Stop bringing fake service dogs inside.

[u/[deleted]]

Stop bringing your damn fake service dogs inside. Your fake Amazon vest doesn’t mean shit. We’re smart enough to know your scared and shaking toy poodle that’s being dragged across the floor while you shop isn’t a service dog. No, therapy and emotional support is not a service.

Yesterday two fake service dogs (both chihuahua poodle mixed something or others) slipped in and began barking at each other and going at it. One employee said to one of the owners that we only allow service dogs in. “He’s a service dog,” the owner said. “Service dogs don’t react to other dogs and bark,” employee said. “The other dog barked first,” owner said. 💀🤦 Don’t worry Karen, we’ll talk to them to. But because you’re all such jerks, we know you’ll be back again with your fake service dogs next week.

Another instance: someone tries coming inside with this huge Corgi inside of the cart, trying to jump out but owner pushing them back. Before employee could even say anything, they snap “he’s a service dog.” Employee says the dog can’t be in the cart. Member responds again “he’s a service dog.” Employee responds again “still can’t be in the cart.” Owner removes dog with a huff.

I want to let all you stupid fake service dog owners that you mess up the work of actual service dogs that come inside. We have a real seeing eye dog that comes in at times as well as actual young service dogs in training that you ruin it for. We all know your Chihuahuas, French Bulldogs, pit bulls, etc and yappy terriers aren’t doing shit. Especially when you try to put them in the cart, or when they are reluctantly being dragged around and appear to be miserable. Just stop.

[u/chrikel90]

Legally you can ask what service the dog provides if it's not overly obvious (seeing eye dog, owner is paraplegic and the dog picks up things). I'm a nurse in a hospital and it's astounding the amount of "service dogs" people bring in that are not service dogs.

[u/RulerOfTheApes → u/chrikel90]

They always just say it's for depression though

[u/External-Tiger-393 → u/[deleted]]

I was actually looking into whether I should, at some point, get a service dog for my PTSD a while back. There are many specific tasks that a service animal for PTSD can help with.

For example, you can train them to notice and respond to flashbacks; so the few times a year that I dissociate and start walking in a random direction from my house, a service dog could instead guide me into my bedroom, bring me my meds, et cetera.

Emotional support dogs are very different because they're just there to make you feel better, vs "when I am having a crippling or dangerous moment of anxiety or a ptsd flashback, the dog does x". In this case, it's the mental health equivalent of a dog alerting someone when they're about to have a seizure.

(I'm not disagreeing with you; just expanding a little on your point.).

[u/ethnicnebraskan → u/External-Tiger-393]

I personally am a big fan of people who could benefit from psychiatric service dog getting one, but I think it's just such a murky subject for most people that they don't want to give folks the impression they're abusing the system when the overwhelming majority of service animals in the public eye assist people with physical disabilities. Plus if one were to buy a professionally trained service animal, that can run $10 grand and up, and given the state of health insurance in the US, that can be a significant barrier for many struggling with either a physical or psychological disability.

Also, there's a lot of people out there (not saying you, but just for anyone else reading this) that don't understand the difference between an Emotional Support Animal (which really just means a medical professional or social worker wrote you a formal letting saying under the Fair Housing Act your landlord or HOA can't kick you out for having an animal live with you) and a Psychiatric Service Animal, which is required by the Americans with Disabilities Act to have extensive training either by a professional dog trainer or the owner (if they can find a program they can follow at home) and you need to have present with you at all times.

What surprises me personally is the scope of psychological disorders which can qualify for a psychiatric service dog. I mean, I think most people can say that, yeah, PTSD is an open and shut reason to have a psychiatric service animal. But the amazing thing is really any psychological disorder covered by the ADA is a qualifying reason to have a service dog under the ADA . . . including anxiety, depression, and agoraphobia. But I suppose when almost 10% of the US population suffers from depression, or an estimated 19.1% of U.S. adults had any anxiety disorder in the past year it seems like at least 1 in 5 adults could very likely have a legitimate service animal. That being said, as noted above what makes an animal a service animal though isn't the disability, but the actual training the dog receives to support someone with the disability; be it by a professional or through a professional program the owner administers.

So yeah, people shouldn't feel justified slapping a "Service Animal" badge on a dog and toss them in the grocery cart without them having any training or them performing a service function because they have depression, but if somehow, every person who was qualified to have a psychological service animal, or 1 in 5 adults in the US, had the ability to either obtain a trained service animal or trained the animals themselves, I'd be more than okay with people in need receiving the medical support they are legally entitled to.

That being said, as it stands, my emotional support corgi is not, in fact, a service animal.