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Another dog in a Portland grocery store.

(Tom Hallman Jr./The Oregonian)

I witnessed a dog fight Wednesday afternoon.

In the aisle of a grocery store.

A woman had been walking through the store with her dog on the leash. I watched when an elderly woman nearly stumbled when she rounded a corner and the dog became tangled in her legs.

I saw the dog nearly eye level with a baby in a stroller.

I saw some customers giving the dog owner dirty looks, but she either ignored them, or didn't care. After picking up a quart of ice cream, she turned down an aisle and ran into another dog owner.

That's when the trouble started.

The two dogs began barking and growling, lunging at each other with shoppers all around them. The woman with the ice cream pulled her dog away and continued shopping.

I'm not going to name the store because that doesn't really matter. I've seen this happen in stores throughout he city. I tracked down a manager who told me that it's a problem, but they've been told there's nothing they can do.

"We hate it," she said, not giving me her name because the store doesn't want employees talking. "The dogs go to the bathroom in the aisle, they nip at children and other dogs and they sniff the produce.

"It's the worst thing that's happened to us," she said. "Our legal department has told us that we can only ask if the dog is a service animal. If the customer says yes, we have to let them on. We don't require papers or any proof of anything. We don't even ask anymore."

So I ask you, readers, should dogs be allowed in the store?

Why not cats?

Or snakes?

Had any experiences -- good or bad?

Vote in the poll and leave a comment.

--Tom Hallman Jr.