FORT WAYNE, IND. ? As the kids beg for bubble gum and their mom scans tabloids in the checkout line, poor faithful Fido is outside pacing the backseat of the family car.

The family exits the store, heading toward the car, reading their magazines and blowing their bubble gum.

Sadly, the only treats Fido gets are a pat on the back and an open window.

He deserves so much more, doesn’t he?

Chomp Inc. owners and sisters Sarah Speare and Lesley Lutyens came up with a solution: pet candy. Pet owners can purchase Yip Yap or Pit’r Pat ($1.99 per tin), breath mints for dogs and cats, and Sniffers ($1.19 per package), beef and cheese snacks for dogs at more than 15,000 pet, grocery, convenience, gift and mass-retail stores across the United States and Canada, as well as online.

“We realized that there were humanized snacks and cookies for pets, but no one was making candy,” Speare said.

The idea came from the stereotype that “all dogs have bad breath,” according to Speare. It only made sense to create breath mints for pets; breath mints that came in tin “Altoids-looking” cans, in fact.

The dog candies have been available nationwide since June 2001, and the cat candies since August 2003, but not in checkout aisles.

Meijer is the first to market them that way.

“It was a corporate buyer decision,” said Todd Weer, director of the Meijer store on Maysville Road in Fort Wayne. “The checkout lines are the best traffic area.”

Speare agreed. “This was our goal from the beginning,” she said. “Wherever human candy was, we wanted to have pet candy.”

Lebanon, N.J.-based Chomp’s owners said statistics indicated more than 60 percent of shoppers have pets at home or in the car.

“We are thrilled that Meijer recognizes the large population of pet parents and pet lovers by offering the impulse pet candy at its registers,” Speare said.

Weer remembers one customer telling him she purchased Yip Yap because she cared deeply for her dog.

“Her pet just had mouth surgery, and she said that dog biscuits were too hard,” Weer said. “The pet candy was perfect.”

Placed on the top shelf near the Dentyne and Trident gum, the pet candies are eye-level for passing customers. This may have been a factor in the product’s successful sales.

At Fort Wayne’s three Meijer locations, 96 percent of the stock since Feb. 7 has sold, Weer said.

With its apparent popularity, pet candy continues to make Chomp’s business grow.