.