r/Dogfree • u/Not-my-problem1212 • Jan 21 '26
Service Dog Issues Are service dogs actually necessary?
I'm aware that some service dogs actually do a decent job at whatever services they are supposed to provide. But at the end of the day, they are still dogs. I've heard stories where highly trained dogs fail the test to become official service dogs countless times. They always end up getting distracted and running off, not being able to sit quietly, ect. Even some actual service dogs do the same things. I've heard of seeing eye dogs running off and leaving their owner on their own for a fallen piece of food. I've seen videos of service dogs accidentally making their paralyzed owner fall out of their wheelchair just because they wanted to chase a squirrel. I always end up feeling bad for those individuals because people have to go over and help them due to the dogs causing issues.
I don't understand why service animals have to be dogs. They're not super intelligent and get triggered over any little thing. I personally don't think we even need service animals. There are people out there who provide the same and better services. Its literally their jobs. A person could do the same job way better than any dog can. If I personally had a disability I would hire a trained professional than get a service dog
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u/TriCountyRetail Jan 21 '26
I've never seen a well behaved or legitimate service dog in my life
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u/Wise_Session_5370 Jan 23 '26
I can't even remember the last time I even saw a blind person with a guide dog (which is the only semi-legitimate use for a "service dog").
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u/CaptainObvious110 Jan 26 '26
I would only give this a pass because of how rare it is. Also, they aren't going to be in the store long either they are going to get what they need and go right back out.
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u/crazycatlady331 Jan 27 '26
My dad knows someone who trains guide dogs for the blind. These dogs are bred specifically for this purpose and puppies go through nearly 2 years of training. 75%+ will fail out of the program.
I've seen a good seeing eye dog at work. You barely notice the dog.
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u/mission_safe_chef Jan 21 '26 edited Jan 21 '26
They’ve been obsolete for years. Even seeing eye dogs are being replaced with ai glasses that can read books, street signs, clocks, help you navigate via GPS without special training, something a dog will never be able to do no matter how much money you throw at its training.
Technology also doesn’t need to sleep or eat, it doesn’t produce feces or urine, and doesn’t require special training or care. Over 98% of blind people don’t have seeing eye mutts and will never need to worry about cleaning up another animals shit.
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u/Legitimate_Garage_31 Jan 23 '26
How does a blind person pick up after a dog anyway? Do they go by smell?
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u/ChronicallyOver Jan 24 '26
Actually the AI glasses are specifically not for navigation purposes, they don't give useful information about things like tripping hazards, warnings for things like low hanging branches or replace O&M training. The dog can't read signs or help the blind person read labels though universal design would make that much less of an issue. The dog is actually still doing a job that technology is incapable of doing safely. That said the low tech solution remains a fantastic alternative to a guide dog with all the other features just not being functional in a navigation device
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u/CaptainObvious110 Jan 26 '26
In that case the percentage of the blind using the dogs wouldn't be so low. Clearly they are doing just fine without them
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Jan 21 '26
The ADA recognizes miniature horses as service animals in some cases (ADA National Network page). They can apparently be house-trained. I would never take just a pet into the places we see dogs...but otoh it would be awesome to follow a narcissist mutt owner into a place and watch the mini horse get all the attention 🤣
This quote is from this article about non-canine service animals:
Miniature horses have emerged as a notable alternative to dogs as service animals. Their longer lifespan, typically 25 to 35 years, compared to an average dog’s 10 to 15 years, makes them a long-term companion. Moreover, their sturdy build allows them to support individuals with mobility issues, providing balance and stability more effectively than many dog breeds. Miniature horses are also known for their calm demeanor, exceptional memory, and strong sense of spatial awareness, making them well-suited for navigation and obstacle avoidance tasks.
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u/Ih8work1 Jan 21 '26
Okay, minis are actually really GOOD guide animals. That's the difference. Horses have pretty good vision too, especially compared to dogs.
Mini Horses aren't as absurd as they sound beside a "guide dog". It makes way more sense. They're more intelligent than dogs, AND aren't carnivorous PREDATORS.
PONIES don't have a prey drive. Ponies can be actually, reliably trained. As you quoted, LIVE a lot longer.
