To be fair, the deli owner threw her out with much yelling and gesticulating (as only a Greek New York deli owner can do), right over her protests that it was a “service dog”. The deli owner gave her a truly exasperated look and launched into a lecture about what constitutes an actual service dog - since his middle daughter is blind.
It was one of the few times I’ve seen a lunchtime crowd in a NY deli wait patiently while the owner (who was manning the checkout) dealt with something away for the register for 10 minutes. We all agreed that a) the woman was an asshole, and b) it would have been even more classic if his daughter had been in the deli that day (she often works the register - service dog and all).
We’ve always had Westies. When we got our first one, my sister was expecting a collie. She wanted to name her Lassie. We had TOLD her we were getting a Westie, shown pictures, but how do you explain that to a three year old? So the puppy comes, Sis takes one look, and bursts into tears.
But she loved that dog to bits. Lassie was a pretty good dog, too.
Lexie, our second and current Westie, is more fiesty and sometimes I could strangle her, but she’s a sweet dog.
And yes, little dogs serve their purposes. They are excellent when it comes to rats and such. Much better than cats, who usually play with their prey. (I can’t begin to count how many mice escaped from my cat Fluffy that my dad had to release outside.) Terriers just grab 'em, shake 'em, and break their necks. No fuss, no muss. They’re also nice for someone who wants a dog, but doesn’t have the space for a big dog to run. Or for the elderly, who doesn’t have the strength or stamina to deal with a big dog.
See, now that part actually does make your balls look bigger.
See, now that part makes your balls look like shriveled little bitty raisins. From stunted miniature grapes.
Fantasizing about maiming small weak domestic animals—even small weak domestic animals that are admittedly annoying because they’ve been inconsiderately over-bred and under-trained—just does not come across as manly.
In fact, it comes across as exactly the sort of thing that one of those nasty, spiteful, neurotic, yappy-snappy little dogs would fantasize about doing to a smaller critter.
And on the other side of that: my great dane Scooby (who died a while back) used to LOVE dressing up. He would walk over to the open dresser, pull out a tshirt or shorts or something and literally fling them at me. Why? He wanted a shirt too, damnit.
Of course, Scooby wore a men’s size XL shirt along with a pair of XL boxer shorts on backwards (so his tail could go through the pee hole ).
Or my huskey shepard mix (Ogie) who loved to wear costumes. We dressed him up as a devil for Halloween once and after that, any time he’d find the horns, he’d run up to me-- horns in mouth – so I could put them on him.
You’ve never heard (or, perhaps, actually said) things like, “I’d like to punch that rude asshole right in the mouth?”
Or perhaps, “If she doesn’t turn off her cell phone during the movie, I’m going to jam it right up her ass?”
It called… well, I can’t think of the exact term, but it’s generally just speaking in an exaggerated manner to express an extreme displeasure at something or someone. While it probably wouldn’t do to speak [write] in such a manner in the other forums, here in The Pit it’s probably okay to express sentiments such as, “If my asshole neighbor hosts another all-night kegger, I’m going to go over and kick him in the fucking balls and beat him to death with a six-pack of that disgusting pisswater he has the poor taste to buy and call ‘beer’!”
And frankly, I’d appreciate it if, here in The Pit, y’all would quit bustin’ my chops over a little colorfully expressed exaggerated sentiments; it’s nothing more than a minor pressure relief valve, and I’d figured that here, amongst friends, one could say something like, “I’d love to form a gang called ‘Yield Sign Vigilantes,’ and we go around with RPGs blowing up asshole drivers in their cars who don’t seem to have a fucking clue as to what’s the proper thing to do at a yield sign,” without a bunch of morally righteous prigs didactically kicking me in the dick over it.
FTR: I do not abuse animals. I do not like people who abuse animals. Animal abuse comes in only slightly less reprehensible than child abuse in my moral guidebook, and I consider child abuse about as low as it gets on the spectrum of human behavior.
Still doesn’t change the fact that little, yappy, pissy-trembly ankle biters piss me off. That they may have been made that way through breeding, conditioning, and poor socialization only cuts so much slack in my book. Yes, I find their “owners” to be as much a jerk-off pain-in-the-ass as their toy rats. Maybe I should want to stuff a T-bone up their owner’s ass and throw them to a pack of hungry Rottweilers; would that be a more acceptable sentiment?
This dislike doesn’t extend to little, well-trained, well-socialized dogs; my cousin raises and trains long-haired chihuahuas, and she does it well. I’ve never had a problem with any of her dogs.
