Posted on 10/12/2015 7:54:23 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Ah, the fake service dog. Like out-of-sync traffic lights and above-ground power lines, they’re one of those things that make my normally mild British temperament fall by the wayside.
Allow me to rephrase that - it’s not the dogs that make my blood boil, but rather their owners. Who are these people? You’ve probably seen them. For me, the most recent was a lady in the grocery store with a teacup poodle in a Coach purse. Before that, there was the guy in the health food store pushing a Yorkshire terrier in a stroller. A few years ago it was a rather surly gentleman on a bus in Philadelphia. His “service dog” kept trying to attack an elderly passenger’s footed cane. And remember my friend Sue from last week’s column? Yeah, her actual service dog was recently attacked in public by a Corgi wearing a homemade service dog vest.
For the past five or so years, there has been a marked increase in incidents of pet owners who attempt to pass off their unsocialized pets as emotional support animals. Add to that the growing number of handlers who attempt to pass off their emotional support animals as service dogs, and you have the makings of a perfect storm that makes life more difficult for a demographic that already faces considerable challenges: the disabled. If you think I’m exaggerating for effect, think again. Airline complaints against ESA’s and their handlers have risen steeply, causing many to demand a crackdown. As a response to this very issue, a recent law was passed banning so called service dogs from riding in shopping carts. Another new law makes misrepresenting a pet as a service dog a second-degree misdemeanor.
In all of the events I have personally witnessed, the humans handling these canine culprits shamelessly bullied service providers who were unaware of their rights. They blindsided these hard-working individuals by brandishing letters, threatening lawsuits, and throwing the kinds of public temper tantrums that would put a toddler to shame.
If you are one of these people, I am calling you out. If you would like to leave nasty comments, send me indignant emails, or blow up my social media accounts, be my guest. The traction is awesome and brings lots of hits to my website. I probably won’t bother to respond to you because I don’t have time to be bothered with entitled jerks - and that, my dear imposter, is exactly what you are. If on the other hand, you’re one the many beleaguered employees that has had to deal with said jerks, then listen up.
An emotional support animal is NOT, repeat NOT a service animal. They are not the same thing. ESA’s are NOT working animals. They are pets. For a refresher course on the differences click here.
A service dog has the right to accompany a handler wherever the general public is allowed. ESA’s are pets. If pets are not allowed, then neither are ESA’s. Period! Exceptions are made in matters of housing and air travel, but that’s it.
Emotional support animals are not required to go through any special training - and oftentimes, to be perfectly honest, it shows. If a so-called service dog is barking, sniffing, exploring, socializing, growling, lunging, freaking out at the sight of an old lady’s cane,or doing anything other than focusing exclusively on its handler, it is probably not a service dog.
If the animal is not a service animal, it is not entitled to be there. You can ask them to leave, and you should. This is not just a matter of principle. It’s a matter of complying with the rules and laws that may govern your place of business. Do you really want to be saddled with health code violations and the fines that accompany them because a hyper-attached pet owner just had to bring Fluffy to brunch? No pets allowed means just that. Even legitimate emotional support animals are still pets. You have every right to ask their handlers to leave, even if they get nasty.
If you’re reading this article and wondering what kind of person would risk jail time and fines for the privilege of schlepping their pets around, you’re not alone. As long as they’re promised anonymity, fakers are very frank about their motivations. They often cite reasons such as not wanting to leave their pets home alone, not wanting to hire dog walkers, not wanting to crate-train, separation anxiety (presumably the pet’s!), convenience, not wanting to pay a fee to fly with their pet, or my personal favorite, “This country is so backwards. In Europe, you can bring a dog anywher.!” I’m European and guess what? When my wife and I go out to brunch, we leave our dogs at home. Here’s why:
It’s. The. Law.
Perhaps the all-time prize-winner was the pet blogger who bragged that her fake service dog was the best trained dog she knew. I will not publish her name or the link to the article because I refuse to reward her behavior with money and/or attention, but the long and the short of it was that she felt the privilege of taking her dog in public was her reward for having put so much time and effort into training said dog. The piece reeked of entitlement and sent my blood straight to the boiling point. Thankfully, the author’s self-righteous attitude was ripped to shreds in the comment section, so perhaps the world has not gone completely mad just yet.
I’ll close this article with a missive from a client whom I’ll call Bob. Bob is combat veteran who survived a tour of duty in Afghanistan, and a second in Iraq. He came home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and his service dog has been vital in helping him along the long road to recovery. He explained his frustration with the fake service dog phenomenon as follows:
“When people get burned by a fake service dog team, they develop anti-bodies. Then I come along with my legit service dog, and there’s an issue. They get defensive, or they ask questions they’re not supposed to ask, they give me attitude, they tail me like I’m some kind of criminal. Dude, the ‘S’ in PTSD stands for ‘stress’. I don’t need that “expletive”. And on a bad day, I can’t handle it. I knew when I enlisted that my choice involved risk, so I’m not looking for anybody’s sympathy. I’m looking to get my life back. All I want is for people to respect a set of laws that allows people like me to keep going. I don’t think that’s so terribly much to ask.” Neither do I.
