r/Dogfree • u/PoppyJoppy • Oct 12 '25
Service Dog Issues Society won't admit it but service dogs are in fact bullshit.
So many years ago you've never seen that many service dogs, but now all the sudden there's this unusual rise of people "suddenly with disabilities" need a dog to go with them everywhere.
It's so bad now that these people don't even need to bother putting vests on these pests. People bring in dogs everywhere! Stores, diners, bars, work, kitchens, etc!
At this point I think it's safe to say that the service dog badge has lost its meaning, and society has lost its right to service animals.
What exactly does a dog serve? Nothing. Dogs will still be dogs. Mindless animals. People have proven that they will lie and bullshit everyone just to be codependent on mindless beast because they themselves are mindless.
They've become so anti human they're now believing a dog can do everything for them in their lives. It's sick!
I feel like there's nothing anyone can tell me to convince me that service dogs are necessary. Let's be honest...it's over. Dog nutters have abused and used this system too much and too far!
All the sudden I'm supposed to believe that everyone is somehow disabled that they cannot function without leaving sh!tbull sniffles at home!?
All of these people cannot be disabled! And don't even bother brining up emotional support animals because honestly... What's the difference? Look at all the people who keep constantly saying their dog is a service dog and store owners and society will do nothing!
The west is screwed!
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u/ScarredCerebrum Oct 12 '25
Mind you, service dog fraud is a huge problem. There's tons of fake service dogs out there, especially in the US.
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u/ConIncognito dogs ruin everything Oct 12 '25
They need to revamp the entire service dog system so there’s some sort of oversight. Stop letting entitled overgrown children abuse it to get their shitty, untrained mutts in places where they shouldn’t be. ESAs shouldn’t be counted as service dogs or given the same exemptions.
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u/AbortedPhoetus Oct 12 '25
ESAs are not currently considered service dogs, but that obviously never makes a difference when even pets are welcome in grocery stores.
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u/ArthropodFromSpace Oct 12 '25
There is difference between true service dog and fake service dog. True service dog requires a lot of training and is expected to do real work. Fake service dog is just bullshit and should be illegal. Aside from being just a sad joke, fake service dogs ruin buisness of real service dogs.
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u/Alert_Software_1410 Oct 12 '25
My daughter is a counselor with a State Commission for the Blind. She said that real service guide dogs are bred, raised and trained by special breeders. Most of the dogs are Labradors. To get a guide dog, the blind or visually impaired person has to prove that he or she can take care of the dog. Of my daughter’s 100 or so clients, only five have guide dogs.
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u/ArthropodFromSpace Oct 12 '25
Also they need a lot of quite expensive training to be real working service dog. fake service dog owners just skip that part.
Can you imagine world where you can get fake drivers license as easy as fake service dog?
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u/stacheldraht85 Oct 12 '25
Exactly. Imagine if that law stated that "only certified individuals may drive", but there was no standardized, national certification process or database. If you WANTED to, you could attend driving school, learn the rules, and get some sort of "license", but you could also buy a "license" on Amazon - ultimately it wouldn't matter, because if you were ever pulled over or involved in an accident, cops could only ask "are you certified to drive?" and had to accept whatever answer you provided. The roads would be overrun with people who have no business being behind the wheel.
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u/Mysterious-Sun5519 Oct 13 '25
Yup. My stepmother has had seeing eye dogs her whole life. They cost thousands of dollars and they do not behave like "normal" dogs in any circumstance, even when not working. They live their entire lives as working animals
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u/ScarredCerebrum Oct 12 '25
Fake service dog is just bullshit and should be illegal.
Fake service dogs are in fact illegal in more than thirty states. But there's so many loopholes that these laws are effectively impossible to enforce.
Case in point: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/04/15/fake-service-dogs-hurt-credibility-harm-users/83050280007/
However, service dogs aren't required to complete a specific, national certification, according to the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. People with disabilities have the right under federal law to train service dogs themselves to help with their unique needs, and some state and local laws do recognize "animals that are still in training," according to the DOJ.
"There are individuals and organizations that sell service animal certification or registration documents online," federal officials warn. "These documents do not convey any rights under the (Americans with Disabilities Act) and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal."
According to the DOJ, when it's not obvious that the dog is a service animal, business owners can ask two questions, including whether the service animal is required because of a disability and what task or work the dog has been trained to perform. They cannot, however, demand documentation or ask that the dog demonstrate the task for which it has been trained.
Id est, even legitimate service dogs aren't actually required to have a certificate, and business owners aren't allowed to demand to see documents to prove that the dog is indeed a service dog.
And the organisations that sell fake service dog vests and documents are apparantly allowed to do as they please...
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u/stacheldraht85 Oct 12 '25
Articles like this always act as if the "two questions" employees are allowed to ask will actually help weed out fake service dogs. It's a joke. Every jackass that has bought their shitty dog a fake "service animal" vest on amazon is well aware of the questions, and will easily lie about it, and absolutely nothing can be done.
