Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl
OK, this sounds like a Seinfeld episode. A Yorkie as a service dog? It weighs a pound. What service does it provide? I would love to see the looks she gets.
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A lot of people are claiming these days that their dog, pig, whatever-animal-they-choose, calms their anxieties. They basically claim that it comforts them. Well boooo-hoooo, that's the primary purpose of PETS. I once saw a woman get on one of my flights with a potbellied pig who she claimed kept her from having panic attacks on planes. This bothers me because there's a big difference between situations like these, which could be addressed with medication or counseling, and ones like epilepsy (some dogs are being trained for this now), autism, paraplegia, and vision or hearing loss. I think it's horrible some people are so selfish as to fake an illness or try to place themselves into the same category as people who have the conditions I just listed in the second group. You won't find a reputable service dog organization training dogs to simply "comfort" people; they are in the business of providing highly and specially trained dogs for people who otherwise have truly not-so-great quality of life. Not dogs for lonely people...that's what pets are for.