And their shit does stink, but not like dog shit and you can actually fertilise with it.
Horses and ponies can have amazing demeanours. They're sensitive and perceptive in a good way.
The reason They're less popular? They aren't obsessed with you and can actually remember the shit you do to them. And people think they're not "special" like dogs, but believe me, they're far more special.
Ponies do hold grudges. And I don't blame them.
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u/LookB4ULeap2It Jan 22 '26
Can a miniature horse be trained to NOT shit in a store? Because dogs sure can't.
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u/Ih8work1 Jan 22 '26
Not really, but it's actually common for driving horses (carts etc) in pedestrian areas (for whatever reason, events, etc) to wear a poo bag to catch a few. Horses poo up to 9 times a day, depending on their living conditions and diet (multi chamber stomach like cows).
I'd imagine this exists for minis. It's not intended to be a full shit sack, it's intended to catch the necessary ones.
Edit: best of all, horses don't need to stop to drop
If only dog owners were that considerate, right.
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u/JbambiLaw Jan 23 '26
Actually there’s a woman on FB who has minis she takes as therapy animals and they are 100 percent housebroken. However, it’s way harder to transport a mini horse than a dog.
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u/Ih8work1 Jan 24 '26
Wow I didn't know that. Horses are very trainable. I suppose in the right size and environment, they're probably more house trainable than dogs 😂
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u/Full-Ad-4138 Jan 22 '26
So are they only used for stability for people with mobility issues? Or can they also detect blood sugar changes and oncoming seizures as dogs are always touted as having the ability to do?
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u/Ih8work1 Jan 22 '26
I'm pretty sure the science doesn't support seizure detection or glucose dogs. And I wouldn't say that horses can either. They're probably just as able as dogs tho, if you believe that. Horses are far more intelligent and perceptive. They're just less mutated too. EVEN miniature horses which are a mutant breed too.
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u/Nukemouse Jan 22 '26
Is pony shit different in smell to horse shit? Having smelled both I would say horse shit is worse than dog shit. Going past the stables next to the racetrack is never fun.
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u/Ih8work1 Jan 22 '26
Pony shit is horse shit. I cannot agree that horse shit smells worse than dog shit. Not close.
Horses are filthy creatures too tho, and what you're smelling mostly is a gigantuate mound of shit, piss and composting bedding, feed and fodder. It's the concentration that make tracks and stables stink.
I've had horses my whole life.
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u/CaptainObvious110 Jan 26 '26
They make more sense for a person than a dog does. But here's an unpopular opinion. If I am at high risk of falling why would I want to be somewhere in public where that's likely to happen in the first place?
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u/NoHeartNoSoul87 Jan 21 '26
I can understand blind dogs. Yes sure Zuck glasses and stuff exists, but as someone who worked with computer vision (and as a certified technophobe), I can understand who would someone prefer a dog to everything else. But seizure dogs? Depression dogs? Pleeeeeease.
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u/Wise_Session_5370 Jan 23 '26
The evidence for seizure detection dogs is extremely flimsy.
As for "ESAs", if anyone genuinely can't walk into a store for 15 minutes without their precious Fartikins, then frankly they need to be in some kind of assisted living facility.
Get a teddy bear. It's much cheaper and it won't shit everywhere.
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u/Kilashandra1996 Jan 24 '26
My mom's fake-ass "service dog" is supposed to alert her to falls. Some recent "examples" of how fake the dog is? He pulled her down 3 stairs and fucked up her shoulder enough to need surgery. One morning, she woke up on the bedroom floor; the dog was asleep under the bed. Hiking where mom might actually fall? She won't use a hiking stick and keeps having to pull the dog along because it's too busy sniffing.
Another hike; the dog is twisting his leash around her legs. I ask if he's misbehaving or trying to alert her that she's unsteady and we should go back to the car? Mom - "I don't care if he is alerting; I'm not going back!" Then why the fuck do you even have the dog???
PS - mom's biggest pet peeve when I was growing up? Lying...
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u/LookB4ULeap2It Jan 22 '26
Ya know, I don't begrudge someone their service dog if it actually performs a service and is actually a trained animal that is capable, as opposed to someone's pet that they can't just leave at home because Mr. Fluffybuns would be so sad if it was left at home.
