Guess what! Its official! Im a doctor! Yep I found a site answered a few questions, paid them money and they are sending me a certificate and a medical bag. I hope at this second you are shaking your head and saying that does NOT make you a doctor!!! Yep you are right that does not make me a doctor. LOL But I am glad I got your attention. Then why does answering a few questions online, paying a fee and getting a vest and a card make a service dog? Guess what that does NOT make a service dog. These online companies are nothing but scams because answering a few questions and getting a vest and a card in the mail does not make your dog a service dog. What makes a service dog? 1. that you have a documented disability and 2. years of service dog training, public access training and task training. Every dog is not cut out to be a service dog and this is what some people do not understand. Sadly a service dog is becoming a trend, why because people are finding a loop hole in the law, taking advantage of it or it is easy to buy a vest and say your dog is a service dog. I am not by any means judging anyone that truly needs a service dog, I am talking about those who completely take advantage of the service dog vest in order to fly or take their pet places or do not do the proper training. There is more to a service dog then buying a vest and saying that your dog who was a pet yesterday is now a service dog. With Alaska we went through years of specialized training together. She was trained to mitigate my disability. She was trained to handle every situation, she was trained to lay under the table, where to stand in an elevator, how to behave, and the main thing she was taught to do a job, she was taught how to help me live a normal life, she is more then just a behaved dog on a leash, she is more then a dog with a vest, she is my life line. Sadly you see service dogs on chairs at tables, on seats on the plane, in strollers, barking, growling, peeing in a store, misbehaving, pulling, sniffing, jumping on people, behavior problems. This reflects badly on Service Dogs that were trained to mitigate someones disability and trained for public access. Why has this become acceptable? 1. because it is so easy to say you have a service dog 2. there is nothing regulating a service dog 3. people take advantage of the service dog vest to take their dog with. 4. even people who legitimately need a service dog are not doing the proper training. With all this being said, a lot of the confusions is with emotional support dogs and people think that emotional support dogs are service dogs. Emotional Support dogs (with the whole purpose of them making you feel better or providing emotional support for anxiety) these are NOT service dogs. These dogs do not require special training and they are not task trained to mitigate a disability, they are not service dogs and they are NOT allowed public access. A lot of people that have a dog that is for emotional support think that it is a service dog, it is not and the dog is not covered under the ADA. The only thing that an emotional support dog is allowed is to fly (with additional documentation and a doctors note) and to live in non-pet housing. So be the change that we need, say no to putting a vest on your dog to fly, travel or whatever. And if you need a service dog do the training. Service dogs are amazing and are a life line to the person who needs them. You wouldnt say you are a doctor when you are not so dont say your dog is a service dog when they are not. I would give anything in the world to not need a service dog. Because that would mean I would not have a disability that affects my day to day life.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 13:56:16 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015