My apologies for the smiley. My helper monkey is supposed to stop me from doing shit like that.
Actually, the ADA does recognize service horses, and has a four-step checklist for buildings to determine access allowances. From the pertinent section: "Entities covered by the ADA** must modify their policies to permit miniature horses** where reasonable. " (emphasis added)
From the ADA webpage. (scroll to the bottom)
(Manager of an ADA-compliant building who lives in hope of seeing a service horse there someday.)
I would just LOVE to see someone going into this Walmart with a service horse.
Thread title changed at OP’s suggestion.
Heh.:rolleyes:
At a Safeway near “Dogpatch” in SF, people routinely come in with their pet dogs and lie about them being “service animals”. One even peed in the produce section while I watched. The dog, that is.
So, yeah, there is a rather fuzzy definition of exactly what makes a “service animal”, but unless it’s rather obvious, i agree with the store. Even if it is Walmart. Too many liars.
I read that as “ADA-Complaint apartment” and my first thought was “Someone is really going to hate their upstairs neighbor”
I would just love to see a service horse in real life.
They have one in Tijuana.
And it’s surprisingly cheap – free if you’re willing to go on stage with it and put on a show.
In the mean time, if you can think of it, there’s youtube of it.
Unlike a dog’s mouth - and contrary to popular belief - the hands of most Walmart shoppers do not have regular contact with dogs’ anuses.
Greeter says “welcome to Walmart! Why the long face?”
It would indeed be disturbing - however there is no indication whatsoever that the animal itself was mistreated in any way.
I think Walmart corporate is well aware that we do not appreciate this kind of B.S. , and I think there is lis little that you (or any of us needs to do. Although there have apparently been problems with this particular store, the correct policies exist at the corporate level, and steps are being taken to ensure that the staff at this particular store are getting properly trained so that this kind of nonsense doesn’t happen again in the future. Quoting from the article you linked to:
(bolding mine)
Most guide horses are particularly small mini’s, they’re about the size of a large dog. Proponents argue they are less distractable than dogs because they have no chase or prey drive, and they don’t care that much about petting and human attention. However, the particular advantage of a mini is that their useful service life is 30-40 years. Since it takes a long time to train a guide animal, that’s huge. Miniature horses must be housebroken and under control at all times, just limke a dog.
Photos of a guide horse at work:
You may now return to your regularly scheduled horse-related sexual innuendos and jokes.
“Neigh, cough cough. Ahem. You’ll have to excuse my voice. I’m a little hoarse.”
Because if that woman brought in a dog that was dressed like a service dog, and helped her like a service dog, but wasn’t actually a certified service dog, where would we be then?? Oh, the horror.
Dog’s mouth versus Walmart shopper hands – which one is more likely to carry a contagious pathogen?
:rolleyes:
Which one is more likely to drool on the packaging and puncture/deform it with teeth marks?
Been in a WalMart? At least around here, I’d say dog, but only by a 60/40 margin.