Fake service dogs everywhere

Agreed! And they are themselves often poorly trained. I propose those people not be allowed unrestricted access to grownup areas, either.

In a mature society, people wouldnā€™t ā€œownā€ animals and call them pets. The language of owning pets today is remarkably similar to the way slave owners talk about their slaves. Iā€™d be surprised if the idea of widespread pet ownership (enslavement of animals) lasts another hundred years.

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People Eating Tasty Animals?

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Iā€™m not sure what you mean by ā€œeverywhere,ā€ but I can tell you that my dog, like my cat before him, is my buddy and seems to enjoy hanging out with me. Unlike the cat, he also seems to enjoy other peopleā€™s company and the opportunity to go smell new places. Iā€™ve worked with him daily so he knows what acceptable behavior is in public spaces, and his reward is that sometimes I take him with me when Iā€™m going places he is allowed. And in California, thatā€™s an awful lot of places! Since heā€™s a 100-pound Great Pyrenees mix, perhaps I was a little more motivated to train properly than those with a handbag dog.

I suspect many of the people bringing their dogs to grocery stores (which is just cruel: your dog did NOT bring his wallet and youā€™ve just walked him into a vast room of food?) donā€™t want to leave the dog at home because it will ā€œget intoā€ things. Which pretty much just points back again to proper care and training of the dog. Or the person, come to that.

You gonna be the one to tell this guy he shouldnā€™t be enjoying his cozy blanket nap? Because Iā€™m not gonna.

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Slavery is most definitely not ā€œcivilizedā€. There is never any right to ā€œownā€ a dog.

A friend of mine rented a small office in Bethesda for years. He brought his dog in with him every day. The dog parked behind his desk and slept, bothering nobody. After some years, a new landlord moved in, and said the dog had to go. The very next day my friend brought his dog into the office with a service dog vest, and hasnā€™t had trouble since.

I donā€™t consider this abusive of the policy in any meaningful way, though I know it breaks the rules as written. Itā€™s too bad people canā€™t behave reasonably in situations like this. Every one of his clients knew about the dog, not one complained. If he had been forced to leave his best friend at home every day, they both would have been very sad.

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It makes all service dogs look bad. After the thousands of dollars invested in the raising and training of a certified service dog (who despite the AWDA are still refused by the uninformed or just plain ignorant in restaurants, on public transportation, etc.) one lying cheater creates negative sentiment towards the team of person and dog who worked so hard to represent themselves as a responsible team. No real service dog while working would be allowed off leash. Iā€™d love to see family dogs accepted in more places but realistically, lazy, stupid people arenā€™t capable of having the sense to get training for themselves and their dogs. God forbid they go through the Canine Good Citizen test.

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Hahaā€¦ I just saw this t-shirt online today for the first time. Now itā€™s everywhere. LOL.

Agreed. Though, if you consider how long slavery persisted-and still persists today!- it may well take more time than that to get it right. The way I see it, as long as people can have their passports yanked or get deported for pissing someone off, then SETI is a complete non-starter. As a species weā€™re going to have to earn our telephone privilege.

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I havenā€™t noticed you manumitting your microbiota recently.

(tip-o-thā€™-hat to @Gyrofrog who was openly honest about his captives)

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A certified service dog would never do that unless it was ill or its person failed to give it time to do its thing before entering whatever venue.

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Which do many of the gallery visitors prefer? Dog cable on the floor, or artist cable on the walls?

Jokingā€¦

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Trained and cared-for service animals, and the people they accompany, are welcome. OTOH, we would rather not deal with the entitled bearers of purse dogs, the homeless people who bring in their dogs because they wonā€™t tie up their dog outside, and anyone who believes that their pet may accompany them anywhere because reasons. These are also the people most apt to create a problem when we try to tell them why they may not bring Muffy in, regardless of how lovable she is; our hands are tied, and frequently it is less disruptive to let them get away with it. Badly behaved pets and their (more frequently) badly behaved owners make it hard on people who do require the assistance of a trained service animal.

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A guide dog took against my mutt one day and got barky and aggressive. It was in a crowded place and everybody who turned to look gave me the evil eye because obviously the dog in the wrong must be the pet, who obviously has an irresponsible owner.

Service dogs are dogs. They eat chicken bones off the ground and sometimes bark for no discernible reason. Iā€™ve seen real guide dogs pee indoors, nick food and generally do dog things. They are trained to provide vital services to people, but theyā€™re not saints.

Exactly. I was at my hairdresser and a young lady had a service dog ON A LEASH, with ā€œAutismā€ cleary embroidered on its vest. I think I must have smiled at her Golden Retriever because she smiled and made eye contact with me, and then patted her dog before returning to her book.

The dog was doing its job perfectly. The eye contact and a smile for a stranger is no small achievement for someone who finds themself on the autism spectrum. Her dog helped her to have the confidence to interact with the public.

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Loved that feature! We had a pit bull mix that we took for trips, etc., but we ALWAYS played by the rules. Weā€™d research and find hotels/motels and rentals that allowed pets and we always anteed up the nonrefundable deposit. She was incredibly housebroken and even though she adored us, we felt confident in her ability to maintain herself (read: sleep) while we went out for dinner.

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Iā€™ve bought a little sweater for my bottle of Don Julio and I take it with me everywhere I goā€“for emotional support.

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True, not to mention the ability of their handlers and how much attention theyā€™re paying to their and their dogā€™s surroundingsā€¦

Was this the building in question?