Misbehaving Dogs
That is **not** a service animal
Thank you for reading Jasini’s Thoughts and Ideas
Friday I needed to get out of the house for a couple of hours so I went to a nearby McDonalds to eat and read.
While I was ordering at the kiosk, a man with a large, poorly behaved, dog came in, and ordered. I noted that the dog did not have any sort of vest, and the man was having difficulty controlling him. Rolling on his back with his tongue hanging out (the dog, not the man), was his best-behaved moment.
After the kid took his order, a manager came out and told the man that his dog had to leave. The man instantly went ballistic, claiming that the dog was his service animal, and allowed to go everywhere the man could go. With the man yelling, the dog got agitated, and started lunging at people, only barely being kept in control by the man holding his leash.
The manager informed him that this was not a trained service animal (as the dog lunged at her, growling).
The man insisted that yes it was, and he was going to call the police, and none of the other McDonalds in the area had any problem with his animal, and how dare they take his money and then tell him that he needed to get out, etc. (Look, the kid at the register was young, and probably didn’t know if he had the authority to do anything.)
The manager told him that if he didn’t take the dog out, he would have to leave, and take his food to go. The man repeated that he was going to call the police, and have the manager arrested, and how dare she try to separate him from his emotional service dog.
However, she stood firm, so the man insisted on getting his money back. After she processed his return, the man was leaving (and taking his time about it), when another manager came out and handed him a bag.
So, he got a free meal.
I wonder how often that scam works.
I did tell the manager that if the police showed up (I doubted that the man actually called the police, or that they cared if he did) I’d be sure to tell them that was absolutely not a trained service animal. That was the kind of animal I’ve read people complaining about, who sometimes attack the real service animals, and disrupt their training, sometimes making it so the dogs are afraid to go out in public.
The man apparently ate outside, then left sometime later. The police never showed up.
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Nope that is not a service animal. And an emotional support dog does NOT have the same protections as a Service animal. They only have the right for housing. Those are the kinds of animals that give service dogs (and their owners who need the accommodations) a bad name.
I'm in the process of training my service dog under a licensed trainer. They MUST have a task that they do for the owner. It doesn't have to be a visible thing (it might be sensing when they are about to have an epileptic seizure - so not visible until it happens, and get the owner down on the floor). An emotional support animal CANNOT go any place it's owner goes, because it doesn't have a "task", it's just comforting. (And an ill trained dog is not comforting!)
Yeah, they were scamming.