Why the Emotional Support Dog Ban Is Good for Everyone

[daftandbarmy]

Finally... when I was doing a lot of flying, it was ridiculous to see so many 'afflicted' people with misbehaving dogs etc allowed on board:


Why the Emotional Support Dog Ban Is Good for Everyone

The Department of Transportation has finally reclassified emotional support animals as pets. Here's how that will affect your ability to fly with your dog next year.

Last week the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) published new rules for flying with service animals. It has reclassified emotional support animals as pets, created new regulations around the definition of a true service animal, and established new forms and procedures that disabled people will need to follow.

These updates to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) enable a long-awaited solution to an explosion in the number of selfish people bringing fake service animals onto flights. The ACAA is written to prioritize access for the disabled while flying, but regulations designed to make things easy for the disabled also blurred the lines between emotional support and service animals, creating a loophole that made it possible to bring your pet along with nothing but a promise that it benefited your mental health. No categorical total for the number of fake service dogs being brought onto commercial flights exists, but in recent years individual airlines have reported that they carried hundreds of thousands of animals in their cabins annually, a figure that more than doubled each year before 2020. No longer.

https://www.outsideonline.com/2419469/emotional-support-dog-ban-good

 

[Weinie]

Pffft, no surprise here, dogs were always only a crutch. When they ban my Emotional Support Peacock from flying, Transport Canada will be dead to me. 

 

[dapaterson]

Clearly not a RRMC grad, with that kind of support...

Indeed, a RRMC grad would likely be triggered and kill your peacock.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Clearly not a RRMC grad, with that kind of support...

Indeed, a RRMC grad would likely be triggered and kill your peacock.

Tangentially, I was out at RUU last Saturday biking around and we couldn’t find one peacock.

I guess they heard I was coming

 

[OldSolduer]

I have issues with slapping a vest on a dog and saying its an emotional support service animal. IMO the dog and the owner both need the training - and its not just housebreaking the dog.
I was on a flight one day and one of those tea cup size chihuahuas was peeking out of a man's purse. I was not impressed.

 

[AKa]

Have they also tightened up certification/documentation of service dogs?

I was at a dinner at the mess last year when the couple beside me nonchalantly mentioned that they had bought a service dog vest for their pet.  They said "it isn't illegal".  I was horrified but they were friends of my date so I only judged silently. SMH

Cheers,

AK

 

[Gunnar]

I was on a flight one day and one of those tea cup size chihuahuas was peeking out of a man's purse. I was not impressed.

Shopping in the grocery store some years ago, and see people with small dogs cradled under their arms while they shop.  Sign on the outside of the store clearly says no dogs.  Yet when I bring my Alaskan Malamute into the store, somehow they have a problem.  "Oh, that was a small dog" they say.  Oh, so canine allergies, contamination of food, house-training don't apply to small dogs? 

Add to that the acceptance of untrained animals everywhere.  "Oh, he's just a dog".  As if jumping on people is somehow allowed.  Or peeing on the floor inside.  Hell, carpet cleaning manufacturers are marketing to people who just accept that the dog pees on their carpet.

And don't even get me started on dogs in strollers.  Yes, I've seen it.

:

Of course, given that kind of enforcement, why wouldn't you bring your (well-trained) buddy everywhere?  If the law doesn't apply to some people (or dogs) why should it apply to me?

 

[CBH99]

Wowa wowa wowa...

What rock have I been living under!?


Obviously I've known about service dogs, especially for people with physical or mental disabilities.  The obvious example being a service dog for someone who is blind.

But an 'emotional support dog'!?  WTF??



How is a thing?  If my emotions aren't tip top all day long, I just whip out my 'emotional support dog' for help?  :facepalm:

Apologies.  I'm not kidding, this is actually the first time I've heard of this!!  (Yes I do need to get out more)


**If your dog is quiet, calm, well trained, and decent company... I'd more than welcome a dog on the flight.  Better than the terrifying conditions they live while in the belly of the aircraft. (No yappy little rat dogs that fit in purses!)  Kids, however...

I've never met a Husky (Or really any medium to big dog) that I didn't like.  Kids, however... 

 

[211RadOp]

So I can't bring my "emotional support" dog on the plane.  How about my squirrel?

A woman brought her ‘emotional support’ squirrel on a plane. Frontier wouldn’t let it fly.

By
Lindsey Bever
Oct. 10, 2018 at 11:23 a.m. EDT

There have been stories about passengers flying with cats and dogs and miniature horses.

The list also includes a peacock, a hamster, a duck wearing a diaper — and a defecating pig.

Now comes news of a . . . flying squirrel.

