veggiebois

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Illustration Art By Aykut Aydoğdu

For more: artwoonz.com

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found on @traaaaaaannnnns on Twitter

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Pisses me off - I have a service puppy in training and people feel the right to make their own rules and reach for him when he is in his gear or make kissy noises at him.

Fake Service Dogs?

You’re sitting at a cafe with your friend when suddenly a woman walks in with a toy poodle in her purse. The manager at the counter informs her “I’m sorry, but we do not allow dogs”. She replies with a heavy sigh and a “She’s a service dog. She can come with me”. Not knowing much about service dog law, and worrying about getting sued for asking further questions, he sits this woman down at a booth. There, she promptly unzips her purse and places the dog on the booth seat next to her. When the woman’s food comes out, the little dog begs and she feeds her bits off her plate. This dog is not public access trained, and proceeds to bark at those who walk by. This dog is a nuisance and causes many in the restaurant to complain. The manager cannot do anything but inform the unhappy customers that this is a service dog, so he can’t ask her to leave. In the end, it’s the customers who end up leaving.

Now I walk in with my highly trained service dog pressed against my leg in a perfect heel position, and I’m quickly bombarded by the manager telling me “No dogs! No dogs! We ALL know what happened last time”. Confused, I tell him “This is my medical alert and medical response service dog. Her right to accompany me is protected under federal law.” With a sigh, he seats me at a table far away from others where my dog promptly tucks under my feet, out of sight. When my food arrives my dog is still tucked tightly under the table because she knows she’s not supposed to eat when she’s on duty. She stays there ignoring those who walk past for the remainder of my meal. When we leave, a woman by the door exclaims “Woah, I didn’t know there was a dog here!”

See the difference?

Scenario number two occurs at a local grocery store when a man decides to bring his certified emotional support animal into the store with him. Upon entering he flashes a fancy ID card and certification papers. This dog is not as unruly as the first, but he still forges ahead of his handler, sniffs the food on display, and may seek attention from those who walk past. You find this dog adorable, and when he and his owner walk past you ask to pet him. The owner says yes and explains how all he had to do was go online, register his dog, and a few weeks later they sent him a vest, ID card, and certification papers.

Now I pull into the same grocery store. I’m in a rush to get an ingredient for a dish I’m making so I hurry into the store with my service dog next to me. I’m quickly stopped by a manager who demands to see my service dog’s certification card. Remember, this is NOT required by law, and most real service dog teams don’t have them. After 15 minutes of trying to educate, pulling up the ADA website on my phone, back and forth bickering, and drawing more of a crowd than I want to describe… I’m finally allowed in. I grab my ingredient, stand in line (where my service dog obediently moves between my legs to make space for those around me), and I get bombarded by people asking to pet my dog. I explain that she’s working, she has a very important job to do, and she’s not allowed to be pet while on duty. People walk away grumbling and complaining about how rude I was when other handlers like the man they met earlier allow their dog to be pet.

Moral of the story? Fake service dogs create real problems. The ones who are impacted the most are the true service dog handlers who rely on their dogs every day to help mitigate their disability. How would you feel if everywhere you went, you couldn’t make it 10 feet in the door because people were asking you questions? Imagine how much time that would take out of your already hectic day. Businesses lose customers because word gets out that there are unruly dogs in their store, customers become misinformed and start thinking some of these behaviors are okay, some people even start to believe the lies that anyone can just register their dog online and make him a service dog. The result? MORE fake service dogs. MORE real problems.

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My favorite childhood shows → PBS Kids 

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a star

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Transforming into their best selves…four Oreos away from Heaven.

Bonus:

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rainboye

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Honestly “thanks I hate it” is one of the funniest phrases in the English language

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jenny holzer, SURVIVAL (1983-85)

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sometimes just seeing/feeling the sun is enough to make you want to keep going for another day. and that’s okay. that’s beautiful

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Context to the story:

The girl cut her hair once so that she could have bangs. The mother disapproved and decided to cut off 15" of her hair as punishment. The girl later again decided to change her hair style and the above was the result; she shaved her daughters head.

Having a few personal experiences with this kind of invasive behaviour it really hurts to see someone go through these kinds of things, where the parent tries to live vicariously through their childs life, to attempt to shape them and make their decisions for them depending on what THEY would do and give their child NO independence or self expression.

Thankfully, this mother thought her actions were 100% justifiable and posted it to Facebook as a bit of a “haha, teach my kid a lesson” and has been hit with brutal recrimination from her community and has had visits from Child Protective Services.

For so many young (and older) girls their hair is their self expression, and in several months I hope this girl will have hers back.

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hot take maybe but spinach is superior to lettuce in basically every conceivable way

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