Kim,
Thanks for the articles. I think it's great that you continue to post information on service dogs. Properly trained service dogs have the potential to help so many people that aren't aware of this possibility. We have dozens of new people on YT each month. Not to mention new research that is continually being done. If you had only posted once on service dogs, I may have missed the information since I joined YT after you. It's not something that I, or many other people, have thought about it the past, and wouldn't think to search YT for the info. I hope in the future that you continue to post information on service dogs.
As Diva Pup mentioned "Most of the restaraunts and buildings that do not allow dogs in our state do not say "service dogs only" they say "guide dogs only"." I think that's exactly Kim's point. People have dibilitating issues other than being blind. I just read a "Dear Abby" type of letter in the paper; a woman wrote saying that her father has severe anxiety attacks and can not go to her wedding. Obviously this man is not able to live life to the fullest if he has to miss his own daughter's wedding; his quality of life is just as important as someone who is blind, in a wheelchair, etc. What if having his Golden retriever sitting in the church would help? You can't always pin-point the ills a person has. There are medications that help some of these diseases/illnesses, but not everyone is willing to live their lives on a prescription drug (because of side-effects, etc) Not to mention that prescriptions don't always help everyone. As Lexi's_Mommy said, Kim isn't asking anyone to fake a disability to be able to take your dog to the mall.
(and from the biased opinion of a dog-lover):Actually, IMO, any individual that is "dis-able" to live their lives in a way that is equally as satisfying as any other individual should be able take their dog into a store for 5 minutes if that's what it takes. I would hate to think of some poor person staying home all day every day because they suffer from anxiety attacks and establishments won't allow the one item that makes that person feel secure- their dog. I think this is no different than a person in a wheelchair sitting home all day, every day because everywhere they want to go doesn't have access ramps. The person with the emotional disability is not able to control their situation any better than someone with a visible physical disability. |