No you. Who is supposed to prove something, the dog, or the person you’re oppressing because you live such a privileged life you have nothing better to do? My neighbor has a service dog. He has PTSD. Yes, a white people disease that must drive you cray cray.
And if they do, it’s because they are very sick or something else is wrong with them.
A women I went to junior high with (ETA in the mid 1970s) has been legally blind since birth (her parents insisted she be mainstreamed because they believed - correctly - that she was not handicapped) and a few years ago, she successfully sued a taxicab company because a driver wouldn’t let her dog ride with her. :mad: Believe me, you can tell just by looking at her that she is blind. She wears very thick glasses to enhance what little vision she does have.
But yeah, people who have “service” iguanas, parakeets, etc.? Get real. :rolleyes:
No, sorta nothing like that at all. In fact, what a stupid fucking thing to say.
Most jurisdictions are quite specific about what animals may (or may not) be considered to be a “service animal”. No, in most places, you cannot simply decide all by yourself that you need a fluffy companion, and then businesses must let you take your pooch wherever you go. Nor can you simply get a doctors note and then take your pooch to whatever business you like.
Regulations exist that specifically define “service animals”
Thank God in my area, there are regulations:
In other words, your random mutt that shits on the carpet of a casino is not a suitable service animal.
WTF? What about the ‘stress disorders’ that the staff in (any) establishment have to deal with cleaning up fuckng DOG SHIT? Y’know, if you are THAT stressed (and your dog is a shitter) then you get to stay home. Simple.
My disability does not override YOUR right to a shit-free walk through the Casino/Post Office/Walmart.
Not like it at all, actually. Transgender people don’t have any impact on bathrooms that may make it more difficult for other people to use them. Pet owners who take their pets into public places, on the other hand, are potentially causing nontrivial allergy, hygiene, safety, and/or nuisance problems for other people.
A more apt analogy would be if transgender people (or any other group of people) for some reason had a serious medical need to, say, smoke cigarettes everywhere they went. They should still be allowed to use public places like anybody else, but they might well be required to show their MandatorySmoker card to prove that they weren’t just some asshole faking a medical condition to get around no-smoking regulations.
Likewise, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to request that people with pets in public places should be able to show some kind of ServiceAnimal card to prove that they aren’t just assholes faking a medical condition to get around no-pets regulations.
Mind you, I personally have no dog (heh) in this fight: I don’t really care if there are pets in restaurants, on the bus, wherever, as long as they’re suitably restrained and well-behaved. But a lot of other people do care, and consequently we have pretty stringent no-pets regulations in most public places.
Either obey the law or get the law changed, but don’t try to sneak around the law by using genuinely disabled people as your cover. That’s being a jerk.
Well, legit service dogs can screw up. We saw one poop on the floor in Safeway, at the meat counter, leaving a whole little trail there, and the owner just walked right on. I mean, yeah, she was blind, but presumably she had a sense of smell.
A former coworker (temp, fortunately) somehow scammed HR into allowing her to bring her comfort husky into our office every day. It was cute, but quite unnecessary. Not particularly well-behaved, either.
I often feel like the only person in Australia who isn’t particularly fond of dogs. I don’t hate them but at best I’m “oh, hai” towards them - so I can sort of sympathise with the OP.
Seeing-eye dogs provide a vital service and should absolutely be allowed anywhere their owner is. But I raise my eyebrow at “service animals” just because someone wants to bring their pet with them everywhere.