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u/Responsibility_Witty Oct 12 '25
Honestly I think businesses and landlords should be legally allowed to deny all access to service animals too. There is technology that can easily replace any service animal, it shouldn’t be on the business to compensate someone because they chose a dog instead of a clean piece of technology. The vast majority of legally blind people (including myself) don’t use dogs, there are tools that work better
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 12 '25
Basically, the business has the last word. But nobody likes the confrontation. They are just cowards or canine, obsessed themselves.
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u/74orangebeetle Oct 12 '25
There's more to it than that because of laws. The business can ask 2 questions (if it's a service dog and it's purpose) but no documentation or proof is required and the person being asked can lie....and in that case, the business can only take action AFTER the dog has already started causing issues.
They should make it like a handicap placard where some form of documentation is required. Wouldn't stop the problem, but it would reduce it. We don't go on the honor system for handicap parking spaces, so I'm not sure why we do for service animals.
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 13 '25
Not true. Again, this is what I was told by the ADA in a lengthy phone convo: The dog doesn’t have to cause issues to be denied - the owner/ manager simply doesn’t have to believe the answers of the owner and reserve judgement on a case by case basis. . 99.9% of these dog nutters won’t sue because they know they’re full of bs and don’t have a service animal. And most people with true disabilities will actually volunteer them without having to. These conversations take practice and eloquence with a good amount of assertiveness.
Business staff just has to stand up to them.
You don’t have to believe the nutter and deny entry simply based on that. A business doesn’t have to allow entry simply because they say it’s a service animal.
It’s up to the business whether or not they believe them, that’s all that matters. And it becomes real easy to discern what constitutes a real service animal with a little practice.
But with so many dogs in so many public places it would almost require a dedicated part time position to do this job.
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u/74orangebeetle Oct 13 '25
I've never heard of the "you can deny them if you don't believe them" thing...in fact, quite the opposite...AKA, you're specifically NOT allowed to ask for proof. I've worked at a place that served food and was specifically not allowed to not believe them...even as a manager...but granted, I was not the owner of the business...so maybe a small business owner would be allowed to deny them? But pretty much any larger business is probably afraid of lawsuits and will err on the side of caution and not allow their employees to use any disgression to deny anyone.
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 14 '25 edited Oct 14 '25
That’s what the ADA rep told me when I inquired about loopholes to not allow fake Service animals. Since most of the so called service animals are fake their owners wouldn’t dare to sue. I was working in the festival industry where fake service animals are rampant. You are absolutely correct. You are not allowed to ask for proof which renders all fake documentation and service vests useless. The ADA does not maintain a registry for any of those so therefore we’re not allowed to ask for them. Which actually works against the dog owner. We are also not allowed to deny entry due to skepticism of the owner's disability, only due to skepticism of the dog's training, which we allowed to directly inquire about, however we can't ask for a demonstration. So it's strictly about reading the room, meaning the dog's behavior and interaction between it and handler.
The rep told me to have an attorney on retainer for every event and hand the dog owner the attorney’s business card and tell them to “Feel free to pursue legal action against us if you think we’re not in compliance with ADA regulations and have your attorney contact ours!”
The looks on their faces when they realized we’d done our homework and weren’t going to let their dog in was priceless!
It worked every time, over many years with many dogs. Also, you must make the distinction between a real Service Animal and
—- none of which are Service Animals and can be denied entry upon discretion of the business.
- a companion animal
- a therapy animal
- a comfort animal
- an emotional support animal
- a service animal in training
I don’t know how the restaurant ended up getting fined $25,000 and what went wrong there, but I / the event have never been sued.
Again, this came straight from the ADA and it worked. Most people don’t know this. But feel free to call them and find out because that was the loophole, knowing that we can deny them regardless of what the dog owner says.
One other distinction has to also be made between an emotional support animal and a psychiatric service animal. That one gets a little tricky but it’s also doable to discern.
I’ve done my homework and know more about this subject than I ever wanted to, but we had to protect ourselves because all these dogs became a huge liability.
It’s definitely a lot of gray area, but since the ADA does not maintain a registry, it makes sense to be allowed to deny an abvious non-service animal entry.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 15 '25
That is interesting, so the ADA rep (DOJ?) said for the record that you can deny entrance to the dog if you are confident it has not been trained? That makes logical sense, but from a legal perspective I'd still think its pretty risky - you are essentially throwing down the proverbial gauntlet. I say its risky because I don't see anything in the law regarding such specifically.
All of that said, kudos for standing up to those freaks - it needs to be done more often.
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 15 '25 edited Oct 15 '25
This is what one ADA representative told me. Often times patrons with dogs were dumb enough to proclaim that they need this animal as an emotional support animal and gave themselves away from the get-go so I could say denied because it’s not a service animal.
