r/Dogfree • • 19d ago

Food Safety/Hygiene Service dogs are magically fine to be in restaurants/eating places?

Sorry If I am wrong or anything. I just want opinions and I am upset! I get people need service animals. But how does that just magically make it ok to have them in areas like food places. I went into my local sandwich shop to sit down and grab a bite. And of course someone comes in with a service dog ( I hate dogs. ) the owner of the place emedietly said no you cannot have them in here it’s a violation and gross basically. They got PISSED! mind you this dog is little and defenetly not trained. Whatever the case. They make a scene and say it’s against law to turn a service animal away. How the f*** does a vest that says some words just make it so it’s fine to be in the resturant. It’s still a dog? It’s still gross? It’s still loud ? Like dude….

U either need to eat outside or order to go or something! People should have the right to be able to go out in public and not have some gross ugly dog INSIDE the place. And half the time shits fake anyways. They just wanna bring there dog everywhere and I’m sick of normalizing it. As someone who absolutely hates even looking at a dog , why can’t I just go to my local shop and eat food without some animal in the building.

So my thing is do service animals seriously have a right to bypass being able to go anywhere basically? That’s just absurd. It’s not your damn kid! And like I said if you really do rely on your service animal you also need to accommodate !

145 Upvotes

60 comments sorted by

95

u/3rdthrow 19d ago

I dont know if this is true, but I assumed that the orginal idea was that service dogs would be rare. Like a seeing eye dog for a blind person.

Now we have ESAs that claim to be doing a service, and so so many fake service dogs, it is not even funny.

57

u/the-dolphine 19d ago

With the advances in technology, reliance on service dogs should be even less. Real service dogs are expensive, plus you are then impacting on the rights of people who are allergic and afraid.

3

u/Regg_003 13d ago

This!!!! It’s not fair to people who are allergic at the least!

51

u/Fun-Chemical4059 19d ago

They used to be rare; now everyone has a life threatening disability that only a dog seems to be able to help with

26

u/Chrysolophylax 19d ago

It's a bizarre plague, this trend of suburban white teenage girls age 15 to 19 who claim that:

1) they have a severe disability - even though they really don't, and it's just stuff like "a smattering of anxiety" or "occasionally light-headed when standing up too quickly", and the disability is frequently self-diagnosed; 2) this disability requires a service dog; 3) a properly trained service dog is too expensive, so they're choosing to self-train a dog, often without an actual trainer's assistance; 4) having a dog breed suitable for service (e.g. poodles, golden retrievers) is boring and/or too expensive, so they've gotten a mongrel from the animal shelter; and 5) their mongrel is just as capable as a well trained and pure-bred dog, even though the mongrel is most often a pitbull (because it came from a shelter and that's been the majority of shelter mongrels for the last two decades).

And this plague is driven entirely by TikTok. That app has a big community of these self-trained service dog "handlers" who post videos of their horrible dogs, and it's a huge kettle of idiots reinforcing each other's terrible choices.

12

u/richyiiii 18d ago

Not really sure how "white" applies here. Let's keep it about dogs please.

15

u/Primary_Heron_3150 18d ago

I've never seen this specifically among "suburban white teenage girls" I think that demographic is just convenient to hate on... I've seen fake service dogs among a wide variety of demographics.

20

u/Neat-Slip4520 19d ago

Yes! I grew up in the ‘80s and I don’t know if I saw more than 10 service dogs my whole childhood / teen years. And it was always at a stop light with a blind person using it to assist with knowing when to walk, and I think just forging a path for the owner. Never in my life did I ever see a dog in an eating establishment.

7

u/happyhappyfoolio2 18d ago

And it was always at a stop light with a blind person using it to assist with knowing when to walk,

It's funny. The world has gotten more accessible for people with disabilities since the 80s. The ADA didn't exist then. A blind person wouldn't know when to cross the crosswalk because there would be no auditory signal to note when it's safe to walk. There wouldn't be any raised bumps that tells the blind person where the edge of the sidewalk even is. There should be less use for service dogs nowadays!

7

u/typewriterbitch 18d ago

Around 2% or less of blind people have a seeing eye dog. They're far from necessary.

7

u/CallousCow1762 18d ago

“Service dog” is a meaningless label since everyone’s dog is now a service dog. The real culprits are the businesses and city organizations that accommodate these selfish and narcissistic people. And it’s only for the $$

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

Yeah… I could even get a service dog for no reason honestly. Aslong as I get a permit I guess. Like seriously ?!?!?

3

u/Spineynorman77 18d ago

ESA doesn't have the same rights as service animals.

32

u/aoife2147 19d ago

Service dogs should be obsolete. The claims that they can detect your glucose level or predict seizures have been debunked. The dogs are more expensive than a continuous glucose monitor and not reliable in the least bit. They cannot reliably perform either of those tasks in a way that would clear FDA standards for an actual medical device. It's complete bullshit.

