Alex Allarie has a doctor's note that says Dee-o-Gee the chihuahua helps him cope with his anxiety. (CBC)

A tiny dog is causing a big human rights kerfuffle in eastern Ontario, after its disabled owner filed a complaint against the former owners of a bulk food store.

Alex Allarie appeared before an Ontario human rights tribunal Tuesday alleging he was barred from entering the Granary Natural Foods in Carleton Place, Ont., in August 2008 because he was with his chihuahua, Dee-o-Gee.

Allarie said the dog is a service animal that must accompany him to help him cope with his anxiety and depression — a psychiatric disability. Barring the dog from entering the store constitutes discrimination on the basis of the owner's disability, Allarie argues.

Allarie suggested his three-kilogram canine was not recognized as a service dog.

Alex Allarie alleged he was barred from entering a store because of the service dog he requires as a result of his psychiatric disability. (CBC)

"Most people just don't understand because of his size, and I'm very aware of it," he said.

According to Joanne Moss, president of the Canadian Foundation for Animal Assisted Support Services, there are no guidelines to determine who is in need of a service dog and what constitutes a service animal for people with psychiatric disabilities. All that is needed is a doctor's note.

A town bylaw in Carleton Place, 50 kilometres west of Ottawa, permits all service animals in food establishments.

'Vulgar, violent' behaviour

Keith and Leslie Rouble, who owned the Granary at the time of the 2008 dispute, said the incident wasn't about the dog.

Allarie had been yelling and swearing, demanding service, Leslie Rouble told the tribunal Tuesday.

Keith and Leslie Rouble alleged that Allarie had been yelling and swearing at them, and that the dispute was really over his behaviour, not his dog. (CBC)

"We never mentioned the dog at all," she said. "It was his vulgar, violent, assaultive behaviour."

Nor does Rouble believe there was any discrimination.

"We don't allow anybody else in our store with dogs to hold on to them while they serve up their spices or to let them sniff around the food," she said.

"Other places, restaurants, don't allow other people to hold their dogs at the table while they're eating or to bring them in unless they're properly identified."

Rouble acknowledged that the two sides had had an earlier conflict in 2006, when Allarie came in with Dee-o-Gee on a retractable leash and allowed the dog to sniff food items. The Roubles had questioned whether the dog was a certified service dog.

"The dog was not marked, had no harness on it identifying it, no service coat — nothing," Leslie Rouble said.

Allarie presented them with a doctor's note and a copy of the town bylaw on service animals.

Keith Rouble said the couple has since sold their store "to get away from this man."

The tribunal could take up to six months to make its decision.

If it decides in Allarie's favour, the Roubles might have to compensate him.