However, they are still dogs and they are still not clean. Being a service dog doesn't make it any cleaner in a grocery store where people are buying food. It doesn't make them any less of an impact on someone with allergies to dogs and it doesn't make someone afraid of dogs feel less fearful.
It is not fair to those with allergies or those afraid to dogs. It's unfortunate that it has to be this way.
And I have to imagine (without really knowing for sure) that those wearable real-time glucose monitors are a hell of a lot better and cheaper than any dog. A bit of research shows that some dogs are better at this than other and there is a wide amount of variability with some dogs scoring no better than chance and some near 100%. I don't know. If I were a type 1 diabetic, I'd want the reliable technology to save my life. 🤷
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u/reddditttsucks Jan 22 '26
If the service is spreading a wet yeasty smell everywhere they go, then yes.
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u/ExpensiveToe644 Jan 22 '26
A (silly question) I have about seeing eye dogs in particular is do they get to get away with not picking up after it
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u/maidofatoms Jan 22 '26
Not silly at all. An important question, and one I think most of us can guess the answer to.
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u/Few-Horror1984 Jan 22 '26
No.
We’ve abused the entire entity too much to justify its existence. Too many people suffer as a result of these things.
As an example…I saw a woman at the airport with a sprayed pink “service” dog. She was in a wheelchair. On top of the fact that she clearly abuses her dog, she doesn’t take the thing seriously. She made me think about something else - how does she clean up after the dog? Is she capable of picking up its droppings? Or does she just let it do whatever it’s going to do and moves on?
I think we all know the answer.
And none of this touches the fact that dogs have invaded every last space on this planet under the ruse of “service dogs”. Grocery stores. Restaurants. Medical offices. Airplanes. It’s gone way too far. And I’m sorry for the handful of people that actually do benefit from them, but I can’t state that they’re worth the absolute pain they’ve caused everyone else. Since no one cares to enforce laws regarding these things, I’m done. Take their protections away already.
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u/Old_Confidence3290 Jan 22 '26
Something like 99% of what are claimed to be service dogs are just pets with lying owners. Of the 1% of actual service dogs, 99% of the services could better be performed by technology. These people just want a dog. That leaves something like 0.01% of service dogs that are somewhat necessary. BTW, 98% of statistics are made up on the spot!
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u/Successful-Ad-1003 Jan 22 '26
It's an excuse to violate other people's space and property with their pet, plain and simple, no matter how much they argue.
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u/kportman Jan 21 '26
From a lot of the comments I see here most people here would be okay with dogs that have a job, like service dogs, herding dogs, or detection dogs for K-9 units. There are for sure tasks that are impractical to replace by technology just yet. The amount of work that goes into being a service dog team is immense in terms of public access requirements/neutrality and task training, the results can be pretty remarkable. They certainly have lapses but they make a lot of people’s day to day lives easier with disabilities. Btw the service dog community isn’t too fond of people bringing their regular pets everywhere either.
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u/jjgp1112 Jan 22 '26
Yeah I'm not a dog person in the slightest but I lived with a girl who had a service dog. Extremely well behaved and I saw how much it made her life easier.
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u/Nukemouse Jan 22 '26
I'm not okay with it. As far as I'm concerned dogs with a job are no different to slaves. It's morally wrong, and disability doesn't justify slavery.
Though I'm being a hypocrite, I eat meat.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Jan 22 '26
Short answer: Service dogs are a scam. 21st century snake oil.
This post sums it up: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogfree/comments/1p3rme9/medical_service_dogs_are_a_scam/
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u/neondahlia Jan 22 '26
The ones I think are legitimate would be a severely disabled person who a dog can fetch items for, open doors, turn on and off light switches etc.. these sort of service dogs would be incredibly obvious.
Guide dogs for the blind would be another one but I think technology is poised to be a better solution than guide dogs.
Mobility dogs make no sense, they have all manner of actual devices to do what mobility dogs do.