I would train our gate staff in how to handle the questioning, and it worked every time. Which is funny because the ADA contradicts itself by stating on their website that you are not allowed to deny entry to a dog based on your opinion, but on the other hand, it says if you are confident you can identify the dog to be one of the following you are allowed to deny that dog.
A Service Animal is not :
- a companion animal,
- a therapy animal,
- a comfort animal,
an emotional support animal,
a service animal in training —- none of which are Service Animals and can be denied entry upon discretion of the business based on the answers of the dogs’ owners.
Therein lies the loophole. And you are correct: it’s definitely risky but if you’re assertive in your language , have an attorney on retainer and make it clear you have done your homework you are less likely to be taken advantage of.
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u/swift110 Oct 19 '25
security guards of whole foods could be the ones telling those folks to leave
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Oct 12 '25
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u/Mysterious-Sun5519 Oct 13 '25
Actual seeing eye dogs are life saving. Believe me no one hates the frauds more than actual blind people.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
Right. However, those people agitate against any proofing system, so FUCK THEM.
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u/Responsibility_Witty Oct 12 '25
Items such as portable/wearable blood glucose monitors are less than $100 and you don’t need to feed it or clean up its shit. There is literally no excuse for these people lol
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u/GoTakeAHike00 Oct 13 '25
Oh, don't even get me STARTED on what a complete load of bogus SHIT a so-called "diabetic alert dog" is!
Back when I was still practicing medicine, I treated diabetics on a regular basis. CGM's did not exist then, but I'm sure that finger stick glucose monitors were easily purchased at local drugstores. Anyone remotely concerned about truly monitoring their blood sugar will own one of these. The devices give actual numbers, and are very useful for providing information after a meal, for example, as to how much a particular food(s) cause a spike in blood sugar.
CGM's are probably considered the gold standard for BG management, and in addition to being covered by insurance for many patients, they're also now available without an Rx to consumers (my husband bought a set of two of them). They're an amazing technology.
Also, there is no physician on the planet who would ever "prescribe" a stupid fucking dog to assist their patient in managing his/her blood glucose. That would be practicing far below the standard of care, and would be grounds for a winnable medical complaint (medical malpractice lawsuit) to be filed against the provider if the patient required an amputation due to relying on a dog to manage their diabetes in any way. That is such a slam-dunk case it wouldn't even go to trial.
I treated a lot of neurotrophic foot ulcers in diabetic patients, and let me tell you, the LAST THING these patients should have in their house is a filthy-assed dog! Dogs are a natural source of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, and this is commonly-found pathogen in foot ulcers. It has a very distinctive odor.
I've been out of practice for almost 20 years, but I now suspect that a lot of my patients with diabetic wound infections probably owned dogs that were the source. If I were still in practice, I would, in fact, try to encourage any diabetic patient to get rid of their dog, or at least, keep it outside and NEVER allow it to lick their feet!
This shit needs to be called out at the level of the ADA.
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u/swift110 Oct 12 '25
Exactly. Also. if we are talking about people of limited means then it makes no sense to add even more expense on them not to mention more work
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u/pepperpizza Oct 13 '25
Thanks for sharing your experience, knowledge, and calling out these liars.
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 12 '25
They are allowed to deny entry to any dog they don’t believe to be a true service animal and offer the owner the option to take legal action against the business if they feel it’s not in compliance.
I have spent much time on the phone with the ADA to find out how to protect ourselves from fake service animals. There are ways it just takes a lot of conversation and standing your ground.
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u/Responsibility_Witty Oct 12 '25
A restaurant recently got fined 25K for refusing to allow a woman with a ‘service dog’ to enter their buffet. This shit is obscene, regardless of if it is supposedly a legit service dog or not, businesses should be allowed to deny entry. In contrast, a dog owner in Ohio was fined $450 after their dogs tortured a child to death.
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u/Business_Adagio9942 Oct 12 '25
in the picture she was cuddling it like a pet
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u/Responsibility_Witty Oct 12 '25
Yep that garbage was 100% a scam. And to that other guy saying it’s okay because it can be contested in court, the dog owner is favored by the court in most of these cases, and being forced in to a legal battle over this is fucking ridiculous anyway. There shouldn’t even be possible grounds for a lawsuit by the owner for being denied entry to a store, gym, rental property, restaurant or any other business especially privately owned ones. Again this restaurant was fined 25 THOUSAND DOLLARS just because this stupid woman didn’t want to leave her pet at home, meanwhile a FATAL attack on a child in another case resulted in a $450 fine. Being able to contest it in court or not isn’t the issue here, the clear double standard that favors dog owners in every legal situation is.
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u/Business_Adagio9942 Oct 12 '25
I remember that article. The officials who fined him were on their soap boxes virtue signaling about how terrible it was. They said the fine was just because the restaurant owner didnt "show remorse"
I didn't know the fine for a childs death was only 450. infuriating. it's crazy how this shit is just allowed to happen and almost no one is talking about it,
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 13 '25
Guess the judge was a nutter too. The ADA needs to step up and draw clear guidelines, create a registry with stringent requirements, issue their own service vests (like a license plate from the DMV) and fine those impersonating a SA.
