Mansour, who adopted 6-year-old Cody three years ago, had no choice but to sign the [image-nocss] warning. His primary violation: "prohibited animals present in a food establishment."
Mansour said he will leave Cody at home. But he said he will still try to find a way for his companion stay. "There's no way one of my dog's hairs are going to get into a bag of Doritos," he told the newspaper.
The dog wore a BP shirt with a "Cody" name tag. (Click here for the original Time story with photos.)
The state's move against Cody disappointed his customers, said the report. "People in the store hearing what was going on kind of made a little protest," Mansour said.
Readers commenting on the original Times' story had predicted the authorities might act, the paper said. "The Health Department will be all over this soon, watch," wrote one reader.
Another reader responded: "I don't think the Health Department. is worried about a dog in a gas station.... It's not like the dog is serving fresh salad."
Mansour said that in November, his usual health inspector stopped by and gave the dog a pass since Mansour's store only serves prepackaged food. This time, however, the health inspector's supervisor accompanied him, and laid down the law, said the report.
According to the federal Food & Drug Administration's food code, live animals may be allowed in stores in certain situations, provided that food contamination cannot result, the report said. One such circumstance: "In areas that are not used for food preparation, storage, sales, display, or dining, in which there are caged animals or animals that are similarly confined."
Whether that means a dog is allowed to sit with cigarette cartons behind a c-store counter is something Mansour said he plans to sort out.
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