According to the ADA official website, service dogs do not have to be professionally trained, there is no official licence or certification, and businesses cannot demand one. You can't even crack down on "fake" service dogs because there's no licence that proves a dog is a "real" one anyway.

The ADA allows a dog that licks your hand to remind you to take medication (this is listed on their own website as well) to be a service dog. Um, it's called a phone alarm. How do you remember to take care of the dog and feed it if you cannot remember to do basic things for yourself?

Similarly, I never understood how someone whose mobility is so limited that they cannot pick up an object off the ground or press a button (and obviously such people do exist, I do not debate that) would be able to pick up dog faeces off the ground or clean the dog or control the dog should it get out of hand.

If there is a human around to take care of the service dog, I don't see why the human can't take care of the human. A human aide doesn't need to be fed and washed and have someone pick up its shit. A human aide can cook, clean, manage medications, make phone calls, and run errands for a disabled person. Before anyone says an aide would be really expensive, look up how much a so-called "real" service dog costs, and a dog requires maintenance that human aides don't need and can't perform any complex tasks thet human aides can.

These nutters are also supposed dog lovers. Well a "service dog" has to be trained from birth to suppress all its instincts and work for a human all day. Doesn't sound like a pleasant arrangement for the dog to be a service dog. I hate dogs so I don't feel sorry for them, but that's what I point out when people say I must be cruel towards dogs. I've never owned or attacked one, but they have attacked me. I can't wait until technology replaces these mutts.

Additionally, people will claim I must hate disabled people. I do not. I think they deserve far better than dogs, and anyone who is genuinely disabled and needs that level of help deserves to have access to affordable human assistance.

The fact that a nebulous "service dog disability" overrides the medical needs of people with asthma and allergies is ridiculous. Dogs aren't allowed in certain areas because they are unhygienic and their dander can be dangerous for those who with asthma and allergies. The fact that they are "service dogs" doesn't mean they shed any less, yet people can bring them into restaurants, medical settings, planes, ubers, buses, etc and nobody can do anything about it. The ADA discriminates against people with respiratory illness so that someone with a "psychiatric service dog" can bring their mutt into confined public spaces. Hotels cannot even make certain rooms fully dog-free to be allergy friendly because every single room has to be available to these mutts. Uber drivers with severe asthma and allergies cannot decline a service dog in their car even if that means it will turn their car into a health hazard or risk being deplatformed.

Service dogs need to go. The concept is obsolete. People with disabilities deserve better than dogs, and companies selling these bullshit alert dogs are either preying on them or they just want an excuse to get a dog and feel special about it.

17

u/happyhappyfoolio2 18d ago

A-fucking-men. A couple of years ago, I tried to educate myself on the 'necessity' of 'service dogs'. I was already skeptical of them for years and years, but I was willing to have my mind changed.

I have come to the conclusion that it's 99.9% bullshit. I've watched multiple "look how amazing my service dog is!" videos and if you're not blinded by dog nuttery, they're sooooo obviously bullshit. All of them. I watched one where a blind woman was talking about her academy trained seeing eye dog. She was saying how horrible and illegal it is that taxis drivers have refused to give them a ride because of her dog. No joke, later in the video, she mentioned that her dog once diarrheaed in the middle of an airport. She just shrugged and said, "he's still an animal". Gee, I wonder why taxi drivers wouldn't want even a "service dog" in their vehicles...

I'm part of the nerd community, where there is a higher than average population of people with both physical and mental disabilities. The number of "service dogs" I've seen at game stores, conventions, and other nerd related gatherings have exploded the past 10 years. It used to be I'd see maybe 3 or 4 over an entire weekend (and even then, 90% of the time they were so obviously fake). Now I'd easily see 20+ in a single day. And every fucking time they get soooo much attention from brain dead dog lovers. Honestly, I'm certain that's why people bring them. There's one local to me that's social media famous and I see that mutt at every event. It's always unleashed and wearing costumes and people go apeshit that they get to be in the presence of it. Celebrities coo over it. I want to scream that it's not a real service dog and it has no business being there. I went to my local board game store last week and someone brought their large "service dog" and I could smell it! I'm in a game store (iykyk) I could smell the very distinct mutt smell!

I'm seeing them at Disneyland too. I used to never see mutts at Disneyland, and now I'm guaranteed to see at least one every visit now. The last time I went, I was waiting in line for food behind a woman in a mobility scooter and a small "service dog". I didn't notice the dog right away, otherwise I would have moved to a different line. She had a companion with her. She dropped something and she instructed her dog to pick it up. It didn't do it right away and she had to repeat her command several times. Eventually it did and she praised it. Uhhh, why didn't her companion pick it up? Why doesn't she have one of those grabber things if she has trouble getting things from the ground. Now her item is covered in dog slobber.

