Don't know if this has been brought up before, but my wife and I have been tearing our hair out about this.

When taking care of our dogs' poop on our neighbors lawn, we use plastic bags from the grocery store. It's gotten to the point where instead of using our own canvas tote at the store, we've been getting plastic bags because we need them.

There HAS to be a more environmentally friendy way to do this!!

What do you do with the poop when you bring it home?

If you just toss it in the garbage I'm not sure there is much gain.  If you can find someone who gets a newspaper, the bags the newspaper comes in are smaller (and already used once, better than getting more from the store). 

If you are flushing the poop, you could reuse the bags.  Might be able to use a cloth bag (like cloth diapers), good enough to get it home, dump the poop, wash the bags.

If you are composting it you can look into BioBags.  They are "plastic" bags that decompose in a normal compost pile.

This has been an issue for us as well since we've switched to reusable bags for groceries.  I now use produce bags and old bread bags, and have taken to asking family members for their unused plastic bags.  I keep a box of Biobags available if we run low on the others, but I've been able to keep myself totally stocked doing this. 

Sorry, but there's no way I could reuse a poopy doggy bag, and I cloth diapered both kiddos.  Dog poop is just way too stinky!

Oh, I just had another thought. 

My folks trained our dog to go poop by the back fence.  Then my dad would go out every now and then (I don't know how often, as a kid I never noticed him do it) and clean it up.  Lots of poop in one bag, or just dig a hole and bury it.  

Still need some plastic bags for walks just in case, but if you can retrain the dog to poop in a corner of the yard before walks, it's less clean up.  They did train the kid to "not play with the pine cones" as the poop field was under pine trees. :)

Haven't heard of BioBags before. Composting is illegal in my state, but do you think it would still be more environmentally friendly than plastic bags even if I put them in the garbage?

I wouldn't have thought of using bread and other bags for some reason.. i'll have to keep relatives posted.

Thank you for all your advice!

Compositing can't be illegal in Michigan, Michigan's own web site encourages it.

http://www.michigan.gov/mda/0,1607,7-125-1566_2311_2317-8009--,00.html

There may be restrictions where you live, but it's not a state-wide full ban.  I found CA you have to "generate" what you compost, but I didn't look into what that meant.

It might not be an enviromential soultion, but i get doggie bags from the $1 store. We stuff a few in the pockets when we take the dogs out. It works better then a walmart bags or a bread bag. We need more then one because with two dogs, they "go" several times.

Composting Illegal???? Than Mother Nature will be arrested!!!!

At my office, I have a little sign that asks people to give me their plastic bags for my dog. I bring home bags of bags! It's a small office, maybe about ten people a day, but they bring me bags all the time. Instead of them dumping the bag in the recycle bin, I take them home for Endo's poop.

Off the wall thought that hit me as I was reading through this post.

Have you thought if the small paper lunch sacks?  I know it is irrelevant, but the first thing that came to mind reading this was the burning poop in the paper sack practical joke.  And, while I am NOT saying to play this practical joke, a paper sack in the landfill is more bio-friendly than a plastic bag.  And they aren't all that expensive either.  And, a recycled child's plastic beach shovel used for a "pooper scooper" could easily be washed off when you got home at the outside spigot. 

we buy the baggies for dirty diapers at the dollar store. you get like 75 for a buck.  We clean up our yard every few days and each kid gets a bag to help.  They might not be as enviro friendly as paper bags, but they are better than the walmart ones, because they are smaller (thus take up less room) and are of a thinner (although scented..lol) plastic.

I have a pooper scooper.  Since your dogs only go on your neighbors lawn, it's not like you have to carry it on a walk.  I have the metal rake w/ bin type.  I sweep it into the bin and then you can either flush it, or bury it, or whatever.  My friend's dad has a trashcan he dumps it in, but I don't have city trash so I can't do that.

What about using a waste digester?  http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+18+570&pcatid=570

You could use a Grabber, pooper scooper to collect the waste on your walks http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+18+1080&pcatid=1080   then bring the waste directly to the digester when you get back. 

You could train your dog to only use your yard and then pooper scooper it into the trash or a waste digester thingy. I'm kinda iffy about the composting unless you're only using it for non-edible plants. Everything I've read about home composting is that the temperature doesn't get hot enough to kill all the harmful bacteria in fecal matter, so you can't use it in your vegetable garden.

Our dog does poop when we go on walks, regardless of whether she pooped just before the walk. We carry biobags and toss them in the trash, which kinda defeats the purpose of biobags, but I figure they're made with corn instead of oil, so they're bound to break down sooner than plastic grocery bags. I've heard some people complain that the bags are too small, though, and I'm not sure if they come in different sizes.

Suzanne, do you have a link for not flushing pet poop? 

I know that meat-eating poop shouldn't be put on edible plants (so no dog or cat, but rabbit poop is fine for gardens) because of the pathogens.  Humans, however, are meat-eating so our sanitatizion system has to be able to handle it.

I know you can buy litter boxes and clean themselves into the toilet when the toilet is flushed, so I'm suspicious of it being a bad idea.

I haven't done a lot of composting myself (slap my hand) but I grew up with a mother who always has a compost heap for her vegetable garden and I know she would not allow the dog poop to be included  in her composte.