I composted my entire dog. I don't see how the doggy dung would be a problem in a hot compost pile. The beauty of composting is you're using Nature's methods to restore normalcy to a smelly or otherwise dangerous circumstance. Microbes which are pathogens to us are not pathogens to other animal, plant, and microbe forms of life. When those other forms of life decompose the pathogens, they convert them into a safe form - compost. For example "bat guano" is a well recognized form of fertilizer. Bats carry rabies and other diseases, but nobody seems to be afraid of the bat guano fertilizer. As it turns out, the "guano" collected off the floor of the bat caves has already been cold composted by a specific set of bat dung decomposers which live in the caves. The bat guano is actually beetle guano further decomposed by microbes and is considered to be safe.

HI, ty, and im sorry about your pet, its interesting about guano, but everything i read so far says not to put dog dung in a EDITABLE garden.

Microsoft Word - dogwastecomposting2.rtf - nrcs142p2_035763.pdf - Composting Dog Waste

ty, very good article, and has alleviated my worries about worms, since I now realize that my dogs don't have them, and they are easily identifiable...

.... but it also says:

Decrease health risks by:

Not applying dog waste compost to crops intended for human consumption

In fact it says that several times, so i am still worried,

how far do i need to keep my doggy composter away from my garden???

I think you mean edible, not editable.

Nobody is going to be able to tell you exactly how to vermicompost dog poop safely, because there is really no way to make it 100% safe.

If your main goal is to get rid of your dog's poop sustainably rather than putting it in the landfill, I'd say you could try the buried bucket method in some out of the way corner of the garden and just leave it there until it gets full...and then just move the bucket, leaving the castings in place. Or, if you spread the vermicompost anywhere in the garden, only put it around ornamental plants, and make sure you don't use the same bucket or tools on any food plants.

If you want to make vermicompost to use on any kind of food plants, you can make a separate compost bucket or bin somewhere else and feed that one with your food scraps and other plant waste.