The young entrepreneur turning poo into pounds

An enterprising schoolboy has embraced the saying 'it's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it' and set up his own business cleaning up dog muck.

Leatham Bilsland from Crieff has launched a service called Doggy Doo Doo which provides both one-off clearances and regular weekly visits for customers.

The budding actor - who made his film debut in the 2024 Robbie Williams biopic Better Man - got the idea after helping his mum, Michele, who runs a dog walking business.

The 13-year-old said: "Whenever I went out on a dog walk with her, I'd be tasked with picking up dog poo... so I decided to just to make it a proper business."

Leatham said he copes with the unpleasant task by putting on headphones and listening to his favourite music.

"It just works like a charm - I don't even think about what I'm doing," he said.

Asked what the worst type of muck to deal with was, he said: "To be fair this might come as a shock, but the smallest dogs like chihuahuas are probably the ones I don't like picking up the most - just because they're so hard to find, especially if there's tall grass in your lawn."

He added that his new venture has had mixed reaction from his friends.

"Not a lot of them know about it, but the ones that do think it's very dirty and a bit funny to laugh about but at the same time… it also encourages some of my friends to start businesses," he said.

Although Leatham sees the humour in his business, this doesn't stop him from taking the work seriously.

He has a special enzyme to help remove any left over mess, takes grass seed with him on jobs to repair any lawns which have been damaged, and picks up litter as he goes.

Leatham said he has a savings system for the money he is earning.

"I keep 10% of it in a little teapot which at the end of every month I donate to PADS - which is a Perthshire dogs charity - and another 10% I put in premium bonds for when I'm older.

"Then for the last of it I'm saving up because pretty soon I'm going to be going to a watch Beetlejuice in London - the theatre show of it - so I'm just going to save up for that."

Though the business is going well, it is very much a side hustle for Leatham.

"My main passion is singing and acting, and when you put the two together, you get musical theatre, which I love with all of my heart," he said.

As well as appearing in Better Man, Leatham has also had roles in two other short films, appeared in Les Misérables at the King's Theatre in Glasgow and in April will take to the stage again as William Beech in Goodnight Mister Tom at the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline.

He has also made it through to the heats in the West End Calling musical theatre competition and is vying for a place in the grand final in London.

"My dream is to spend my whole life acting and singing", he said.