The council gave preliminary approval to a law requiring those who own or have custody of dogs to clean up after them. The council also gave preliminary approval to a new definition of what a leash is — it can be no longer than 10 feet.

Council members also agreed to amend laws to use the term “service animal” rather than “guide dog,” recognizing that people other than the blind use dogs to help them overcome disabilities.

But the council rejected a revision that would have allowed dogs into city parks.

As it stands now, by one interpretation of the law, only blind people with seeing-eye dogs may legally take their pets into City Park in Old Bisbee.

That issue will be revisited later this summer. “Every day you see a ton of people in the different parks. Some of them have their dogs on a leash, some of them don’t. We’re right back where we started,” City Manager Rob Yandow said today.

Current city law states, “No animals shall be allowed upon the City Park whether on a leash or not, except for seeing-eye dogs.”

It is unclear whether that specifically means City Park in Old Bisbee or all of the city parks, Yandow said. He proposed the ordinance be amended to state, “Animals shall be allowed upon all city parks provided the animal is restrained by a leash.”

But the council voted that down 5-1. Mayor Dan Beauchamp and council members Luche Giacomino, Bob Kasun, Dennis Nelson and Ted White voted against the amended ordinance, which Councilman John Charley favored.

Beauchamp objected to strict enforcement of leashed dogs in city parks. He questioned why dogs couldn’t be allowed to run at large in some city parks, such as Higgins Park near his home in Old Bisbee.

Councilman Dennis Nelson suggested that perhaps certain parks could be designated for dogs to run free. He also objected because the city Parks and Recreation Commission had not been consulted.

Yandow said he will bring the matter back to the council, but he generally is averse to having city laws that are not enforced.

City code now forbids dogs running at large, and his intent was to enforce the leash law and require pet owners to clean up fecal matter, whether in city parks or elsewhere. The amendments that council approved address the dog droppings issue.

Code would now state: “Any person owning, possessing, harboring or having the care, charge, control or custody of any dog shall immediately remove and thereafter dispose of any fecal matter deposited by the dog on public or private property unless the property owner has given approval to use said property for this purpose. The dog fecal matter shall be immediately placed in a closed or sealed container and thereafter disposed of by depositing said matter in a trash receptacle, sanitary disposal unit or other closed or sealed container.”

Leashes were redefined to require they be “no longer than 10 feet.”

Giacomino objected that is too short to allow dog owners to properly exercise their pets, but Charley said it should be no longer so that dog owners could properly control their pets.

The new law also would eliminate the use of “guide dog,” which is a dog trained to lead a blind person, in favor of “service animal,” which could be any animal “that has completed a formal training program that assists its owner in one or more daily living tasks that are associated with a productive lifestyle and which is sufficiently conditioned to be of no danger to the health and safety of the general public.”

The council approved first reading of the amended ordinance by a 5-1 vote. Kasun objected because he believes the city does not enforce the leash law now. The amended ordinance will be up for final approval by the council in July.

Only one member of the public, Joanna Flowers, spoke to the issue. She complained about dogs running loose and depositing fecal matter, and she urged the city to enforce the laws now on the books.