Emotional Support Animals

Ardillaun

I read this piece in the New Yorker - thought it was a spoof at first. Access for genuine service animals I can understand but this other group seems to be getting in all over the place in the US:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/20/pets-allowed

Of source, once you can brandish a therapist's letter, no matter how ridiculous, the poor staff are reluctant to take a stand. God spare me to see the day when one of those mongrels pees on a masterpiece of modern art.

baby and crumble

Why are you getting upset about something that's happening in a completely different country? This has no relevance to Ireland. Sometimes here autism dogs and even guide dogs are disallowed from public places.

Rips

The only thing I'm concerned about after reading all that, is the animals.

I'm not really sure what the big deal is when most major airlines now allow you to pay for small animals to travel as hand luggage.

I did wonder about the lady carrying the Chihuahua onto a 10hr emirates flight over the summer, I thought it was fairly cruel if I'm honest.
I guess she was American after reading that article (they didn't have a proper carrier for it which as far as I was aware is a requirement, the dog has to weigh less then 8kg including a suitable transport container so it can be restrained in transit of necessary.)

I've just checked actually, and apparently Emirates only allow service animals:

medically certified service animals on United States and Canada routes and falcons on Pakistan routes.

They have very specific guidelines, and pigs are not included... so it seems the authors point is mute where it matters anyway.

Who gives a damn about business owners in the US who can't be bothered to familiarise themselves with the law.

Ardillaun

baby and crumble wrote: »

Why are you getting upset about something that's happening in a completely different country? This has no relevance to Ireland. Sometimes here autism dogs and even guide dogs are disallowed from public places.

Completely different? Consider this advance warning of a trend coming soon to a country near you. If it happens in the US, there is a darn good chance it will eventually happen in Ireland.

BTW I'm not at all upset. I found the article hilarious.

muddypaws

Ardillaun wrote: »

Of source, once you can brandish a therapist's letter, no matter how ridiculous, the poor staff are reluctant to take a stand. God spare me to see the day when one of those mongrels pees on a masterpiece of modern art.

Would it be okay if a pedigree dog pees on a masterpiece? :P

Ardillaun

muddypaws wrote: »

Would it be okay if a pedigree dog pees on a masterpiece? :P

That would be fine too. There'd be something very post-modern and performance arty about the whole thing. I should have put 'masterpiece' in inverted commas, like I just did there - it is modern art we are talking about.

baby and crumble

The problem is that what risks happening is the genuine service animals for people with disabilities other than "obvious" ones will start getting questioned, which would be a horrible outcome. There are brilliant organisations who train dogs specifically to be autism support dogs, for example. People may not realise they are support dogs but they do so much for their owners.

I'll be honest I got really annoyed with the disparaging tone of the author.

Ardillaun

baby and crumble wrote: »

The problem is that what risks happening is the genuine service animals for people with disabilities other than "obvious" ones will start getting questioned, which would be a horrible outcome. There are brilliant organisations who train dogs specifically to be autism support dogs, for example. People may not realise they are support dogs but they do so much for their owners.

I'll be honest I got really annoyed with the disparaging tone of the author.

I would not put autism support dogs in this category at all. That's a clear disability.

bradachu

This is something I've been interested in. It''s definitely comming here. What I found most interesting were diabieties and epileptic episode dogs: they recognize signs that humans don't sense and warn their owners. (Bark, paw, whatever) PTSD dogs react to anxiety and snuggle up to comfort, guide to a quieter space and wake up owners with nightmares.
I suppost there will always be issues with access, dumbass people wanting a plane seat for their dog etc. But I still work on the hope that as a nation we get a bit less uptight by **** like this. Like, not needing a vicious little ****-zu to comfort me because my botox left me with wasp bite allergy lips.

Cherry Blossom

Please don't bump up old threads as this is considered poor posting ettiquate on Boards.

Thanks.