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Dollarama calls cops on grandmother who brought dog inside

After nearly a decade of bringing her shih tzu Oliver to the Elgin Street Dollarama with no trouble, 86-year-old Anna Casseramona says she was "humiliated" earlier this month when staff called police after she took her dog inside the store.

"They called the police. I couldn't believe it. And I looked at the officer and I said, 'Is that for me?'" she said. "It was like a soap opera. Honest to God."

Casseramona said two staff members tried to block her path into the store when they saw Oliver in her cart. She told them that a manager previously told her Oliver could accompany her if he stayed in the cart and she continued on inside to buy a tube of glue.

"They were not talking, they were yelling," she said. "I was shaky. All butterflies in my stomach but I didn't show it. I pretend I was really tough."

It was only after she found the glue and was headed to the checkout that she noticed a police officer in the store — then two more.

"They treated me like a criminal," she said. "I was very humiliated. I was very insulted. I was ashamed. I have the whole store looking at me."

She said the police officers were kind but she wants an apology from the store for what she describes an an overly-aggressive response.

"The police, he was very honest and very nice, he said, 'I've never been in a case like this,'" she said. "I was absolutely shaking when I went outside."

Dollarama told CBC News that its customer service department has not received a formal complaint about the matter.

"It is our only means of looking into the matter and ascertain what really happened," a Dollarama spokesperson wrote in an email. "Dollarama always undertakes a thorough review of all matters brought to its attention by customers and would certainly appreciate the opportunity to do so in this case as well."