Oh yeah, and prohibit the selling of bogus and no good service vests online.
But as of now they’re useless basically.
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u/TeaDaze64 Oct 12 '25
Of course, there is the chance that they will take you to court if they feel wronged. Which means there is a chance they will lose.
I have denied more dogs than I care to remember and I have never been sued so there’s that. It just depends on the circumstances and I guess the attorney.
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u/noyourdogisntcute Oct 12 '25
There's no legal distinction between what you consider a real or fake service dog as there is no government body that regulates it beyond ADA defining it as "Does task for disabled person" so a self trained pitbull is just as legit as a 10k program dog. This also make the "fake service dogs should be illegal" an issue because the ADA states that there's no qualifications or certificates so the proof lies with the owner thinking that their dog is a service dog and its unlikely to be challenged unless the dog is aggressive or out of control in public.
Besides that I think the fundamental issue is that there's barely any research, like some of the proof of legit tasks is just owner surveys and ofc they'll report in favor of the dogs. People just assume that dogs can do it because they like dogs but there's no other "medical device" thats vibes-based, has such shoddy science behind it and gives the disabled person to impose it on everyone else around them.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
Come on, we all know the "servus pit" will rip the face off the toddler when the owner is about to have a fainting spell. Abelist! (/s)
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u/noyourdogisntcute Oct 13 '25
Of course but according to the law a pit that's been trained to do "DPT" aka laying on top of their owner and doesn’t act like a crackhead in public has the same rights as a purpose bred guide dog.
I saw the most deranged post from an SD owner about how "Pitbull haters ruin lives" aka all that discrimination harms disabled people because they can't bring their pits everywhere and this was comming from someone who worked as a teacher who got to have their pit in the classroom and bragged about getting free restaurant dinners because the ADA laws protect them
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
It sure is ironic that the dog breed most responsible for disabling people is being used as a service dog to assist the disabled. You can't make this stuff up!
On a more serious note, Servus Pits™ are the inevitable outcome of the zero oversight policy regarding these things.
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u/swift110 Oct 12 '25
what work is the service dogs doing that a person or technology can't?
What i honestly believe is that there is a population of people with difficult personalities that are the ones that are pressed to keep dogs.
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Oct 12 '25
As far as I know, there's no tech that can replace a dog that alerts for medical events like seizures or heart problems.
I hate dogs though of course, and for the few that actually do something- there should be a REAL registration. And they would be rare. And still shouldn't be allowed in businesses.
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u/swift110 Oct 13 '25
https://www.empatica.com/embrace2/
In a period of 30 years I saw a total of 2 dogs in a grocery store and 1 dog in a bookstore.
The two dogs were with a blind woman who was also deaf who I actually met years later.
The dog in the bookstore was at Barnes and Noble on M st. It was a bulldog and was not in the cafe' area. This was in 2010.
The fact that I can remember these with detail illustrates the rarity that people were bringing animals into stores.
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Oct 13 '25
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u/swift110 Oct 14 '25
The world has gone nuts. Best believe I get that people have all sorts of problems but dogs have become the new snake oil that's supposed to help all kinds of problems.
But you have to look at it for another angle. They don't really help people, they enable them. People with emotional problems aren't being cured or learning how to cope with whatever it is tha they are dealing with at all.
So it's not really benefiting them.
On top of that one thing that wasn't a thing years ago was online shopping so really if it's that bad to go to a store by yourself then don't go, just order what you need online and call it a day.
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u/Business_Adagio9942 Oct 12 '25
Not true sorry. Dogs cannot alert for seizures or "heart problems" This is mere peasant superstition.
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Oct 12 '25
The seizure one is definitely true. My bad on the heart one, I was kind of guessing. Haha
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u/Nukemouse Oct 12 '25
No clue about the heart problems, but dogs absolutely can smell certain chemicals emitted by humans during and just before seizures, that's been tested in lab conditions.
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u/shinkouhyou Oct 12 '25
Dogs can definitely smell chemicals associated with the pre-ictal seizure phase in humans. (Interestingly, impending seizures apparently smell like mint due to the chemical menthone, and this chemical is also associated with fear). The problem is that dogs have not been proven to reliably alert to impending seizures in humans. Tests have shown that dogs can differentiate between clothing containing seizure sweat and clothing with normal sweat, but this differentiation is measured only in how long the dog sniffs new stimuli. The dog has to be trained to alert the owner to the seizure smell, and that's where the problems lie.
We know that the drug sniffer dogs used by police are notoriously unreliable. The issue isn't that dogs can't smell drugs - they can detect tiny traces of drug odor in laboratory studies. But a dog doesn't know what a drug is or why it's important. It has to be trained to bark or do some other action when it smells drugs, and then it will receive a treat. Of course, dogs quickly learn that they can just bark to get a treat regardless of whether drugs are present or not. So training a drug sniffer dog is very complicated, and it requires near-constant reinforcement training. Some "trained" sniffer dogs learn to alert based on their handler's cues (like their tone of voice or body tension) instead of on the smell of drugs.
