Most likely, The Bomb Squad, a local dog waste removal service, has already beaten you to any pun or turn of phrase you could possibly cook up related to their niche business.
After all, these are the folks who define “turdology” as “the joyful study and pursuit of professional dog waste removal.”
Their employees are, naturally, “turdologists.”
It’s this scatological charm that puts a playful spin on a job that would be too easy to deride as crappy.
On a recent morning, owner Brian Frankle, 48, parked his cheerfully branded work truck in front of a client’s home in Bend. From the bed, he grabbed a lined, five-gallon bucket and a custom, metal pooper scooper set-up (a scoop and a poo pan combo), both with handles the height of golf clubs, which prevents bending over. (Frankle is proud of his work, which he welds himself; yet he asked that photos not be taken close up, lest an opportunist copy his design.) Then he began methodically pacing the rectangular yard as if he were a forensics investigator combing a crime scene.
“Here we go — found some brown gold,” Frankle hollered, depositing the crap into the bucket with a thud.
In 2014, when Brian Frankle bought the company which was established in 2001, he considered a rebrand.
“I almost changed the name to Turd Burglar,” Frankle said with a grin. “You know, like we show up at your house when you’re away and we steal all your crap.”
Frankle kept “The Bomb Squad,” however, since its name recognition as the longest-running poop-scoop biz in Central Oregon is worth more than its weight in — well, never mind. After 12 years and many long-term clients (“I’ve seen dogs grow from puppies to seniors”), Frankle says he can count on one hand the times he’s accidently stepped in poop.
“You spend the whole time looking down for it, so it’s not really a hazard,” he explained. “You tend to know the popular spots in the yard where dogs like to go.”
After a fruitful visit to the client’s fenced-in backyard, Frankle deposited a couple more plunk-plunks into the bucket. Despite careful steps, Frankle sprays down his equipment and the soles of his shoes with a non-toxic kennel disinfectant before servicing another client’s yard. This cuts down not just on transmittable disease but the general ickiness of his daily grind.
“All right, onto the next,” he said, tying up the bag of dung and storing it and his tools back in the truck bed. Then he piled into the cab to wind his way through southeast Bend.
Frankle, who picks up crap three or four days each week, employs a team of three people, including one who’s full-time. He prides himself on paying a living wage. He also gives employees autonomy to service yards while abiding a daily and weekly schedule.
“I try to keep it fun,” he says. “This is repetitive work, so respecting work-life balance is really key in keeping long-term employees.”
Over the years, Frankle estimates he’s seen about a dozen dog waste-removal companies come and go. His company stays above the fray by delivering a high-quality attention not just to turds but to critical details like ensuring all gates are securely fastened when coming and going.
“When anyone with a pickup and shovel can be a competitor, you have to have standards of professionalism to distinguish yourself,” Frankle said. “Once you get us in your yard, you’re gonna love us.”
Frankle estimates that, since 2014, his company has removed 2.5 million pounds of crap. A centrally located dumpster facilitates Cascade Disposal weekly delivery to the Knott Landfill Recycling and Transfer Facility. Accordingly, Frankle distributes the waste he picks up in coordination with Dogpac-serviced locations such as Good Dog! Park, Phil’s Trailhead and Wanoga Sno-Park in the Deschutes National Forest, replenishing about 3,000 cleanup bags each week as well. Similar dog-waste bag dispensers are also scattered through Bend parks, homeowner associations and multifamily complexes.
The Bomb Squad also services Sisters, Redmond, Prineville, Tumalo and La Pine. They don’t work major holidays and weather events like wildfire smoke, ice or snow.
“The poo gets pasty in rain, that’s one of the biggest challenges,” he explained. “But with snow, the poop is there the next week, so sometimes our loads are heavier, week in, week out — depending on saturation levels.”
Frankle and his crew know not just each dog by name but by personality. We stopped at a client’s residence near Bear Creek Road. He took care closing a finnicky gate and warning a visitor that May, a Border Collie mix, is friendly but gets anxious if a new person pets her.
“Hey, May!” Frankle said as the tuxedo-coated pooch sniffed his pants and swished her tail.
“Sometimes she’ll pee on the bucket,” he said. “Just to assert dominance.”
While scooping, Frankle talked about his design background, which he launched in 2001 with his own through-hiking bag company Ultra Light Adventure Equipment, which he sold in 2009. Later, he served as the design director during a five-year contract with Giant Loop, a Bend-based moto luggage company, while he also consulted for other outdoor equipment companies. Frankle’s placed a premium on being his own boss and working on his terms.
As evinced by his passions of through-hiking and backcountry moto-riding (he completed the PCT in 1999 and rode the Trans America Trail on a dual-sport motorbike in 2007), Frankle enjoys alone time outside. Buying and operating a dog waste-removal business made sense.
“Initially, I just thought this this would be a fun side gig,” he said. “But then The Bomb Squad just began to grow. I enjoy logistics and problem-solving, so I just ran with it.”
At another residence in southeast Bend, Destiny Bole, Frankle’s first hire, pulled up in a matching Bomb Squad truck. Bole’s worked three years until she took time off to start a family. Then she picked back up with doo-doo duty. Bole, wearing a matching Bomb Squad-branded running cap and fleece, showed off the pooper-scooper that Frankle customed made for her, mindful of her grip size and height. Bole says she’s enjoyed the freedom the work gives her, noting that she typically logs about five miles walking each work shift, according to her fitness tracker. Audio books, which she pipes through ear pods, feed her intellect.
“It’s peaceful work,” she said.
Frankle says a persistent question folks ask is whether he intends to franchise. Imagine — The Bomb Squad, servicing America!
“Nope, I want to keep it sustainable,” he said. “Providing a quality service to customers for a more decade is more satisfying than growth for the sake of growth. I want to be able to control the standard of the work.”
Frankle cued up another stinker of a pun: “I like to think we’re number-one in number-two.”
This article appears in Central Oregon Pets Spring 2026.
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