I agree with you totally. The space left for a dog is very small next to the video equipment under the seat in front of you, it seems cruel but what choice do dog owners have? If a fuss was made maybe they would just say no pet dogs in the cabin at all, then what?
I have had all kinds of different treatment from Airline Employees and my dog is a service dog, a medical alert service dog but because he is a cute little Yorkie people look at me funny, as if they want to be sure and let me see that they know I am doing something wrong. It is exasperating.
As far as germs from dogs go, I do not know of anyone who has caught even a cold from a dog, we get far more germs from other people. And yet dogs are not allowed in grocery stores, why, well its for health and safety reasons I have been told. Now I can understand why dogs should not be allowed to urinate and or defecate in a store, but my dog is carried in my arms, has had more shots and heath care than the average American human, he does not cough or sneeze and spread germs, he does not use his 'paws' to wipe his privates and then touch things on shelves. So it seems that the idea that dogs are dirty comes from somewhere that does no comparison between the germs we get from people and the germs we get from dogs. I would like to see those figures.
We have groomed this species to live and work and depend on us, and then we introduce laws so that they can't really be with us except confined in our homes