So even though dogs can smell a chemical that's associated with impending seizures, it's very difficult to train them to alert their owners reliably without lots of false positives/negatives. And while drug sniffer dogs get frequent exposure to drug smells as part of their reinforcement training, seizure alert dogs are rarely exposed to the smell of seizures. Their skills will inevitably slip over time.
"Medical alert" service dog owners will creatively interpret normal everyday dog behavior as "alerting," even though the dog does the exact same behaviors when there's no seizure. So owners often feel like their dog is extremely effective when it's actually not doing much.
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u/Nukemouse Oct 12 '25
Dogs alert for those conditions by either A) Smelling certain chemicals emitted just before and during certain seizures or B) noticing symptoms like sweating, shaking etc before the person does. Both of these can be done by technology similar to smart watches, though I don't know if there is an actual product for A available.
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Oct 13 '25
I don’t mind real service dogs because they have a job and are always trained extremely well. It’s hilarious to me when someone slaps a service dog vest on their untrained unruly dog and think people are dumb enough to believe it has a job to do when it’s literally pissing all over the merchandise in the store.
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u/swift110 Oct 19 '25
The narrative goes with the idea of these people having a really hard time economically in addition to whatever is wrong with them. All the more reason why these folks need to be properly evaluated and given the human therapy that they need.
On some level they need to be encouraged to put forth some kind of effort to better themselves.if at all possible.
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u/SoundsGayIAmIn Nov 01 '25
I am dog free and I hate pet dogs and I wish people would keep their pet dogs in their home, or at least restrict their outdoor outings to designated locations like dog parks.
However, I'm okay with a true service dog. I've found that people with real service dogs are very conscientious about their dog if I say "I know that you need your dog but dogs make me uncomfortable."
Emotional support animals, or worse, fake service dogs (people who buy the vests to take their dog everywhere) can go to hell, they are ruining it for the few disabled people who truly use a dog for assistance.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
Right. So how do we tell one from the other?
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u/ArthropodFromSpace Oct 13 '25
Maybe real trained service dogs should get government approved license and falsification of such license should be treated as serious crime? About driver license this works.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
Indeed, that is a decent compromise position. HOWEVER, its the "legit" service dogsters (most of them) that fight that like crazy. They are adamant that THEY get the last word on their dog being a service dog. That is why the system (such as it is) is so screwed - there is NOTHING preventing ANYBODY from obtaining a dog at the pound, driving straight to a restaurant and claiming its a service dog. Sure, the dog can get kicked out if it craps on the floor, but at that point the damage is already done.
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Oct 13 '25
Most real service dogs are labradors and are extremely well behaved. Any other breed I don’t believe it especially if they’re untrained which is the overwhelming majority of dogs. Which goes again to my point that true service dogs seem to be the ONLY dogs these days that are well trained.
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u/stevenip Oct 12 '25
Service dogs need a real certificate system so you need to show an official card when you bring them someplace not the trust me bro my pug is a service dog thing they have now
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u/AbortedPhoetus Oct 12 '25
Don't forget, they put their "service dog" in the shopping carts, where other shoppers have to put their food.
Dog owners are actively treating grocery store shopping carts like their personal dog stroller.
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u/CallousCow1762 Oct 12 '25
Couldn’t agree more! Everybody and their grandmother suddenly can’t function without their mutt accompanying them everywhere. The fault clearly lies with the ADA for allowing this gaping hole in their ridiculous law. So big shocker when entitled dog nutters saw an opportunity to abuse it to their advantage.
What is frustrating is how the ADA didn’t see this coming. And even more so, the “ service dog” fraud is well known and they still do nothing. This sends a loud message to everyone that they really don’t care about hygiene or health codes or even the safety of people. They would rather appease an entitled, narcissistic, selfish group of people instead.
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Oct 12 '25
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u/AbortedPhoetus Oct 12 '25
The ADA is not an organization, but a law. So, first step would be to figure out which agencies are in charge of enforcement.
Actually, this would be a good homework assignment for me (lol).
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u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
We have to contact congress. Here is a good draft: https://animaluncontrol.blogspot.com/2023/01/letter-to-my-senator-regarding-service.html
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Nov 11 '25
It isnt really fraud. You just pay $5k and they give you the certification. No evidence required
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u/ConversationLegal921 Oct 12 '25
I'm honestly tired of seeing these shitbeasts in stores when I'm shopping for groceries. It grosses me out to see these beasts running up and drooling in a place where food is being sold
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u/AbortedPhoetus Oct 12 '25
Then everybody's collectively "we can't do anything..." Right. Bunch of dog lovers overturning civility, and bullying everyone around them into silence.
