The Straight Poop: Laguna Gets Drop on Pet Owners : Law: It will consider regulation forbidding animal owners from leaving home without a container to dispose of excrement.

Pet owners here soon may have a new rule to live by: Walk a dog, tote a Baggie.

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider a law that would forbid dog walkers from leaving home without a container for animal waste.

City law already requires that owners clean up after their pets “in a sanitary matter,” but Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said dog excrement continues to litter parks, beaches and sidewalks.

“It’s a problem,” Purcell said, “and people are just tired of it.”

When confronted, lax pet owners often say they are not equipped to retrieve the waste, said Purcell, who is proposing the tougher law.

“They just kind of look around and say, ‘I haven’t got anything to pick it up with,’ ” he said. “If there’s an ordinance that requires people to carry something when they have their dog in a public area, they will be more likely to pick it up.”

Purcell said he even has had to riffle through the trash to find a container to tidy up after his shar-pei, Mei Ling.

The expanded law would make it illegal to walk an animal without also toting “a suitable wrapper, bag or container.”

But even the tougher law need not be a weighty burden for pet owners, Purcell said, because some disposal bags now come tucked in dainty, powder-scented plastic capsules barely an inch long. Plastic wrap or resealable bags may also do the job, he said.

“It’s got to be something you can pick up or scoop up (with) other than your personal clothing,” he said.

If the tougher law clears the first hurdle Tuesday, it will be returned to the City Council for final approval, probably on Aug. 2.

Even if it passes, animal control officers will not stop dog walkers simply to check for containers, Purcell said. But if the officer has a “lawful reason” to detain a pet owner, such as seeing a dog off a leash, the officer may ask if the owner is properly outfitted.

Violation of the ordinance would be a misdemeanor.

“We’re hoping we don’t have to write any citations,” Purcell said. “It’s just one more tool in the toolbox, if you will, to get people to voluntarily comply.”

Purcell said flyers probably will be distributed about any change in the law, and animal control officers would give warnings before issuing citations for the first few months.

Any pet-related regulations tend to raise hackles in Laguna Beach, the only city in Orange County that set aside a park for dogs only. The fenced “Bark Park” along Laguna Canyon Road is the only place in town where dogs can legally romp unleashed.

Further showing the city’s concern for animals, Purcell said Friday he had just signed a purchase order to buy a drinking fountain for the dog park with bi-level spigots so “masters and doggies can drink at the same time.”