A passenger was removed from a Frontier Airlines flight late Tuesday when she attempted to fly with her “emotional support” squirrel and then refused to get off the plane when she was told no, according to the airline.

A Frontier spokesman said in a statement that the passenger had alerted the airline that she would be bringing an emotional-support animal on the flight but did not mention it would be so . . . bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

“Rodents, including squirrels, are not allowed on Frontier flights,” the statement read. “The passenger was advised of the policy and asked to deplane.”

Well I guess I can't on Frontier Airlines anyway.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transportation/2018/10/10/woman-brought-her-emotional-support-squirrel-plane-frontier-wouldnt-let-it-fly/

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

This is my emotional travel partner.....she flies free right??

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I have issues with slapping a vest on a dog and saying its an emotional support service animal. IMO the dog and the owner both need the training - and its not just housebreaking the dog.
I was on a flight one day and one of those tea cup size chihuahuas was peeking out of a man's purse. I was not impressed.

The problem is that there is no national standard for training or testing. It's coming but very slowly. Any dog wearing a vest should have papers showing what training and standard they have met. My companion has papers and a certification card along with a note from my doctor stating the need. Nougat came to me from National Service Dogs, an organization well known and respected. NSD  requires that the the handler be trained. It is a week of bonding, learning how to care for and handle the dog. You are tested with your companion before you leave and have to perform a recertification annually for the next two years then biannual for the rest of the time. The dog is retired at ten years old and a replacement provided.
National Service Dogs has been a member of Assistance Dogs International (ADI) since 2000, achieving full accreditation in 2008. ADI sets standards for the worldwide assistance dog movement, with the purpose of improving the training, placement, and utilization of Assistance Dogs, as well as staff and volunteer education and management. Members of ADI meet regularly to share ideas, attend seminars, and conduct business regarding such things as educating the public about Assistance Dogs and the legal rights of individuals with disabilities partnered with them, setting standards and establishing guidelines and ethics for the training of these dogs, and improving the utilization and bonding of each team.
As members of ADI, our dogs must pass a strict Public Access Test to become certified. Hope that helps with some of the questions.

 

[OldSolduer]

The problem is that there is no national standard for training or testing. It's coming but very slowly. Any dog wearing a vest should have papers showing what training and standard they have met. My companion has papers and a certification card along with a note from my doctor stating the need. Nougat came to me from National Service Dogs, an organization well known and respected. NSD  requires that the the handler be trained. It is a week of bonding, learning how to care for and handle the dog. You are tested with your companion before you leave and have to perform a recertification annually for the next two years then biannual for the rest of the time. The dog is retired at ten years old and a replacement provided.
National Service Dogs has been a member of Assistance Dogs International (ADI) since 2000, achieving full accreditation in 2008. ADI sets standards for the worldwide assistance dog movement, with the purpose of improving the training, placement, and utilization of Assistance Dogs, as well as staff and volunteer education and management. Members of ADI meet regularly to share ideas, attend seminars, and conduct business regarding such things as educating the public about Assistance Dogs and the legal rights of individuals with disabilities partnered with them, setting standards and establishing guidelines and ethics for the training of these dogs, and improving the utilization and bonding of each team.
As members of ADI, our dogs must pass a strict Public Access Test to become certified. Hope that helps with some of the questions.

Thank you.

Dogs are great - love them. But for an emotional support animal I'm picking the Honey Badger....and I just derailed this thread...

 

[daftandbarmy]

The problem is that there is no national standard for training or testing. It's coming but very slowly. Any dog wearing a vest should have papers showing what training and standard they have met. My companion has papers and a certification card along with a note from my doctor stating the need. Nougat came to me from National Service Dogs, an organization well known and respected. NSD  requires that the the handler be trained. It is a week of bonding, learning how to care for and handle the dog. You are tested with your companion before you leave and have to perform a recertification annually for the next two years then biannual for the rest of the time. The dog is retired at ten years old and a replacement provided.
National Service Dogs has been a member of Assistance Dogs International (ADI) since 2000, achieving full accreditation in 2008. ADI sets standards for the worldwide assistance dog movement, with the purpose of improving the training, placement, and utilization of Assistance Dogs, as well as staff and volunteer education and management. Members of ADI meet regularly to share ideas, attend seminars, and conduct business regarding such things as educating the public about Assistance Dogs and the legal rights of individuals with disabilities partnered with them, setting standards and establishing guidelines and ethics for the training of these dogs, and improving the utilization and bonding of each team.
As members of ADI, our dogs must pass a strict Public Access Test to become certified. Hope that helps with some of the questions.

Excellent.

Sadly, the idiots who try to 'pull one over' on the airlines are degrading the importance of the genuine service animal programs.

I can see the need for a 'Dog Walt' name and shame thread coming out of all this