About Mutts for the Bay
We are here to help you and your pup be stewards of our watershed.
As you and your dog visit our beaches, parks, hiking trails, and special seaside spots, we help make it easy to do your duty and pick up after your pet. The Mutts for the Bay program provides free pet waste bags for picking up pet waste all over town and educates the public about keeping our bay clean. We maintain 36 dispensers throughout the Morro Bay watershed in partnership with the County of San Luis Obispo, a group of dedicated community volunteers and sponsors, and a generous grant from the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust. It is part of our commitment to protecting and restoring Morro Bay for people and animals alike.
Picking up after your dog helps keep our bay clean.
About Your Dog’s Poop
Dog poop is not a good fertilizer.
There are approximately 4,000 dogs that live in Morro Bay and Los Osos. This means an average of 21,000 pounds of dog poop is produced each week. Dog poop produces nearly twice as much bacteria as human waste, and when left on the ground, has a major impact on the environment. When it rains, waste can seep into the groundwater and wash into local storm drains and waterways, ending up in the bay. The bacteria from all this waste can be harmful to people and to the environment.
More on
Water Quality
Our 2023 State of the Bay report summarizes bay bacteria monitoring from 2005-2021. Bacteria levels at all locations meet water quality standards for recreational contact. Keeping pet waste from entering the bay is one way to help reduce bacteria levels. The connection to water quality is important– picking up after your pet is not just about keeping our parks and lawns clean. It is also about clean water that we can all enjoy.
MAP OF OUR DISPENSERS
How to Get Involved
Donate
Donations of all sizes help keep dispensers stocked full of bags, increase the number of dispensers, and fund education about the importance of picking up after our pets
Sponsor
When available, you can donate at the $400 level for an annual dispenser sponsorship! We will work with you to design a sticker for the dispenser to show our appreciation.
Social Media Outreach
Help us spread the word about the importance of picking up after your dog by following us and tagging us in your dog pictures on Instagram!
OUR SPONSORS
Dane Lundy
Sharon & Bob Blakely
Dale Kaiser Real Estate
Elsie Casida
Nicholas Simmons
Steven Hampton
Jeff & Sue Hine
Janice Peters
Anonymous, in honor of Central Coast Herding Dog Rescue
ESTERO Surf
Cyndee Edwards & Matthew Talarico
The Shell Shop
Jodi Marfia
Janice Wolf
Rhonda & Keith Crowfoot
Morro Cove Homeowners Association
Tamara Cox
Sherrill Gardner
Marcel Stieber
Kathy Baker
Alberto Tovar
Morro Bay Active Seniors
Volunteers
Our network of awesome volunteers make sure dispensers are in good shape and stocked with bags. We are grateful for our volunteers’ dedication to help keep our waters and public places clean.
We have a network of generous volunteers that help our program run! If you are interested in volunteering for this program, contact [email protected] for more information.
Mutts Blog Posts
Dog Poop Bags: Breaking Down How Dog Waste Bags Break Down
A special thanks to the Harold J. Miossi Trust
The Harold J. Miossi Trust provides a generous grant for the Mutts for the Bay program. This grant has paid for the purchase, installation, and supply of bags for four new dispensers in the Morro Bay watershed, as well as helping provide bags for all of the dispensers in our program. This grant also provides support for the development and distribution of educational and outreach materials for students, members of our community, and visitors.