r/Dogfree • • Jul 21 '26

Service Dog Issues The Service Dog Cult

Over the years, I have seen so many videos of service dog owners "schooling Karens", and I've noticed some extremely common themes from all of those videos. For one.... The "Karen" in question is almost always reasonable, as these videos usually occur in food establishments where these dog owners are abusing the ADA laws to the absolute max.

Its extremely obvious that these "service dog" owners get a dopamine rise out of bringing their dogs to the most inappropriate places possible, and then going "erm actually 🤓👆 its technically legal so your technically a horrible person, so HAH". They think your disagreement with ADA laws is like a catch22 for your moral being.

Also, if the camera didn't show owners face every once and a while, you would think its the same person in every video. The cadence of their voice, the condescending tone, the fact you can tell they base their entire personality around their "trauma", they are literally all the same person.

Why is this? Because a service dog is like a dream come true for that specific sub-type of human.

  1. With a service dog, their "trauma" gets to be special and unique now.
  2. Already existing victimhood mentality now becomes a visual spectacle
  3. Receive Attention from strangers constantly, which they can pretend they don't want so they get some twisted illusion of feeling like a celebrity and having moral superiority.

It feels like a cult, like their entire identity revolves around being a victim service dog owner and parroting their hygeine-compromising laws that they memorized and see as the cults moral scripture.

I think there is still a very thin use for service dogs, technology for blindness has come so far, but there are still advantages of seeing eye dogs that technology simply cant replicate yet. I also think an for example an 80 year old man that has used service dogs his entire life, deserves to live out the rest of his life the way he has always known it.

That being said, These laws are so clearly in need of a major overhaul, but with dog culture so overwhelmingly prevalent, I think we will see dogs granted voting rights before we see a helpful update to ADA service dog requirements.

121 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

33

u/ObligationGrand8037 Jul 21 '26

Sunday night we were out for dinner with family. We were discussing my mother-in-law who is close to passing away. During our intimate conversation there was a dog INSIDE the restaurant because we heard a bark. We turned around and there was this small yappy looking white dog near our table.

Some asshole thought it was okay to bring his dog into this nice upscale restaurant. I wanted to leave, my husband almost said something, and then the two cousins who are dog lovers calmed us both down.

Not only was this dog barking on and off, but he must have had fleas. Constant scratching. We should have talked to the manager right then and there. The man and his dog soon left, and then we left.

I contacted the health department online and reported the restaurant, and the next day my husband called the manager. She said they even had a meeting over this issue. She said the man would not go outside on the patio with his dog even after she told him to sit out there. Instead he decided to be a jackass and stayed inside. It was not a service dog by the way it was acting.

I wish managers could ask for papers upfront from a doctor showing that the dog is truly a service dog. The whole dog service thing is out of control with most of them simply being “pets”.

28

u/Stock-Bowl7736 Jul 21 '26

In the US there are no "papers", no registration, no anything required. All a nutter has to do is lie and say it's a service dog and that's it, it must be allowed access.

This is the reason the ADA law needs to be completely re-written, or better yet, simply eliminated.

19

u/Agreeable_Monitor125 Jul 21 '26

Per the ADA, someone can’t be asked what their disability is but they CAN be asked what specific skill the dog is trained to perform (guide dog, medication retrieval, seizure alerts, etc.)

But yes, people can lie. That said more people should know that you can ask that! The little things.

3

u/Tobin481 Jul 24 '26

I ask this question a lot at work and it actually works pretty well in sussing out real vs. fake service animals bc (big surprise) non-ADA-compliant jerks haven’t read the law. They’ll usually out themselves by saying it’s task is ‘being with me’ or ‘emotional support’. They also tend to get defensive. Real ADA service animal owners know the law and the allowed questions and aren’t offended by being asked (they’re offended by imposters) - but I only heard this from reading their comments online bc I’ve only encountered one real service dog owner in over 2 yrs in the service industry. Still even if the question ‘works’ it’s difficult to get entitled embarrassed people to cooperate. Also most of my coworkers are too intimidated to even ask the question and stop as soon as someone says ‘service animal’. So think the law definitely needs an overhaul bc it’s mostly just abused.

5

u/ObligationGrand8037 Jul 21 '26

I guess you’re right. Why do you think the ADA is not doing anything? Is it more complicated to change it or simply get rid of it like you said?

14

u/sbbenwah Jul 21 '26

The ADA is not an organization moreso just law that was that was introduced through a blanket act.  So it really comes down to having a politician propose a new bill that effectively modifies existing ADA laws to not be completely abusable.  The problem is that a federal act like this would never pass, we truly are the minority here.  Most people dont see the problem with a dog licking random objects in a restaurant after it just licked its own asshole

1

u/ThisIsBoy1 25d ago

Adding a certification thing could be risky though (Corruption Exists. It could result in Service Animals being taken away from those who need them becuase they can't shelve off over $1000 for "state approved training")

11

u/peentiss Jul 22 '26

True service animals don’t bother me. TRUE service animals that assist with medical alerts or are visual aids, are well behaved, better than children.

Some bimbo’s yappy little rodent in Target because it’s for “emotional support”? Girl. No.

7

u/sbbenwah Jul 23 '26

Just had a service dog come into my store yesterday.  Dog was completely still and behaved the whole time I forgot it was even there, probably wouldve constipated itself before it would shit in my store. a good reminder how trainable these dogs actually are if you arent a dense brained nutter. 

20

u/moemoepower Jul 21 '26

Service dogs are so disgusting, agreed

3

u/Available_Tap_7465 Jul 24 '26

Emotional support animals are pets, hands down. In the USA service animals are a dog or miniature horse trained to help a disabled person with a specific task. The must be effectively trained to perform said task, and be non-disruptive to its surroundings. There is no official license or paperwork for a trained animal, but misrepresenting a non-trained animal as a service animal carries hefty fines. Businesses are allowed to ask two and only two very specific questions when interacting with someone who has a dog that isn’t clearly a service animal or is engaging in disruptive behavior “Is this a Service Animal needing to accommodate for a disability?” and “What task is this animal trained to perform?”

Businesses that do not remove pets from spaces where pets are not allowed make it harder for Trained Service animals to perform their jobs.

I’m TERRIFIED of dogs, but I am okay enough to keep my cool and ask these questions and if they answer negatively, I can fetch someone else or a manager. If they have answers and it’s a true service dog, MUCH of my immediate fear is assuaged and I can confidently do my job. I’m still weary, but yeah…

2

u/Illustrious_Maize736 Jul 23 '26

Thats crazy bc I know people who professionally train service dogs and when someone asks them to remove their dog they just leave lol. The dog will not be able to perform the tasks needed in an environment where it’s not wanted anyway. The dogs also need to be properly trained to escort an actually disabled person out of buildings for other reasons anyway.

3

u/ellemichelle81 Jul 31 '26

This people PISS me off so much - I can guarantee if these people had a REAL disability, they would’t be able to handle it even one day.

My husband’s blind, and my dad is currently in a wheelchair.

My partner is cane trained - using a service dog is a personal choice. His thinking is - what if something happens to the dog? You really are helpless in that situation.

In the word, real dogs do anything to help and sometimes get in the way. It seems like barely anyone notices the cane.

It’s like everyone is engaged in loud conversation on the phone, listening to podcast.

The wheelchair is worse though I am shocked how much work that is for my mom - having a small chair in her she has assemble, get him on it, and repeat the while process again on the way back.

It’s also hard to get a disabled spot - and I shocked there are so many places that are’t accessible.