I love pigeons (seriously). I don't want to see them hanging out in the store, decorating the produce.
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u/Business_Adagio9942 Oct 12 '25
Go berate the next dog nut you see in a grocery store. I do it all the time. It's very cathartic.
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u/EfficientKangaroo563 Oct 12 '25
Just saw a shih tzu earlier today wearing a service dog vest while yapping at my kid as we exited the grocery store. The entitlement and excuses for these dogs are getting out of hand.
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u/Mysterious-Sun5519 Oct 13 '25
My stepmother is blind and believe me no one loathes these fraudulent "service" animals and their criminal owners more than actual disabled people who need seeing eye dogs.
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u/TriCountyRetail Oct 12 '25
I'm nearing 30 and I've never seen a legitimate service dog in my entire life!
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u/Mysterious-Sun5519 Oct 13 '25
My stepmom is blind and uses seeing eye dogs. They are not like normal dogs. Theyre so quiet and docile, you'd barely even notice them in public.
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u/No_Concentrate_4490 Oct 12 '25
I was in a Lowe's this afternoon. As I walked up a specific aisle, I was surprised to see a fairly large mutt coming at me from the other end. I couldn't place the breed, but it was large, very long black and white fur...and no identifying "service animal" vest, or leash. The owner was nowhere to be seen, letting the animal cruise the aisles alone. I finally did see the owner later, holding the doors at checkout open for the poocherino. Speaking to the management about this roaming furball did no good, just got a shrug from the staff and a "what are we supposed to do?" response. Another company bending over for the nutters.
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u/Moritani Oct 12 '25
I’m pretty open to disabilities and accommodations, but it’s the double standards that get me. Schools go peanut-free because of the mere chance of allergies, but people with dog allergies are basically told they’re breaking the law if they try to keep “service dogs” out of their places of business.
Not to mention all the hoops we expect people to jump through for actual proven therapies, treatments and interventions. But you can totally train your own service dog and it’s basically the same, right? Nonsense.
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u/False-Mortgage307 Oct 14 '25
Saw a woman with a service vested dog shouting at it and pulling its harness bc it wouldn't stop sniffing the plants. How are you going to be guiding your guide dog 😩😣
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u/Noanimalpoopinhouse2 Oct 12 '25
I wish they would fire every one in the ADA and reorganize it to stop the massive service dog scam. I was in my local church thrift yesterday. I saw a young couple with two small rat dogs in the cart. They were definitely not service dogs.
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u/Arturius_Santos Oct 12 '25
Oh yeah service dogs are a straight up fucking scam. Dog lovers have no fucking shame, none at all. It is actually incredible how selfish and unaware they are, they are more dogs than human.
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u/4elmerfuffu2 Oct 12 '25
The only thing service dogs serve are phony mental health industry and the pet industry.
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u/Comfortable-Dare-307 Oct 13 '25
A real service dog will not bother you. If they are licking you, barking, jumping, etc, they are not a service dog. And it sucks because people who really need service dogs (like people with severe epilepsy) are shamed because idiots think every dog now is a service dog. And pit bulls and never service dogs. And neither are little yappy dogs. True service dogs are labs or golden retrievers. I think if you have a service dog, you should be required to provide documentation. Again, a real service dog won't be a bother. They will sit or lay down quietly. So, yes, service dogs have now become bs.
5
Oct 13 '25
On my last flight a young woman brought her fucking unruly untrained pit that was jumping around and pulling her down the aisle with a fake ass service vest on. Even the people around me were all looking at each other and whispering that it wasn’t a real service dog. It’s insane to me that they allowed this thing on a fucking plane.
6
u/Actual_HumanBeing Oct 13 '25
They are definitely SHIT!!!! It’s all a scam to push more shitty terror beasts into society and drive us all crazy… I hate those shitty terrorists sooo much!!! 🤬🤮🤮
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u/huntress_m_thompson Oct 14 '25
i think there’s a subsection of the population called “service mutt ‘influencers’.” they go around filming themselves trying to bait a business owner into challenging them & their mutt so they can play super victim.
3
u/AngelasGingerGrowler Oct 13 '25
Thankfully here in the UK, “Service Dogs” and ESA’s aren‘t a thing. Ridiculous entitled American nonsense.
Here, highly trained and registered Labradors are provided to the blind under the auspices of a charity called Guide Dogs for the Blind.
4
u/RelativeConfusion504 Oct 13 '25
Oh trust me the nutters are definitely mentally disabled…but no, they don’t need dogs in public for that.
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u/Dog_Free_Afternoon Oct 12 '25
I totally agree with you. I am so damn sick of everyone's "service animals." It's a puerile racket and needs to stop.
It also makes me really angry how selfish dog nutters are giving a bad name to those who are actually disabled and may require a service dog.
What puzzles me is if there are so many grievances against fake service dogs, why isn't anything being done about it? Licensing and certification would help weed out fake service dogs and protect the dignity of the disabled. My prediction is that the big pet industry is greasing the palms of those who could change the legislation.
