#But I'm having issues pulling up motivation to do it especially on mobile or with my laptop orz

[watatsumiis]

My computer is fucked frfr :((

[theramseyloft]

I'm reading responses to your old(ish) post about you referring to Ankhou as a Service pigeon, and not simply an ESA. A lot of people got their feathers all ruffled over this, some claiming that ALL birds are unhygienic, unable to be trained, loud, skittish, and overall horrible candidates for service animals. As a pigeon expert, do you believe these are significant concerns? And would bird fancier's lung pose serious concern if pigeons did act as service animals in public?

I had to change the language used to refer to him because Service Animal is a legal distinction when it comes to the public access allowed.

In Ga, only dogs can be legally considered service animals, and even then, only for the blind, deaf, and mobility impaired. 

Medical Alert dogs? Not allowed public access in GA as a Service Animal. Those people hafta stay home or have human company. 

MOST hotels in this state will deny access to people who need service dogs and nobody gives enough of a shit to enforce what access laws we actually have.

Ankhou is more correctly referred to as my Assistance Animal, by the fair housing act definition, so that is what I call him, instead of my Service Bird. (In FL, pretty much any species can legally be called a service animal, but that is not where I live.)

He is my stress level alert bird, and keeps me from going into overwhelmed shut down. But he has recently also become my medical alarm. (I take my assorted meds on a schedule, and he gets my attention and leads me to them when I have lost track of time.)

Ankhou trained himself to both tasks because my shut down state freaks him out and he likes keeping me and Mike on schedule. 

This is one of those cases where Bird automatically means Parrot, unless disease is involved, in which case THEN it means pigeon!

That accusation that all birds are loud, for example. Have you ever heard a pigeon? That low, gurgling coo isn’t gonna hurt any ones ears or startle them out of their skin.

While it’s true that not every pigeon has the temperament to be calm and unafraid in public, neither does every dog. 

Puppies bred specifically for Service still have to go through several evaluations and tons of training before they can be considered Service Dogs, and not every puppy will pass.

While it is true that most birds are reactionary, startle very hard, and stress very easily, the birds most people consider to be pets are still wild animals. 

Pigeons are NOT.

Pigeons are just as domesticated as dogs and are inherently comfortable around people. A pigeon with the right temperament could easily learn to be just as nonreactive as a well trained service dog.

There are things a dog can do that a pigeon could not. 

They are not large enough to lift or carry or aid with mobility. 

While their vision is excellent, they are just not big enough to help some one who is visually impaired maneuver.

Where pigeons would really shine is in the areas of mental health. They are fantastic anxiety birds that are VERY good at reading their handlers and knowing when to just comfort and when to demand their handler find some place quiet and settle.

They are VERY naturally inclined to recognize shut down and panic states and a pidge bonded to its handler will be motivated to help settle them back out of it.

There are certain legitimate concerns preventing pigeons from becoming Service Animals with full public access, but they are more for the safety of the bird than people. 

Dogs have vaccines for pretty much every dangerous illness they could come across from other dogs. 

Pigeons HAD vaccines for PMV, Avian Pox, and Salmonella, but that was it and those aren’t the only dangerous things they could pick up. 

Now that it is illegal to medicate ones own birds, the places in the US that made and regulated those vaccines have been shut down and they have been made illegal to import.

Pigeons have been left entirely unprotected.

The diseases they can give humans, like Salmonella, can be tested for pretty easily, treated quickly, and entirely prevented for an indoor pet.

People complaining about pigeons spreading pigeon lung don’t actually know what bird fancier’s lung is or is caused by.

The quicker onset of bird fanciers lung is caused by inhaling the spores of a fungus that grows well in pigeon feces. Buuut, it takes three days to build up enough poo to provide the right culture environment, and two more days for the fungus to produce fruiting bodies. That means that the enclosure has to go uncleaned for a total of 5 days in order to be exposed.

It’s revoltingly common for pigeon lofts to be cleaned all of EIGHT TIMES A FUCKING YEAR!!! 

But who the hell is gonna let a house pet’s cage get THAT level of nasty? 

If you only have one bird, it takes 3-5 minutes to clean, wipe, and vacuum around the enclosure, and most people do that daily.

The other onset of Bird Fancier’s lung is a cumulative effect of dust building up a coating on the inside of the lungs.

Do you know how many YEARS that takes? Of CONSTANTLY breathing in CLOUDS of feather dander?

If you have an instant reaction to a bird, it is not bird fanciers lung. That’s asthma or an allergy to the dander. Both of which are legitimate public safety concerns, especially in confined spaces and on hospital or other medical care grounds.

You can lessen the dander for a day’s outing by letting the bird take a bath first, but especially in the case of pigeons, preening the chest feathers will make more.

What people are referring to as hygene, though, is almost entirely an issue of poop, and believe it or not, pigeons *can* be safely potty trained.

Ankhou alerts me when he has to poo by getting down off my shoulder, onto my hand and leaning like he wants to jump down.That is my cue to take him outside, find the bathroom, or open a tissue for him to use, depending on what’s closest.

Outside is pretty self explanatory.

If the bathroom is closest, I hold him over a running sink or open trash can.

In the middle of a large store, I pull a tissue out of my purse and open it for him. He goes on it, and then I fold it up, tuck it into the used tissue ziplock bag in my purse, apply a drop of hand sanitizer, and we’re done. Sanitary, discreet, and quiet.

Any pigeon could be trained to do that, no diaper needed.

People *REALLY* had to fight tooth and nail to get service dogs accepted by the general public, and in places like Ga, they are STILL having to fight tooth and nail for the laws on the fucking books to actually be enforced.

People who need their dogs to get around or even live are STILL barred from hotels, restaurants, and as many public places as think they can get away with it.

So after all that work and all the bullshit they STILL deal with, it’s entirely understandable that other, less thoroughly tested species, potentially getting public access and fucking it up the way some people’s ESAs or pets they’ve lied about have for them would worry them enough to push back.

They don’t want to make other people’s lives harder or gate keep service animals.

But people’s poorly trained ESAs and pets have made hotel, store, and restaurant owners and managers less friendly and in some cases outright hostile towards service animals in general, which is fucking dangerous to the people that physically need them!

While I firmly believe that pets should be able to go where ever their people go, it should be just as important to be sure those pets are safe, comfortable, and well behaved in public.

None of us live in a bubble. Things we do effect other people, and the more aware and respectful we are of that, the easier we make life for all parties involved.