If you’re too busy or squeamish to pick up after your dog, you’re going to love this new smartphone app that connects you to someone willing to do it for you, for a fee.

A service that allows you to call someone to pick up your dog’s poop sounds unreal, which is probably why the announcement of Pooper has been met with skepticism. Articles claiming that the app is most likely fake have prompted the creators of Pooper to issue a statement saying that their service is real, but they are fine with all the doubts as long as it spreads the word and attracts more investors.

Here’s how Pooper works: after installing the app on a smartphone and opting for one of the monthly payment plans, a dog owner (referred to as “pooper”) can take a photo of the dog’s excrement, pinpoint its location on a digital map and call on a nearby “scooper” to come pick it up. They are then free to leave knowing that the dog’s business will be taken care of. You can opt to pay $15 a months for two scoops a day in 15-mile scoop radius, $25 for three scoops a day in a 30-mile radius, or $35 for unlimited scoops in an unlimited radius.

Co-founder Ben Becker, 32, told The Washington Post that he and his partner, Elliott Glass, are both dog owners who wanted to “solve a problem in a unique way.” Although Pooper is only “at the tail end of an alpha rather than a fully functional public beta,” Becker says they have already been getting hundreds of sign-ups from people wanting to be both “poopers” and “scoopers”. The app is currently being tested in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City, where Becker and Glass hope to fully launch it this fall, before expanding to as many locations as the market demands.

Regarding the compensation a Pooper “scooper” will receive, Becker said it would vary depending on their mode of transportation and how far they travel, but added that it will “absolutely” be more than minimum wage.

The young co-founder added that Pooper is the app America needs right now, because there is so much dog poop on the streets. “It speaks to a human truth,” Becker said. “If [dog poop] wasn’t such a problem I don’t think we’d get the response that we’re getting.”

Somehow I feel this is all too funny to be a real app, and the fact that the Pooper website only provides an email address as a contact option leads me to believe this may be just a hoax. But it was too funny not post.

Photos: Pooper App