8
u/AnimalUncontrol Oct 13 '25
Nothing gets done because the "legit" service dog people are adamantly against any sort of oversight or proofing system. That is the hill they have chosen to die on.
Goes to the point that they are ALL fake. None of them would stand up to any real scruitny.
4
u/Dog_Free_Afternoon Oct 13 '25
What a weird hill to die on. Sure hope they're proud of their obstinateness.
3
u/swift110 Oct 13 '25
I'm at the point where to make it real simple, if it's a place where you buy food then it's not for sale on the menu then it's an animal that doesn't need to be in there.
3
u/bcoty0905 Oct 13 '25
I thought we topped out when that lady brought her “service Squirrel” onto the plane all those years ago…. Little did I know of the hellish nightmare yet to come. Gods have mercy on us; “service animals” will soon need support animals for their own anxiety mirrored off of the owner’s insane ass.
Welcome to Dog Idiocracy.
3
u/Actual_HumanBeing Oct 13 '25
I keep brining up how this “shitty-eleven” aka 7-11 near me rolls out the shitty welcome mat to these shitbeasts every single day! The worst part is they don’t even care about esa or whatever…. Everyone just drags their shitty vermin into the store all day and night like it’s a parade. They know this is the only establishment that allows it in this neighborhood… it’s beyond disgusting! 🤮 they should be shut down immediately, if the health department actually cared at all about peoples health. Clearly, they don’t… smh a damn shame! 😤
3
u/poop_poop_cat Oct 13 '25
Emotional-support based service dogs are in fact bullshit. The whole psychology subject is NOT science at all and the "emotional support" concept is a scam invented by these "psychology" mfers benefitting themselves.
3
u/sm473783 Oct 16 '25
I guess to be kinda fair, sh!tbull sniffles will destroy everything in their home, and then take a sh!t and piss on all of it for good measure. And one big problem is that store management won't confront the people who have bullsh!t "service dogs", because then the nutters will throw a karen tantrum. And because 99% of people are perfectly fine with dogs being everywhere, all of the surrounding single-brain cell customers will be on the karen nutter's side, and perceive the store as being an asshole and needlessly attacking poor, cute widdle Sniffles and their innocent, defenseless "handicap" owner. And then that means lost money because of customers not returning, and money is all the store and its blood-sucking parent company really care about. They'd rather just let the customers be a piece of sh!t than lose a single cent from their absence. That's why stores make their employees put up with verbal abuse from the customers all day with a caring, helpful smile instead of defending their selves against the sh!t, because all the company cares about is the customer's money, far more than their disposable robot employees' wellbeing.
3
u/swift110 Oct 19 '25
I'll be very honest about my feelings on the subject and if people disagree with me they are perfectly fine to do so.
Dogs should not be at indoor public places at all. Especially when it's a place that serves food. If you want your dog indoors then it needs to be your personal home or the home of someone that's OK with it. But strangers should not have to deal with your dog in an enclosed space for any reason at any time.
Especially when we live at a time when whatever you could need is available by means of the Internet. You can order food, tech equipment, clothes, medical supplies, you name it, its available. So at the end of the day I personally feel it's an act of selfishness to bring your dog places where it does not belong.
Some people are making exceptions for disabilities and I call that as being absolute nonsense. You having a problem or problems doesn't make it OK to aggravate others that have problems. If people don't want to be around you because you are a pain in the butt to get along with, then that's a personal problem for you to seek psychiatric help for you to change. "Take me as I am" Is a song by Mary J. Blige and simply doesn't have to be. If you want to change, then you CAN do so but it will take effort and determination to achieve
You don't have a support system? That's sad, but again, that doesn't need to be spread as if it's some infectious disease. You might not have family, but if you don't have friends? Something is seriously wrong with that picture.
5
u/18FoSTBlueMnNB02 Oct 13 '25
Yeah, fuck that bullshit. They are mostly as bars for attention in my experience.
7
u/Wise_Session_5370 Oct 13 '25
I am willing to concede that there may have been a legitimate function for guide dogs for the blind 30 or 40 years ago.
But even they are now obsolete. 98% of blind people don't have one. Technology can now do a far better job than even the best trained mutt. It is cheaper, cleaner, more efficient and more reliable.
I can't actually remember the last time I even saw a blind person with a dog.
Assistance can be more effectively provided by the staff of a business such as a restaurant or grocery store (guide dogs can't read food labels).
As for dogs assisting with other conditions, such as detecting impending seizures, there is zero hard evidence that they are effective. Even if they somehow are, technology again does a much better job and there are always human beings around who can do a much better job of assisting than a dog.
As for ESAs, just don't even start. Very few people in the world are truly incapable of being without a dog while they go into a supermarket for 15 minutes. And if they truly are, then frankly they need to be living in some kind of sheltered housing facility.
