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Mine is not an emotional support dog. She is a dog. Why does she travel with me? Because I enjoy her company. Because she is very well mannered, extremely pleasant to be around and she enjoys traveling as I do. I don’t “need” her to “help my mental state”. I simply prefer her company to the vast majority of people so, I see no reason not to take her whenever possible. But, I do know a child that has an emotional support dog. The child is 13 and was raped at the age of 10. She has had quite a lot of therapy but, until she got her emotional support dog she was withdrawn, anxious, chronically depressed. The dog has been a miracle for her. I think many people look for reasons to get annoyed, offended, irritated by things that have very little real impact on their lives. If seeing me at a restaurant with my dog by my side offends them, that is just too bad. I value her companionship and don’t care if others have a problem with that.
Finally. Honesty. Good old sociopathic honesty. With the added bouns of an unrelated recounting of child abuse.
Hm...I wonder if having an emotional support animal just makes it less likely that a person will purse therapy that might improve the situation.
That's exactly what I meant when I posted that they aren't helping, in many situations.
And sorry, I don't think being socially inept means you should be allowed to bring your dog everywhere you go just because you're unable to develop relationships with people.
They’re classed differently. Service dogs obviously have a lot more regulations than ESA’s
Quote:
Originally Posted by ContraPagan
But ESA are NOT service dogs, because they are not trained to perform actual, specific tasks to assist a disabled person. Even PTSD dogs have task-specific training. The only places ESA are allowed are in planes and housing that would normally be no-pets. Other than that, they have no right to public access - restaurants, theaters, stores, etc.
And FYI, there is no standardized certification for service dogs, either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ditchoc
By Law You Are Allowed To Train Your Own Service Dog.
Service Dogs Do Not Require Any Physician Letter or Prescription.
Emotional Support Dogs Do Not Require Any Training.
And for only 19.95 you can get an 'Official' letter and online registration anyone can look up, a vest, tag, cards to hand out etc.
Just do a search for "service animal id" and anyone can have a service or emotional support animal in seconds.
It is pretty pathetic.
imo, ANY dog being used as a service or support dog need proper training and certification, and the standards need to be set for all types of service dogs. and they must all be licensed.
imo, ANY dog being used as a service or support dog need proper training and certification, and the standards need to be set for all types of service dogs. and they must all be licensed.
I am a card-carrying liberal on most issues. I detest trump and the GOP. But if they amend the ADA's rights for emotional support dogs, I will vote for them.
I fly a lot and I missed my last connection because my outbound flight was delayed due to a long intense conversation between the airline personnel, an older woman who said she had a dog allergy (and btw, she was in a wheelchair and looked quite frail) and a young woman with an emotional support dog.
In the end the dog stayed and so did the older allergic woman (I saw she wrapped her scarf over her mouth and nose). The stupid dog yapped for the first 35 minutes of the flight. Because we left 25 minutes late, we lost our gate and sat on the runway for another 20 minutes and I missed my connection...had to hang around IAH for 4 hours.
I have also run into problems at Home Depot in St. Pete, FL where every retired idiot brings in their dogs on what appear to be 50 foot leashes. Can't get my cart down an aisle without having to ask them to reel in their dogs. At a grocery store in St. Pete some biker dude brought in a pit bull that gnarled and growled at everyone. I reported it to the manager....you know that 17 year old kid who works the night shift.
Thing is I LOVE dogs. But they are pets, animals. Period. Not child substitutes.
Funny how liberals tend to take emotional issues but practical experience will change their minds. In a different life as a liberal you would have supported these emotional support animals but you happen to EXPERIENCE what really happens when they are allowed to abuse the laws.
This is similar to gun ownership. Liberals see guns as big and scary until someone takes them out shooting and makes them a convert. I'm not saying we shouldn't do more vetting to make sure questionable people can't have them, but outright banning them is just silly because all you do is punish the law abiding non violent people of society.
Seems one’s person’s emotional support is another person's facial laceration. When will these morons and their damn mutts stop invading public spaces with their absurd need for attention?
One doesn't have to hate dogs, as you obviously do, to acknowledge that an increasing number of people are jumping on the "emotional support animal" bandwagon when it appears they simply want to bring their pets where they wouldn't normally be allowed to go.
true enough, but if enough of us that hold this opinion petition our lawmakers, and push for proper and consistent laws here, then we can get them through.
The first time I heard of an ESD, it was to help vets with PTSD. Anything that can help those guys should be encouraged. That being said, like everything else it’s being abused by people who have never been in the military, let alone suffer from PTSD. It seems to be abused about as much as opioid prescriptions from pill mills.
I LOVE to see dogs in public, but ON LEASHES (my idiot neighbors let their dogs run loose so I can't take my own dogs on walks anymore, since mine react badly when being "rushed at"). I just love dogs, whether they are friendly to me or not (BTW, don't touch an unknown animal without permission & good reason!).
Children are another story. I don't like them or feel comfortable around them, and they instantly sense it and will actually toddle across a crowded restaurant to stare at me and/or prattle endlessly about nothing.
Though I'm not a germaphobe, I can do without all the illnesses kids are constantly catching & spreading around (and now I've got an immunosuppressed family member to make the stakes life & death). It's almost impossible to catch an illnesses from a dog, but a child in a shopping cart will drool/gnaw on the cart handle can infect 200 people (and then their families) in a day.
The rare kids that are quiet and polite (as 99% of children were in the 1960s), I don't mind at all--but those are few and far between. Recently, one toddler that I did not even know was there tried to kick me in the leg because I was apparently "in his way" during a temper tantrum, and my spouse kindly placed his leg between the kid and me to stop the attack. The kid fell on his butt and the mother loudly berated us because "he's just a child!"--as if that is justification for her failure to monitor her little monster. Another youngster, ignored by the mother in a retail store for a good half hour while chatting with the clerk, was trying to get out the door the whole time. Since I couldn't get her attention and had to eventually leave, I tried to weave around the kid, who naturally threw himself on my legs and managed to get half out the door. At this point the mother rushes over and berates me for letting the free-range offspring escape! There are LEASHES for toddlers nowadays, and I would never let my DOG run around a business establishment and then yell at the person who opens the door to leave the premises.
Surround me with dogs, or cats, or even horses--but I'd have to modify that famous saying "The more I see of people, the more I love my dogs" to add children to the people.
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