OK, my ignorance has been fought yet again- not all dogs dislike wearing clothes, or even those things that people put on animals’ heads (horns, antlers, what have you).
The difference, though, is that in your “rude asshole” and “cell phoning during the movie” examples, you’re angry at someone for something they’re doing, something they have control over. People who hate little “rat-dogs”, though, seem to hate them for something they are, something they have no control over. You might well get the same kind of reaction if you said, speaking in a hyperbolic sense, that you wanted to do something bad to someone because of something they are rather than something they do.
You clarify that toward the end of your post- you don’t hate the “rat-dogs” for being small, you hate them for their behavior. But when you say “rat-dogs”, people think you’re criticizing all small dogs, regardless of behavior.
Places where dogs are allowed? Parks, streets, whatever? I have NO PROBLEMS with that.
The complaint I have is NOT about public space. It’s about malls, and restaurants and such. Places where non-service dogs should NOT BE. I complain about all the Paris Hiltons who carry around their little designer dogs and, if asked about them, say “Oh, he’s a service dog.” or “Oh, he’s a service dog in training.”
It’s a growing problem. I would be happy if I didn’t hear, for a few days, someone ask “So, how can I get Mufty certified, so I can take him everywhere with me?”
If some fashion-conscious moron goes in to get her “dog” certified as a service animal, it seems that the only remotely legitimate purpose would be for the aforementioned mental health issues like separation anxiety–fifi would be useless for anything else. To do that, I assume you’d at least need to see some sort of documentation from a psychiatric professional. So these self-centered, insecure, materialistic, and ultimately neurotic young women have to admit that they are, in fact, crazy bitches so they can take their minuscule affronts to natural law with them where they otherwise couldn’t.
That. Is golden.
Seriously, though: in order to be fashionable, these dumb bitches are taking advantage of a resource for genuinely disabled people. Speaking generally and leaving aside the actual inconvenience Elenfair mentioned, is the misuse of programs like this for the sake of vanity not an absolutely brilliant new level of moral bankruptcy?
Jesus Horatio Christ, as if putting on a bikini and painting the nails of these genetic abominations wasn’t bad enough!
That would be a good idea. I would never ger a dog that is smaller than a bread box but I have no problems with well behaved, well socialized dogs owned by responsible owners. And people actually try to pass there dogs as service dogs? How can anyone take them seriously?
We’re seeing an increase in people who want to use a dog to help mitigate their anxiety. That’s all fine and good, but most training schools would require: (a) a letter from your doctor, (b) letter from your shrink, (c) proof that your condition is completely disabling and that you qualify as “disabled” under the ADA, (d) that the dog be trained in SPECIFIC TASKS. Hugging, walking on leash, and being available to be petted are NOT TASKS. There is one group that supports psychiatric service dogs that has been trying to claim they are, but when push comes to shove, legally, it doesn’t fly. Those “tasks” could be performed by what we call “Comfort Objects”.
Ask legitimate service dog and partner teams: most will tell you that they’d rather NOT have to use a dog, if they could. Just like a wheelchair user would probably rather be able to walk than use a new fancy shmancy wheelchair. They’re not fashion accessories. They’re partners, buddies, and life-savers, certainly. I don’t think Fifi in her little Gucci bag cuts it.
If what Elenfair has been saying is accurate, it seems we all should be. If people could potentially interfere with the administrative machinery meant to help real, suffering PATIENTS, or perhaps even attach an unnecessary stigma to what for some is a legitimate treatment, something oughta be done about that. Not only does it suggest something is wrong with the system, but also with these fools who look up to a spoiled heiress as a role-model. It strikes me as something akin to getting a wheelchair for the sake of racing your friends with it.
Some people have basically “found out” that all you have to do is say, “Oh, Fifi is a service dog” and shopkeeps MUST let you in. They aren’t allowed to ask you what your disability is, ask for ID or proof that the dog is a working dog (in the US, people CAN self-train an assistance dog and there are NO certification requirements). Now - they ARE allowed to ask what tasks the animal performs, and they ARE allowed to deny access to dogs in training (not in all states, but in quite a few) and they ARE allowed to request more information or do something if they feel you’re not the genuine article. There are fines for the misuse of a service animal, just as there are fines for access refusals. I’m thinking that what it’s going to take is a group of shops and restaurants starting to say NO and having the idiots FINED.
).