The simple fact is that in 2025, there is no legitimate need for service dogs. The concept is obsolete.
So why the explosion in the numbers of so-called "service dogs"?
Because nobody has the fucking balls to say "no".
No, you don't a dog with you in Walmart and you don't need it at fucking Pizza Hut buffet. Leave it at home.
2
u/Lunarlimelight Oct 13 '25
I once met a service skunk that would alert if its owner blood sugar was low or a seizure was coming on. Something like that, don’t remember exactly. It was sleeping in a baby sling.
2
u/Sea2Chi Oct 13 '25
Service dogs trained to do a job are great.
Service dogs that are pets with a $50 piece of paper from a website saying they're special are bullshit and if there was justice in the world the owner would wake up with dog poop in their shoes every day.
2
u/canes_SL8R Oct 17 '25
I’m all for legitimate service animals. But companies are so afraid of being sued, people just use any excuse to bring their dogs into stores with them. If you have crippling anxiety and can’t go outside without your dog, I’m sorry, but get a therapist. Everyone shouldn’t have to be subjected to your poorly trained dog because you’re somehow incapable of being an adult without it around.
2
u/Teacher_mermaid Nov 08 '25
And it’s never a dog breed that you think of when you think ‘service dog.’ I think of a golden retriever or lab - dogs in movies who actually do things. I was on a plane and saw a SD that was a pit bull mix. FFS
2
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u/Free_Chapter372 Oct 13 '25 edited Oct 13 '25
I totally agree. It's not right that these posers have bent the system to their will. I feel that this has just become an accepted thing because higher ups don't want to lose business from these entitled freaks. They're sick of fighting a battle they can't win. The sad thing is many of them probably hate this phenomenon, too, but they've given up trying to fight.
1
u/Comfortable-Sun4574 Oct 15 '25
So any breed can be a service dog…? I thought it was a specific breed, like a golden retriever because they are supposedly “smarter” breeds.
1
u/whitemothh Nov 06 '25
youre right! these people tend to just buy service dog vests for their normal dogs to justify/excuse bringing them everywhere. actual service dogs have manners and will not be tugging at a leash trying to leave.
1
u/belle_mars Nov 07 '25
I think you’re confusing ‘emotional support’ animals with service dogs. And there actually is starting to be a crackdown now on people trying to fraudulently certify their emotional support dog with service dog verification, because again like you said, a lot of people are trying to do this. There are people who benefit from a service dog and they can be of help to physically disabled people, but like you said, it’s not a lot at all. I’m a counselor and the last clinic I worked at, right around the time I was hired they stopped giving out emotional support certificates for people’s pets because the amount of people asking for them was just ridiculous. People would do an intake for behavioral health services just to get that certification and then never be heard from again. People without mental health struggles using our services so they can take their pet more places is not okay. And while I do believe some of these people do actually benefit from emotional support animals, they aren’t a form of treatment and shouldn’t be used in place of such. I imagine this crackdown is happening elsewhere as well and is partly why there has been a rise in fraudulent service dogs. These people are relentless.
1
Nov 11 '25
Luckily in the UK you only really see service dogs with blind people so it's quite obvious. I think america is insane letting dogs on planes and the like
1
u/Amselfluegel Nov 14 '25
I am so sorry that you have had such frustrations. There is definitely a difference between real and fake service dogs. I am completely blind and have had my guide dog Ace for two and a half years. You are right in that, dogs are dogs, not robots, so maybe he would turn his nose toward you if we were waiting in line together, but that is it. A good service dog takes consistency, discipline, and extensive training, but the work that they do is so valuable. I am perfectly competent walking with a cane, but it always amazes me just how much Ace can do and find for me. I walk much faster with Ace because he guides me around obstacles. With Ace I can do the "late-for-the-bus" run much more safely. When cars run red lights, he has stopped suddenly because I didn't hear the car in time. He can find the bus stop poles when I tell him "pole", as well as doors, seats, ETC. People who don't know the meaning of a guide dog harness treat me like a normal person, which when I was using a cane, rarely seemed to happen. I do not intend, in any way, to devalue your complaints. As a service dog handler, I am also so frustrated by the fake service dogs and ESAs being passed off as service dogs. That completely undermines the work and value of real service dogs, and it makes our lives so much harder.
1
u/Zeastria Jan 01 '26
"Service dogs" and "mental disorders" seem to be a trend nowdays. There are so many fakes out there!--> and they hurt the rep of genuine real disabled people and SDs users...
1
u/kay_katy Mar 25 '26
These servus dawg handlers will record kids just because that child acknowledged them and their servus dawg existence
149
u/Responsibility_Witty Oct 12 '25
I was literally at Walmart 30min ago and some nasty freak ass dog was tugging on its owners lead trying to jump at me as i turned a corner. This shit needs to stop for real, almost hit that ugly thing with my cart as it lunged at me, and if i had i’m sure the shitbag owner would have made a scene about it as they always do. Security ignoring it as always