I want to apologize to anyone who felt I was too strong with my thougts and language in the beginning of this thread. I did not mean to jump on anyone at all, I was really frustrated about this topic for reasons seperate from this board and I might have reacted to strongly.

If anyone felt jumped on, please, accept my apology. I did not mean to be rude or disrespectful to anyone and honestly enjoyed this thread. I felt like people really talked about things and that it was productive.

Again, I am very sorry if I've offended anyone. Especially the first poster to this thread...I know you weren't advocating abusing the system, I know you were just trying to share information. I'm sorry if I was too rough!

Thank you,

Natalie :animal36

Natalie :) :) :)

I think it is beautiful thing to share your thoughts and experences. I admire you for your courage and sharing your voice. It is very important. I appreciate your posts.. So what I said wasn't meant to you! I really feel empowered by hearing your voice :) Thanks again.

I hope you can get your pup soon! :) You live close by... we should meet up some time :)

[QUOTE=Natsky]No more rescues would be nice...sadly, I think you guys are right, we're a long way off.

I think before our culture gets to a point where we can value animal life, we're going to have to learn to value ourselves and each other. People can't even treat other humans with respect, how can we imagine people would treat animals with respect. We treat animals like they are things...and we all know how people treat "things".

When I think about how some people treat animals...it hust rips me apart. Can you imagine, just being neglected and abused and disposed of?? It's a shame and it's criminal and I don't think I'm being dramatic when I say that stronger charges should be brought against people who mistreat animals.




Hugs to you .... Very enlightening commentary you made regarding emotional service dogs. The world would be far more accepting if other less legitimately needful people would not take advantage of the "loopholes". I wish all the best to you in finding Peace in your life.


Francie

That is not True. You can take a therapy dog anywhere a service dog can go. The dog has to be in it's Vest and WELL behaved. Just as a Service dog has to be well behaved and not a threat to anybody.Therapy dogs Do PROVIDE a SERVICE ! Some people need them just to be able to cope in the out side world. There is a wide variety of therapy these dogs do. I have been training mine for years. They CAN go in to a restruarnt, grocery store Dr's. Office, on a plane, Library. Post office ETC ETC ETC.. THEY DO PROVIDE A SERVICE. IT"S CALLED MENTAL/PSCHYACTRIC HEALTH ! A therapy dog is a working dog. IT may not pick up your pencil or your socks. BUT IT DOES work.

That is not True. You can take a therapy dog anywhere a service dog can go. The dog has to be in it's Vest and WELL behaved. Just as a Service dog has to be well behaved and not a threat to anybody.Therapy dogs Do PROVIDE a SERVICE ! Some people need them just to be able to cope in the out side world. There is a wide variety of therapy these dogs do. I have been training mine for years. They CAN go in to a restruarnt, grocery store Dr's. Office, on a plane, Library. Post office ETC ETC ETC.. THEY DO PROVIDE A SERVICE. IT"S CALLED MENTAL/PSCHYACTRIC HEALTH ! A therapy dog is a working dog. IT may not pick up your pencil or your socks. BUT IT DOES work.

I have a biewer yorkie that is a certified hearing service dog and he is working on his hours to be a certified therapy dog. I also have a Havanese that is both a certified hearing service dog and a certified therapy dog.

To be a service dog, hearing assisted, medication, (seizure, diabetic, mobility,etc.) took approximately 200 hours of training with a licensed service dog trainer. Many small dogs can be trained to make beds, fetch keys, determine oncoming seizures. They don't work as mobility dogs.

Therapy dogs require 10-20 hours of actual supervised "work" at the senior center or reading program or children's hospital, after the dog has passed a temperment type of test by licensed therapy dog trainer. The dog can earn his hours but cannot wear the vest with "therapy" until the dog is 1 year old.

Therapy dogs do not go into restaurants or grocery stores. Service Dogs can go anywhere when they are "working".

I know of people who have dogs for emotional support and I think those therapists and doctors that recognize how healing our animals can be for many of their patients, should be commended.

This is true -- Service dogs are allowed to be with the people they are caring for and helping and go anywhere with them.

If your dog is a therapy dog, there is no reason for you to have it with you in restaurants and other public places. It is not working in these places (service dogs are and help the people get to and from these places) ..... a therapy dog is just following like any other pet would do - including the ones that aren't allowed would so.

I know though that if you took a Therapy Dog into a restuarant or other public place, and it had it's vest on and you had a card saying it is a certified therapy dog - that most people would let you stay --- and the main reason for this is that they don't know the difference between a therapy dog and a service dog.

***** If you medically need (with a doctor's order) to have your dog with you for emotionally support --- it should be considered a "service dog" and you should have the right to have it with you wherever you go. And, of course, this doesn't mean that you have to go into detail with anyone about why you need this dog with you.

**** I called my sister about her therapy Bichon. She said that they were told during certification that certification did not mean they could take these dogs into public places where dogs are not allowed. They can take them only where they are invited --- nursing homes, schools, hospitals, etc. She can't understand how any of you could have really gotten therapy pet certification and could have been led to believe that you can go anywhere with your pet because of it. She said it was loud and clear in her classes that you should not do this. Being a therapy dog is a privilege and an honor - not a license to go wherever you want. And she agreed with me that many people don't know the difference between service pets and therapy pets and would let either stay. But, this, she said, is the part that people are taking advantage of.