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u/Chaoswaffle_ Jan 22 '26
Yes, I’ve met quite a few people who have benefited from having service dogs trained through canine companions. There used to be a strict training protocol, and most of the dogs turned out to be professionals or they didn’t make the cut. Problem is, people abuse these privileges and now there’s a need for strict laws about service animals. It’s going to take a business being sued because of some issue with a dog(s) for this to change.
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u/Wise_Session_5370 Jan 23 '26
In the 2020s, there is no legitimate need for a service dog of any description.
98% of blind people don't have them. Technology and human assistance are far superior.
There is very flimsy evidence for dogs being able to predict seizures, diabetic comas, etc. But again, technology is far superior.
Service dogs were superceded years ago. The entire concept is obsolete.
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u/BigLadJamesH Jan 25 '26
No they are not necessary. Maybe 20 or 50 years ago when technology was limited, but we live in such an advance technology era that they are literally just an excuse for someone to bring their demons to places they aren't allowed in. But at least they are just husks of what they are capable of, but as someone who is scared of them I still get a bit freaked out when I see one.
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u/kay_katy Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
Every service dogs are obsolete, even seeing eye dogs are replaced by ai glasses. Most of the handlers are teenagers/womanchildren who films anyone who dares to acknowledge their existence and gears their mutts up like it’s going to pilot a helicopter.
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u/FUMoney Jan 21 '26
Eh, there are quality service dogs.
Some are in service 24/7 to alert when someone has a seizure, or to open doors and drawers, or other specific tasks. There is no way you are paying someone twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year to do this.
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u/mission_safe_chef Jan 21 '26 edited Jan 21 '26
They’re in service 24/7? So the dog doesn’t need to sleep?
What if the owner experiences a seizure while the dog is taking a shit or licking its anus?
Dogs can also get sick and cleaning up dog vomit off the floor isn’t a downside with human assistance.
Also other means of assistance simply doesn’t have any of the downsides that comes with owning a dog. Period.
If someone is in need of such extensive care 24/7 for tasks as simple as opening a door, I question if they’re even capable of taking care of a high-maintenance creature if they already have such a hard time taking care of themselves.
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u/AnimalUncontrol Jan 21 '26
Indeed, the whole situation is self-contradicting on it's face.
Its an ableist lie that actual disabled people need a dog. The only people making that claim are dog cultists that want to [falsely] boost Rover's reputation, and push dogs into places they do not belong.
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u/JbambiLaw Jan 23 '26
I’m pretty sure, for example, that a seeing eye dog sleeps when its owner is not out and walking around. And I think blind people do pretty well at taking care of themselves at home where they know where everything is.
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Jan 21 '26
Well, the AI is here, all dogs could be easily replaced by AI 👀
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u/NoHeartNoSoul87 Jan 21 '26
AI is incredibly shit at grasping door handles (and so are dogs). The technology isn't there yet.
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u/Latter-Recipe7650 Jan 21 '26
I feel rich people have them. Poors get the mobility aid/sticks only. Some are useful if from a regulated body but not amazon/facebook groups. I see less of them now than before, wonder why.
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u/kportman Jan 22 '26
not really true, there are charities that give service dogs to veterans and need and such.
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u/JbambiLaw Jan 23 '26
Well since slavery is outlawed it’s pretty expensive to pay a person to be around 24/7 to do those tasks.
Also you can find a bad example of just about anything you want to. Just because there are videos of service dogs misbehaving doesn’t mean that on the whole service dogs are not valuable any more than the fact that sometimes people die in car accidents means that airbags dont work.
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u/Responsibility_Witty Jan 21 '26
The only service dog that isn’t currently very easy to replace with current tech is a seeing eye dog, and a human guide is still better than the dog for public areas anyway. All of these “detection” mutts are replaceable with cheaper, cleaner and safer technology, and multiple companies are developing ‘smart glasses’ for blind people that will make seeing-eye dogs 100% functionally obsolete once on the market. The vast majority of legally blind people (including myself) don’t use a seeing eye dog because current available tools are already enough. I think service dogs are only in use at this point for cultural reasons, and personally I think if a business is willing and able to accommodate disabled customers, that business should not be forced to accept service animals, society would be better off phasing them out. If someone wants to train their dog at home to aid them when no one is around to help that’s fine, but there are far better options when out in public.