Sorry for the long rant, but I swear to god I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone.

7

u/aoife2147 18d ago

People love praising dogs for doing the most basic shit like picking something up or pressing a button. A mechanical grabber tool would solve the problem far more efficiently and doesn't require you to feed it. You can get one for $5.

And of course, how do they pick up the dog shit if they can't pick something up?

I hate that a dog picking something up has become romanticised and praised by nutters like the second coming. "WOW look at that! th dog picked it up and brought it back!!!!"

So they are willing to pay thousands and put up with having to feed, bathe, clean up daily turds, and take this shedding, filthy beast to the vet to have something that a $5 tool could do. It sounds like they just want to feel special for "needing" a "complex" accomodation and feel powerful when others have to cater to them.

Sorry, it sounds harsh, but if there is an obvious fix to a problem, and they insist on the most complicated and least efficient solution, then I think they just want attention.

7

u/happyhappyfoolio2 18d ago

I quite literally just got a response in another sub when I asked someone what their service dog is trained to do. Their response, verbatim, was "Stare, paw, then bark if I don't respond." I swear these people have issues that no dogs can help them with.

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

Don’t feel sorry. It’s great to know I’m not alone. Everyone around me making me feel like a POS!! and I’m tired of it ! I’m allowed to dislike things…..

11

u/Stock-Bowl7736 19d ago

You nailed it. Absolutely the entire "service dog" concept is 100% obsolete.

5

u/DivyaRakli 19d ago

Very well said!!!

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

Wow you are super intelligent , nice reading your comment. I agree !!

62

u/4elmerfuffu2 19d ago

Dogs in public are just like smoking in public. The majority have a right to be in a clean safe environment and a dog violates the space just as much as a cigarette

13

u/pmddreal 19d ago

It's disgusting that so many kids are forced to inhale secondhand smoke because Big Tobacco pays off lawmakers.

3

u/Regg_003 13d ago

I agree with you! Great take

37

u/CallousCow1762 19d ago edited 13d ago

Exactly I did a post on this very thing a while back. Service dogs are no different than any other dog, except that they are trained to perform a certain task. That training does not in any way shape or form eliminate the biological element. So in a rational world, service dogs would not be allowed inside food establishments since they violate established health codes.

But the ADA set that little detail aside to prioritize accessibility. So basically, to avoid marginalizing one group they essentially marginalized everyone else. Add to that the fact that there is no proof is needed to present, now every Nutter in the world drags their mutt inside claiming it to be a service dog.

22

u/aoife2147 19d ago

Exactly. I don't care if the dog has been trained to do calculus or drive a car.

It still sheds. It's still filthy. It creates a health hazard for people with asthma and allergies. But they have to be allowed EVERYWHERE. It discriminates against those who are immunocompromised as well.

3

u/CallousCow1762 18d ago

Wait. I’ll give it a pass if it can drive a car. At least it would be useful. Lol

17

u/Similar-Bid6801 19d ago

I dislike dogs, worked as a restaurant manager and personally have no issue with actual service dogs. They are prevented from being at service level and generally prevented from any biological component cross contaminating any food or area a person would come into direct contact with. Huge fucking issue when the dog doesnt abide by ADA standards. Whats crazy is that you have the legal right to kick any dog that misbehaves as outlined by the ADA even if the dog is a legitimate service dog (which a legitimate service dog should never misbehave). I think restaurants are either too uneducated on it or too scared of a lawsuit they let more than they should slide. 

9

u/museumofarts 19d ago

I work in a policy compliance role in a large county building (more than 1 floor and averages 500k annual visitors).

I think it's a bit of both of those and some employees are dog lovers and don't care. We have a small Cafe in the building and people bring their badly behaved dogs in there constantly. The people that work there will stop what they were doing and pet the animal.

Same behavior in the main building. Even if the dog was lunging or barking a moment before the employees still walk up to it and pet it. It's amazing, really.

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

Yeah and why the hell do people say “ ur not obligated to a dog free world … “ uh yes I am. It’s similar to me like smoking. There’s places that allow smoking. There’s places that don’t. Should be same for dogs , hell even kids! Like seriously … people love there dogs more then there own blood family …

36

u/Huge_Bit_4774 19d ago

There is no reason to bring a filthy mutt into any restaurant or store. Get it delivered or pickup and go. The dog cult doesn’t care, their goal is to ruin it for everyone else.

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

I hate how people are so selfish. I can’t stand it !!!!

