#ESA in training

[smthnglttrnrnbw]

Mike Celium, a.k.a. Mikey! The cutest, silliest, shyest lil boy!

[mishidefresa]

Owning my mistakes ❎

Create a narrative to excuse my stupidity ✅

[booksandbrainsandsoftthings]

A fresh new infomercial brought to you by a raging Chad at my State Fair this afternoon!

1) In the US, service animals may legally be worked off leash if the leash interferes with the dog's tasks, or the handlers disability. The dog must remain under complete handler control

2) The only people legally allowed to question the legitimacy of service dogs are employees/staff/owners of businesses/venues/events. They may ask and expect answers to the 2 ADA questions. Random other patrons are not owed answers by handlers.

3) There is no specific gear required to determine the legitimacy of a SD team. Amazon vests, leash wraps, fully custom gear, vest provided by organizations, and unlabeled service dogs can all be legitimate teams under US law.

4) Accusing a service dog team you've never seen before of being fake is incredibly insulting and rude. Do not do this. People who do this are assholes.

5) If you are not familiar with service dog laws, do more research before you speak to teams about legalities and their legitimacy in public. Ada.gov is free and has an FAQ section that answers a LOT of the basic SD inquiries.

[horsesource]

The American service dog and ESA conversations say a lot about this country’s animal/human relations. The dog is medical equipment, regardless of how well-trained she is? Full access. The dog is not medical equipment, regardless of how well-trained she is? Get outta here! Seems to reflect a training crisis too, you see so many people with service dogs decrying Fake Service Dogs

[spoonful116]

There are 3 main types of assistive animals: therapy animals, service dogs, and emotional support animals. I'm taking a look at each type and some of the similarities and differences

[daughterofsarenrae]

Absolutely kills me how i have some clients who refuse to put their SDIT vests on their dog because they dont feel like their dog is well trained enough yet, despite being several obedience classes in and doing very well, and then i also have some clients who get an 8 month old 70lb doodle from the shelter with severe anxiety who releases said anxiety by jumping biting and barking at every dog and person they see and IMMEDIATELY put him in an emotional support animal vest

[jameslongforjimshortforgabriel]

este dia de muertos que no se les olvide poner las fotos de todas las series queers que fallecieron (fueron canceladas) este año

[ratatatastic]

the beautiful time honoured tradition of taking the boys to hook huh

[psycherprince]

ways my emotional support cat has emotionally supported me thus far:

-got the zoomies while I was crying and distracted me by being fucking goofy

-found a bottle of Lexapro that had rolled under my bed (after he knocked it off my nightstand, but he did find it)

-crawled up on my shoulders like a parrot, preventing me from getting any work done (benefit unclear), pic related

-whined like a little baby when I wouldn't let him bite my face (???)

-REFUSES to let me piss without supervision (the bathroom door doesn't close all the way sometimes and he just bonks into it until it opens)

-forces me to get out of bed and bothers me relentlessly when I don't (this one actually is really helpful)

-does this:

[puphoods]

claire is very like reserved + quiet in personality but he definitely has preferences and likes about things and especially as u spend more time with him in the story it starts to show through more (or i would want it to.. #notawriter) hes just silly. he likes goth fashion but not particularly all the makeup and accessories just the clothing and his favourite colour is red and he loves bats and wolves and snakes and he doesnt even realise hes basically a cartoon character of a vampire and also he wouldnt even care if u told him "all this stuff u like is really heavily associated with vampires dont u think thats kind of funny" he would be like ok. what does that have to do with me

[orange-cat-ace]

Me: I believe I would benefit from a psychiatric service dog

Friends and family: I believe you would benefit from a psychiatric service dog

Doctor: I believe you would benefit from a psychiatric service dog (but we don’t do it here so talk to your psychologist/therapist)

Therapist: we can discuss an emotional support animal in our next session

Me:

[booksandbrainsandsoftthings]

Y'all I am so tired. So unbelievably tired of people abusing the civil rights of disabled people. Tired of having to assume that every single dog we unvested in public (and half the ones with cheaper vest options) are at best untrained and at worst fully aggressive. I'm exhausted from having businesses tell me they "can't do anything" about fake service dogs, dirty pets, aggressive dogs, and dogs in shopping carts.

It is so so so DRAINING to be trying to do the best I can with my SDiT and end up triggering my issues because I'm forced to be hypervigilant literally Every Single Time we go into non pet friendly spaces.

And I know. I. KNOW. That fully trained service dogs are extremely good at ignoring distractions (including other dogs). Hell my girl is 18mo and she's doing great in that regard.

But pets being where pets don't belong is dangerous. It's abusive to dogs who aren't prepared to be in stressful environments. It's a potentially lethal distraction for disabled people who rely on service dogs. An attack can be career ending for SDiT.

So please. Please please please. If you take your pet into SD Only places: STOP

If you know someone who does this: educate them and irritate and pester them until they STOP

Leave. Your. Pets. At. Home

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

oh my god everything makes sense now

[caterpillarinacave]

Let’s say it again slowly: you can’t pick and choose what animals are allowed into a food establishment

[purlturtle]

This is so fucking cool. (I wonder if they'll open it to some degree during visitor's day!)