From "Smell My Thongs" to Scoop Dog: My Wild Journey in Entrepreneurship
Hey everyone, it’s Cameron, the owner here at Scoop Dog.
If you follow the channel, you usually see me out in the field cleaning up yards or talking about the day-to-day of the business. But today, I wanted to switch gears and get a little personal. I want to talk about how Scoop Dog came to be, but more importantly, the crazy road—filled with bong cleaning and prank mail—that led me here.
People often ask me if I just "got lucky" with Scoop Dog. While timing is everything, the truth is, this isn't my first rodeo. This is actually my third business.
Here is the story of how I went from a 12-year-old Minecraft YouTuber to running a successful dog waste removal business in Ottawa.
Chapter 1: How Scoop Dog Started
It all kicked off in January 2025. I was scrolling through YouTube (as one does) and stumbled upon an UpFlip video. It was a 45-minute deep dive into starting a poop scooping business.
I had seen brief mentions of this industry before and brushed them off, but this video laid out the details and the potential so clearly that I thought, "Hold on, I think there’s something here."
I dove straight into market research. By February 2025, I launched.
The Strategy: I knew I had to launch before the snow melted here in Canada. I built a site on Squarespace and needed a CRM. I really wanted to use Sweep & Go, but it wasn’t available in Canada, so I went with Jobber. Best decision ever. (If you’re looking for a CRM to manage quotes and payments, seriously, check out the link at the bottom of this post for a trial).
I hit the ground running with free advertising in Facebook groups. By late March and April, the requests were coming in daily. Fast forward to today, January 2026, and we are prepping for our second spring rush, offering lawn mowing, and expanding faster than I ever imagined.
But I wouldn't have been able to scale Scoop Dog this fast without the lessons I learned from my previous, much weirder ventures.
Business #2: The Bong Cleaners (2020-2021)
Yep, you read that right. My first official business launch was a mobile bong cleaning service during the pandemic.
I saw a similar concept in BC and thought, "We're legal in Canada, everyone is stuck at home, let's try it." I was in business school at the time, doing night classes, and running this during the day.
The Hustle: Since I couldn't run paid ads (cannabis restrictions), I had to get creative. I plastered lawn signs all over Ottawa that said "WE CLEAN BONGS." It worked. We got on the radio, got a CBC article written about us, and people were shocked that this was a real service.
The Problem: The City of Ottawa hated my signs. I actually got a call that they had impounded my signs and wanted $50 per sign to get them back. Since the signs cost me $1, I let them keep them.
Ultimately, the business wasn't profitable. Driving 30 minutes there and back for a $20 cleaning just didn't make sense. But the lesson I learned? SEO is king. To this day, if you Google "Bong Cleaners," my site ranks because the name is so literal.
Business #3: Smell My Thongs (2021-2026)
This was the big one.
Around December 2020, I saw a viral TikTok of a prank where someone received a pink envelope that looked like they had ordered used underwear. I thought, "I can do this, but better."
I knew that influencers and streamers were starting to open PO Boxes on camera. I figured if I sent this bright pink embarrassing package to their PO box, they’d open it on stream.
The Viral Moment: It worked. A creator named Cort Chaos opened one, and the video went mega-viral. After that, I doubled down. I sent packages to Kai Cenat, The Trailer Park Boys, Keemstar, and tons of others.
We ended up doing about 11,000 orders and generating around $300k - $400k in revenue.
It was a crash course in e-commerce, logistics, and legalities (I had to get business insurance fast!). But eventually, I moved on because I wanted to build something more sustainable and service-based locally.
The Takeaway
From cleaning bongs to selling prank mail to scooping poop, it’s been a wild ride.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is that every business, whether it fails or goes viral, teaches you something you apply to the next one.
The Bong Cleaners taught me about SEO and guerrilla marketing.
Smell My Thongs taught me about logistics and influencer marketing.
Scoop Dog is where I’m putting it all together.
If you’re thinking about starting a business, just start. You never know where it’s going to take you.
Thanks for tuning in to the journey! Don't forget to check out the YouTube video for the full story and some behind-the-scenes clips.
– Cameron
P.S. If you want to try out Jobber, the CRM I use to run Scoop Dog, click the link for a free trial!