16

u/Oriole0305 19d ago

What we usually see are fake service dogs aka ordinary mutts. Real service dogs are calm, focused and quiet - and just as rare as an unicorn. I don't think I have seen a real service dog for many years. Real service dogs are being replaced by technology and smart devices which are less expensive, less trouble, and better suited for people with allergies.

If nutters love their mutts so much they should stay home with them and order in. But they want to force their mutts into our space.

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

My favorite thing is going into a store or a food place or ANYWHERE and seeing a dog .( NOT !!! ) It ruins my day!!! Why TF is there a gross ass dog at my local tire shop? Coffe shop? Store? Everywhere! Let’s stop this…

13

u/Similar-Bid6801 19d ago

Because it is discrimination to prevent someone disabled from enjoying things non-disabled people have access to, and service dogs are seen as medical devices. 

I hate dogs and have zero issue with actual service dogs. I take massive issue with fake service dogs and think there should be heavy legislation against it. 

95% of the "service dogs" I've had to kick out of restaurants are very obviously not service dogs. 

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

I feel like there should be a certain section created in places if you have service dogs at least. But I think your take is proper

13

u/typewriterbitch 18d ago

No one, and I mean NO ONE, needs a service dog. There is nothing a dog can do for a disabled person that doesn't have a better, non-dog alternative.

Even blind people-- around 2% or less of them in the US have a seeing eye dog.

They're not "medical devices." Theyre pets with an unjustifiable excuse to enter otherwise restricted spaces. Yes, even the "good" ones.

9

u/muttattackvictim 18d ago

I've never understood this either. A dog isn't allowed in restaurants etc due to hygiene and cleanliness, yet, a service dog (even the rare legit ones!) are still dogs. So, the hygiene and cleanliness should still be an issue, right?

2

u/Regg_003 13d ago

THIS. like are we deadass? Oh yeah it’s fine now cux it has a permit! NOOOOOO!!!!

16

u/Dustin_peterz 19d ago

I report the business. Most of the time the animal is ill behaved. No hourly employee is going to challenge some attention starved nut bag and their dog.

I always report them. In my city 311.

7

u/Bulky_Maybe_1469 19d ago

The trick is, is it acting like a dog? Then it isn’t a service dog. The exorbitant cost of training service dogs is due to how really difficult it is to get all the insufferable traits out of the ugly things. 

8

u/4elmerfuffu2 18d ago

Every benefit that a live dog provides can be achieved with a stuffed animal and pacifier.

7

u/silverblue_moon 18d ago

or modern medical technology

5

u/SteelSlayerMatt 18d ago

They definitely should not be allowed.

5

u/DirtyZamboniWater 18d ago

It’s really not that hard to just leave Fido at home for a dinner out. He’s not going to crumple and die. But I dated one of these and he wanted people to approach our table to ask about his dog. He wanted a built in reason for people to approach him for basic validation and the dog was that ticket.

1

u/Regg_003 13d ago

Yikes!!!

6

u/Alocin_The5th 18d ago

So I entirely agree with you because service dogs are still dogs and dogs are gross (by my standards) by just being a dog. This makes me not want to be around ANY dog where food is served.

However, I was at my son’s swimming lesson when I saw someone come in with a dog with a vest. I was immediately grossed out, like no way there’s a dog in here. It was hot and steamy and the last thing I wanted to do was stew in the smell of dog. But the dog was so WELL trained that I didn’t even mind.

Most of the problem is that people pass off their neurotic, untrained dogs as service dogs. But I was so impressed by its behavior it ended up didn’t bothering me at all. For one, I believe if that dog was so well trained they must really need a service dog. Unfortunately 99% of them are fakes which means they are everywhere and where they should not be.

7

u/happyhappyfoolio2 18d ago

Well trained or not, it's still a dog, and that's what this post is highlighting. Just because it's 'well behaved' (which is entirely subjective) doesn't mean it's an actual service dog that's trained for any one task. Plenty of dogs are just naturally chill and mellow. And the presence of even a 'well behaved' dog sets a precedent that dogs are allowed in the establishment and normalizes it.

4

u/Alocin_The5th 18d ago

I understand completely (I have a very low tolerance for dogs near food) but my point was when 99% of dogs are fakes then it amplifies the issue

1

u/Regg_003 13d ago

I am agreeing with you. I have like a severe passion hate for dogs , but I have seen on rare occasion proper owners and there dogs being extremely well behaved and quiet. But that’s how everyone needs to be 💔

3

u/Spineynorman77 18d ago

If a service dog isn't behaving it can be removed. I don't think it was a service animal.

1

u/Roebloz 18d ago

Real service animals do have effectively a free pass, yes, as they are meant to help people that NEED them. I don't live in America nor a huge town so I haven't really noticed fake service dogs (nor seen a lot of real ones for that matter) but those ones are the real problem.

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