^^The dog had a tiny vest that said so (probably bought on Amazon) and was being dragged through the security on a leash. It looked more like an accessory dog and was clearly not trained to be around so many people. The couple looked well-travelled: they knew their TSA belt/shoe/etc. thing well.
Sounds like a funny scene (except for the dog). We need some TSA people here to tell us all of their bizarre stories.
D2 doesn’t have her dog wear a vest (well, maybe for traveling but I haven’t seen it), but he has some sort of special collar tag. She doesn’t take him shopping or to the movies or anything like that. She was allowed to take him to class when she was a student but she was on a pet friendly campus and the school did it’s own certification program for that. Professors were allowed to opt out.
She’s careful to notify the airlines in advance and that’s really the key with any special need while traveling. You have a special condition or allergy? Notify the airline well in advance, get all sorts of confirmation and bring it with you along with your meds. I only know of one airline, Turkish Air, that specifically says on its web site that it will give preference to allergy sufferers over pet travelers but ONLY if they notify the airline first. If someone has already made a reservation that includes a pet, even a non ESA pet, then they get preference to fly.
I’ve never seen a pet on a leash in a department store in the US, only in Sweden. But there, I also saw young children happily eating ice cream cones on the subway and somehow, miraculously, not make a mess.
Yes, greenwitch, I felt very sorry for the dog. I was waiting for the SJC TSA to learn what a Microsoft Surface looked like (they were searching my bag for “a laptop”, lol), so I was people-watching. At one point, when the lady owner was picking up her designer shoes off the belt, the dog hid behind the pile of plastic bins with its tail wedged under its belly… He would have been much better off in a carrier.
Your D is a responsible dog owner. 
My Swedish friends say that in Sweden one can get arrested and fined for leaving their dog at home unattended for more than a few hours.
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Saw an emotional support dog during the morning rush at SJC. Yikes, this dog looked so terrified of the crowds, moving X-ray belts, yelling TSA dudes, etc., it will likely need some dog psychotherapy after the trip. The humans who were being supported by the dog (a young couple dressed to the nines) looked pretty fine to me. Either the dog’s emotional support worked, or they really did not need any…
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Pretty soon we’re going to be seeing a chain gang of support. The nervous/anxious human will have his ESA, then the nervous/anxious ESA will have its own ESA.
8-X :o3 :(|)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/15/us/restaurant-snake/index.html
Unbelievable. The restaurant owner should never have let them in to begin with.
I saw that on the news this morning and immediately thought of this thread!
Me too! I feel sorry for people who really need service dogs. Stories like this make people angry and make them doubt the value of a true service animal.
Flew last week to Phoenix right next to young woman with a “companion” animal. Dog did not make a peep entire flight…and sat on her lap whole time…no carrier other than the baby sling she had around her neck. Sadly, the poor animal was shaking, terrified the whole time. And it hadn’t had a bath in a LONG time. FA came by to see how pooch was doing and young woman said “he gets so stressed flying, but he’s such a trooper”.
sigh.
Funny I thought of this thread this week. I was at the dermatologist office and a woman came in with a huge standard poodle in a service vest. The woman had her appointment wrong and sat down on the sofa in the waiting room while the staff tried to help her figure out an alternative time. This huge dog proceeded to jump up and sit on the waiting room sofa. The poor receptionist had no clue what to say. If your dog is a service dog have it well trained.
Florida now has a law that makes it a misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail to have a fake service animal:
^^ Good! Can we make citizens arrests?
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Awesome!!
We are getting our first non rescue dog tomorrow. I will, for the first time in my life, will get a service vest. Looking at me one might think there goes an entitled rich bit##. What you don’t know is that I am blind in one eye and have some vision loss in the other. I have no depth perception and no night vision. Not easy to navigate the world. My dog will lead me. I also have Parkinsons. My puppy will lead me around pot holes and/or street issues to keep me standing… So, don’t judge a lot of people for the dogs they have and their vests…I am truly proud that I’m still standing. Just me and my designer dog.
Ellebud, knowing you and what you have been through from your CC posts, I would never question your need for a service animal. It is the spoiled, young, entitled jerks and their untrained dogs, pigs, snakes, etc. we complain about. They actually make the lives of legitimate service animal owners more difficult.
Thank you BB.
But is your dog a trained service dog? If so, great. If not, he will not lead you around pothole and could actually be more of danger to drag you off on a chase after another dog, rabbit, or bird.
I’m glad Florida finally had enough of the fake service dogs. The trained ones are wonderful and should be welcomed everywhere. The dog jumping up in the doctor’s office or the snake in the restaurant are not trained service animals.
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The American with Disabilities Act states “only dogs are recognized as service animals.”
And if the snake posed a concern for public safety, then patrons could have notified police or animal control, according to Nixa city’s communications director, Jill Finney.
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Interesting.
@bevhills Glad to hear that you’re getting a service dog. You need one! I wish my mom had gotten one when she lost her entire right field of vision in both eyes after a major stroke. A dog would have been a tremendous help in so many ways.
Remember- there is a difference between service animals and emotional support animals. Miniature horses are also recognized as service animals. They provide stability for disabled people who need to lean on the animal. Snakes etc do not have to be permitted in a public establishment.
Getting a dog certified as a service animal is not easy
But will the new law affect the Emotional Support animals? Are they considered under the service animal category?