Carol Jean

Very well said,and i agree people dont know the difference between service and therapy dogs

Ya know, to me anyone taking advantage of disabled people in any way , form or fashion has a problem and maybe they are the ones that need these therapy dogs. Rather than playing like they have to have one, its like parking in a handicap place because you dont want to walk. I'm sure most handicapped people wish they were able to walk from the other side of the parking lot to the store rather than be disabled, I know I rather be able to walk on my on , be it a heart, lung, leg, foot or any part of my body. well, they have hefty fines for parking in handicap parking places so maybe if they had a hefty fine for people caught claiming their puppy is a service or therapy dog that isnt, it would stop some of this going on just to get a DOG of all things into a store or some place for no reason other than to show it off. Its cheating, people. Get a grip. It hurts the people who really have to have this type of dog. If enough people do this then some of them that need these dogs might get ran out of stores they really NEED to be in. I could never stoop to the level of pretending to be handicapped just so a Dog could go some place. not that handicapped people are low but to pretend to be handicapped is about as low as you can get. Too many people today are self centered and think of nobody but themselves and what THEY want even if it means breaking rules. Really teaching the younger people good stuff like , hey.... its ok.. do what ya want. rules are just made to be broken. If you really think thats a good thing, then you need a therapy dog.

Kizzy's Mom --- I just couldn't agree with you more. Saying your dog is a Service Dog or a Therapy Dog - or having your dog become a Therapy Dog so that you can take it everyplace with you is about as low as a person can get.

Service Dogs and Therapy Dogs are such wonderful animals - doing so much for people - to abuse their status for our own self-centered, selfish needs is beyond comprehenson to me.

Yes - I'd love to take my dog a lot of places. But I don't even begin to consider it - if dogs aren't allows. I consider this a rule that responsible dog owners and responsible people should just follow - without trying to find loop holes or resorting to dishonest means to get around.

If people resort to doing this - what else do they do? I am a firm believer in that people are basically honest and responsible or they're not.

When I first started reading about people "sneaking" their dogs into places, I really thought that only the kids would be doing this, but I soon learned that age has nothing to do with acting grownup and being responsible. I realized that people of all ages are behaving this way -- with no regard for rules and often no regard for other people's feelings.

And skirting the issue with --- "I think it's stupid, It's really okay, I don't agree with it, I don't care what people think, I'm going to do it anyway," and coming across with reasoning and other excuses that are totally wrong(like "Therapy dogs are allowed to go anyplace.....") doesn't change anything. "Rationalization is a poor tool - when it comes to reason."

If people really want to know about Therapy Dogs and their privileges - there are hundreds of sites on the Internet --- but be sure to consider the sources when you read them....and not find just one or two that support your way of thinking.

These types of issues are never resolved because ......................

Carol Jean

I think that service/therapy dogs, whatever you want to call them, are fabulous. I know that if I were under emotional strain, Trixie would do an amazing job of comforting me and helping me through just about anything. Are there people who 'abuse' the idea by claiming their dogs are service animals, just so they can take them everywhere? Yes, I'm sure there are many.
Unfortunately, I fail to see how those who do can be weeded out via this site.:( I have seen this subject turn into a debate on numberous occassion with the same people over and over, as I'm sure most of us recall. I really hope this can be an imformative disscussion and not questioning motives.:rolleyes: Lol...wishful thinking, I know...

Well idk if this has been mentioned
but some close friends of mine have a cat
and the cat is trained to tell them when to take their medication
(one has lupus, the other aids, it's traumatic)
the cat has been in the newpaper and stuff

but they need to bring the cat with them places
because if they forget to take medication it's dangerous
So there's NOTHING wrong with that.
and there's nothing wrong with wanting your dog to sit on your lap during a plane ride!
I mean seriously, how could people be upset about that
(I never liked locking ANY of my dogs up in cages for plane rides anyways, if we were bringing the animals, we'd drive.)

a question
(because like previous posters I suffer from my own severe disabilities, which I wasn't going to share but whatever)
Our dog is a prescribed Emotional Support Dog, that's why we got her in the first place.
I had already had many problems from post traumatic stress, and a bunch of other problems I'd rather not share
but after I had multiple knee surgeries I fell into a trap, after gaining weight and such, and I started having panic attacks and some really disturbing things I don't want to bring up
I was so happy when the drama and downward spiral of my life stopped when we got Tila, I kept thinking "I'm too young for this" but there's was nothing I could do to stop it.
Would we be able to take her to a hotel? because I was actually going to cancel my vacation to Vegas because I couldn't take her. Because she was prescribed to me if I get a note from my doctors would we be able to take her?

Gosh I hope so, because I wanted this vacation, but I NEED my dog

Miss Sara --- There are a lot of facilities for you to stay at in Vegas (as well as most other places) that allow pets....but don't expect to be able to take them all over town with you.

There are web sites with "pet friendly hotels and motels" all over the country. Check them out.

I'm not sure even a doctor's note will let you run around casino's, attend shows, and do anything you want in Vegas -- and take your dog with you. But, I do know as I said that there are many places that will allow your pet to stay with you (Hotels/motels etc.).

Unfortunately - I think that your having to have your pet with you all the time - is just going to limited some of the things you can do. (You already mentioned possibly staying at home because you might not be able to take your dog with you.) But even with this "have-to-have" in your life - you can still do a lot of things and go a lot of places --and more all the time.

Good luck!


Carol Jean

I compeltley agree. Pretending your handicap so you can bring your dog everywhere is pathetic, and definitly nothing to be proud of. I would be ashamed of myself if I did that.

For those people who can't go anywhere w/o there dogs, they need to cut that imaginary imbilical cord. The dog will be fine, actually those people might even annoy their dogs and maybe their dogs would be happy if they were left alone for a bit!