There are pet-friendly baits, and also organic baits that are safe to use around edibles as well. You might go looking at your favorite garden center, and read the labels carefully. You only have to use them about once a month, unlike beer, which you have to 'maintain' every day or risk a very smelly garden.
If you water your garden early in the morning, (as we all should) that is the time to go out and collect a TON of snails. Get out as soon as the sprinklers turn off, with a bucket. Do it at least once a week for a few weeks and you will see a huge reduction, but as Zencat says, they will come back, so for long-term protection of your plants, a good bait is best.
The baiting with beer gets expensive if you have a lot of snails, and you also end up with a really gross beer/snail soup if the snails sit in the beer in the sun while you are at work. (speaking from experience here . . .
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