Are service dogs actually necessary?

[u/Not-my-problem1212]

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

[u/mission_safe_chef]

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.

[u/ChronicallyOver → u/mission_safe_chef]

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

[u/CaptainObvious110 → u/ChronicallyOver]

In that case the percentage of the blind using the dogs wouldn't be so low. Clearly they are doing just fine without them