Bringing your pet pooch into your favorite retailer has become common. Better to leave them in the barking lot.

The other day at Walgreen's I rounded an aisle and there was a guy with a dog.

He was young, the guy, not the dog, and he was checking out socks as the pooch sat and scratched. Fleas, I guess. The dog, of medium size, had a collar and several tags. It was not a service dog. It was unleashed and free to roam, sniff, lick, squat or lift a leg.

I got in the checkout line and so did the guy with the dog. He was three people behind. The lady behind me looked at the dog, then at me, and rolled her eyes. Who brings a dog into a store? We were both thinking it.

After making my purchase, I left, but the next day went back and asked the cashier if Walgreen's is "dog friendly." She was surprised that a dog was in the store. She said some people who bring their dogs inside will claim it's an "emotional support pet" and that they get a pass. Otherwise, it's a manager's discretion whether pooches are permitted to enter. I called Walgreen's corporate office, and am still awaiting a return call.

A few days later, I was in Lowe's and there was another guy with a dog. He was in the aisle with shovels, which is appropriate. Again, the dog was unleashed and free to roam, lick or bite. As I walked toward the checkout, I heard the dog barking viciously in a way that dogs do when they bite. I heard the guy telling the dog to stop.

No doubt these scenes play out across the country as retailers become pet friendly. The list grows longer by the year, and includes Lowe's, Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, Macy's, Gap, Pottery Barn, and others. "Clean up in aisle 3" has a gross new meaning.

Now, I understand that there are millions of dog lovers in this dog-crazy country. I understand that there are lonely people for whom dogs are faithful companions, or for whom dogs take the place of children ("pet parents" they are called). So maybe the two men with the dogs are lonely and childless and prefer the company of their pooches to people. Fine. But why bring dogs into places where it's clearly inappropriate? I mean, Walgreen's has a pharmacy, patronized by people who are ill with chronic medical conditions. Almost certainly some of them have compromised immune systems, and are more susceptible to germs carried by canines.

I know. Dog saliva is "antibacterial," believed to be less germ-y than human saliva. But it's not risk-free.

In July, a Wisconsin man had his lower legs and forearms amputated after a dog licked him and infected him with a rare blood disease caused by the capnocytophaga bacteria, common in the saliva of dogs and cats. It's transferred to humans through licks, bites and scratches. Dogs carry so many germs that USFDA guidelines prohibit animals from entering any store that sells food, especially grocery stores. Permissive pet policies by retailers who sell or prepare food threatens to contaminate the food supply with "dog drool, urine, feces and other material that dogs carry on their coats and paws and might leave behind store shelves and counters."

Naturally, this prohibition doesn't include service or police dogs, which are specifically trained not to indiscriminately slobber, bite or lift a leg on the Cheez-Its as they four-foot it down the grocery aisle at Walgreen's.

Look, I know this isn't going to please dog lovers. I'm not saying dogs are a health anathema. But we take pains to keep peanut products from the 1.4 percent of the population allergic to peanuts. We seem to not care about the 30 percent of Americans who are allergic to household pets, like dogs. And what about the people who fear dogs? Just tell them "Snap out of it," I guess.

Mix dogs and people in places where they shouldn't, and it's going to get ruff.

Columnist JD Mullane can be reached at 215-949-5745 or at jmullane@couriertimes.com.