Health Department says Cody, the store Labrador, must go

The St Petersburg Times ^ | Dec 03, 2009 | Dominick Tao

[Daffynition]

At the gas station-convenience store at the intersection of Nursery Road and U.S. 19 in Clearwater, clerk Cody, the chocolate Lab wearing a shirt with a BP tag, greets customers.

[Maurice Tift]

The Doritos will kill you long before a dog hair does anything to you.

[Daffynition]

[lula]

Pretty sad, I would bet there are worse things (health-wise) in the store than the dog. Someone’s on a power trip.

[who knows what evil?]

Someone’s on a power trip.

Exactly.

[Adder]

“I would bet there are worse things (health-wise) in the store than the dog.”

I’m nominating the health department “supervisor”, when he is there.

Idiot.

[CGASMIA68]

i would chalange the crap out of this one and f with the town to the max.....if he has no food prep licence than i see no foul.......in the mean time a nice dog mat at the front door would do fine.....

[Salamander]

You wouldn’t want him contaminating the harmless booze and cigarettes now, would you?

/s

[Doogle]

..that gull has this thing for dorito’s

[Fresh Wind]

From the FDA’s Food Defect Action Level list-allowable levels of product contamination. No mention of dog hairs, though.

CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR

Insect filth: Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined OR any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent filth: Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined OR any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

CITRUS FRUIT JUICES, CANNED

Insects and insect eggs: 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml

RED FISH AND OCEAN PERCH

Parasites: 3% of the fillets examined contain 1 or more parasites accompanied by pus pockets

MACARONI AND NOODLE PRODUCTS

Insect filth: Average of 225 insect fragments or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples

Rodent filth: Average of 4.5 rodent hairs or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples

PEANUT BUTTER

Insect filth: Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams

Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams

POPCORN

Rodent filth: 1 or more rodent excreta pellets are found in 1 or more subsamples, and 1 or more rodent hairs are found in 2 or more other subsamples OR 2 or more rodent hairs per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples OR 20 or more gnawed grains per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples

WHEAT FLOUR

Insect filth: Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams

Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams

[Doogle]

if anyone backing this ban would consider who wrapped those prepackaged buttered rolls you got with your coffee this morning....having a dog greet you at a window would seem sterile.

[nathanbedford]

As someone who lives most of the year in Germany one expects to encounter dogs in restaurants. It is simply part of the culture here. The dogs are invariably well-behaved and stay quietly under the table.

In rural Bavaria where I live is not uncommon to sit on the terrace or in a beer garden of a restaurant in pleasant weather to eat. It is equally common to see a barn with milk cows calmly chewing a cud.

I would stack up the hygiene in restaurants in Germany against that available in America and make bets on the winner. But it only make a quick comparison of the cleanliness of the toilets in Germany and America to understand the commitment to cleanliness in Germany.

The Germans have dogs in their restaurants and cows a few feet away from folks eating outdoors. The Germans have a cleaner environment. The Americans choose not to consider the cleanliness of the convenience store where this dog is greeting customers, instead the bureaucrats simply pass an edict: no dogs allowed. It seems there is a larger lesson here. Once regulators can identify a potential source of harm they simply pass a regulation to solve a real or imagined threat. Where there is no regulation, the tort lawyers fill in the gaps.

Every regulation chips away at our liberty. Sometimes I wonder whether the Europeans are really shutting down personal liberty as much as we conservatives in America contend. Maybe there is a better way?

[RegulatorCountry]

Labs are such sweeties, and good sports, too. Up for almost anything, so long as they can be with their people.

[Daffynition]

Clearwater has "gone-to-the-dogs" anyway. Literally.

I used to carry a bag of dog treats and when I was in the area, drive-up to give one to Cody. Mostly, he'd be "on break" sleeping.

Some time ago, I posted a story on FR about the zoning in Clearwater ..don't have time to find the story now .... but you nailed it ...people on a power trip.

[Scotsman will be Free]

Typical govt stupidity and ridgidity. We are around dog hair all day long, because as sure as shooting, if you don’t own a dog your fellow employees do and they have dog hair on their clothes.

[Maurice Tift]

You can’t eat just one.

[lula]

We took our dog to restaurants in Germany too, they gave him treats. They even brought out a doggie dish with water on a warm summer day. Gotta love it!
Regulations are a knee-jerk reaction and usually not thought through. I would rather see a dog in an establishment than some people.

[bmwcyle]

Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine...

[mazda77]

Being one whose “other” family lives in Bavaria, I can totally vouch for the comments about dogs in restaurants and the general cleanliness as you described. I am reminded of Christmas dinner gatherings of the family at the local GhastHaus that also included the four legged family members as well.

There is a law passed under Jeb Bush that allows dogs at restaurants as long as they are outside in an open air cafe setting. One restaurant comes to mind of “Sam Sneads” in downtown Orlando. They even provide a menu for the pets and the meals are served on a Frisbee.