But if you’re surfing Etsy to find a convincing-looking service dog vest for Snowflake, well, apparently you do. Way to go thanking our wounded warriors for their service. I told you I was going to call you out, and while I realize the animal section is generally a place for feel-good pieces, I hope I made you feel bad about yourself. If I did, don’t despair. The fix is an easy one. Instead of the faker-vest, buy Snowflake a nice fluffy bed and an interesting toy. She’ll have great fun with both when you go out for brunch and leave her - and your “letter”- at home.
For more information about service dogs, please visit the Americans With Disabilities Act’s website.
Good article and so very true. If not properly socialized some animals are a pure menace, given there are degrees of that menace but why should we tolerate event negligible threat. We should not...
While in the USAF in the early 70’s my friend put a small steering wheel on his VW Bug.
I had a Dodge Colt w an adjustable steering wheel, which I dropped to the lowest position.
Steering w my knees, I held the old VW wheel in my hand as I approached the entrance to work and my buddy in the passenger seat.
Having caught the attention of coworkers, I lifted the loose steering wheel with a look of panic and handed it to my buddy, he faked panic for a second and handed it back to me.
Our coworkers scattered from the intersection.
That has to be my best all time prank.
First world service dog problems.
Third world service dog problem: Are we going to serve the dog with rice or potatos?
A place I worked that served dinner. A nutty guy brought his “service” golden retriever into the dining room and it took a big dump on the middle of the dance floor. Half the customers got up and walked out. The porter had to clean it up. But the nut was friends with the owner. Later he offered a waitress $400 to date him.
There’s a whack job in my area who puts herself out as “training service dogs”. The breed she uses? Chows. One of the most independent, cantankerous breeds on the planet. She goes into restaurants and proceeds to feed these unwashed, ungroomed beasts with the silverware and off the dishes. It’s disgusting.
She specializes in finding clients who, for whatever reason, do not qualify for a dog from a legitimate service dog organization. These dogs are dragged around by their disabled people with the dog having absolutely zero attention to what is happening.
LOL, he kinda does, but then again...what a DOG!
I’ve got a friend, who is disabled. Visibly so, as she is a double amputee. She had a service dog which weighed all of 8 pounds. She could drop a dime on the ground and that dog would pick it up and hand it to her, at her command. The dog would climb into the clothes dryer to retrieve items for her and would pull on her jacket sleeve to help her get her coat off. The dog routinely rode on the platform of her scooter, curled up in a down-stay.
When she would be in a public place, the dog would curl up and never move, until she gave the ok.
There is no set size for a service dog. It is training and temperament. Pure and simple.
Well, my troupe may not be service dogs (lol Who’s servin who, here?), but they *are* our entourage. And we never leave home without them. #klownkar
Mia has a stroller- & she has been out to eat, but her pretty little feet only touch the ground to potty (She’s blind). She can’t walk now, anyway.
Years ago I saw a little article in a car magazine.
Someone with way too much time on his hands took the body off a car (might have been a ‘61 Chevy), rotated it 180, and bolted it back on the frame. He hooked everything up so it was actually street legal, and started to drive around in it.
It caused panic everywhere it went, and the cops finally told him to get it off the road.
Would love to see pics!
I’ve got Bob, Ozzy, Hannah, Mercy, Snek, Jake, Candy, Sid, Nancy, Ibn, Ruby, Lilith, Leah, Agnes, Vera, Uther, Igrayne and Pinky.
Hahahaha...that’s great!
Of course, it would be beneath the kittehs to engage in any kind of work like that...
My American bulldog is a chewing mouth dog.
More likely, you’d be arrested for assault and the person slapped would turn out to have been sexually abused as a child or a victim of rape.
There are legitimate reasons for having an animal for emotional support-—but a dog expressly trained for that purpose will be well behaved.
I hope you reported that to the manager.
Elkjounds are great service dogs. I still haven’t heard of dobermans cutting the grass.
As long as they don’t lick the Twizzlers, as one was doing in the drugstore. Of course community sympathy was all with the dog and not with me.
That’s really the part that bugs me. People who are ignoring or actually being rude to other humans fall all over themselves when a dog appears. That is sick.
And if you ever try to pet a seeing-eye dog, you are told, Not now, she’s working. If it’s not a real service dog, the owner adores all the attention.
NY state law does not deter these people from bringing their dogs into places that serve or sell food. If you point out the sign on the door, the next time you return the owner has taken the sign down.
Evidently some fool brought their pet husky that subsequently attacked one of the friendly barn cats, grabbing it by the neck and shaking it like a rag doll. The cat was able to escape and disappeared into one of the barns but I don't know if it survived the attack or not.
Elkhounds
I don’t think he really gets the irony of his post.
Some have been trained to assist the deaf, or specific types of mobility impaired folks. Still, the actual legit service dogs in those cases are every bit as well trained as any Seeing Eye dog, just trained for their owner’s specific disabilities instead of blindness.
As pointed out above...if it’s acting like a typical dog, chances are very good it’s not legit.
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