The Most Dog Friendly Community Online
Join and Discover the Best Things to do with your Dog

Register

Fake assistance dogs?

Violet Turner said:
Today I got denied in ASDA, the security guard said Olive wasn't allowed in and the harness and lead wasn't real, I get very annoyed with people who are not educated about SD's and ESA's because it does make me more anxious being asked to leave when I step in the door. But I understand so I put olive outside lead, I made a knot that no one could get her off so she was safe. Does anyone on the Dog Forum have a SD or ESA or Guide Dog?
Click to expand...
I have been having a Google, and it would appear that emotional support dogs are not recognised in the UK the same way as Assistance dogs are, so in this case I would say Asda were quite within their rights to refuse Olive. From what I understand, it is only assistance dogs for someone with a physical disability that will then get a pass for shops etc.
I suffer with mental health problems myself and Misty is my safety blanket as such, but I am still not allowed to take her to work with me. Hopefully one day things will move on but until then @Mad Murphy is right, there are plenty of products available on the internet, but they actually don’t mean anything.
 
We actually went into the local Sports Centre foyer on Wednesday because that was where we we told to wait for the health walk.
The manager came and politely told us we needed to leave.
We told him there wasn't a notice saying no dogs and it was very hot outside. He then said we could stay.
When we returned from the walk there were tables and chairs outside complete with parasol for shade.
Manager came to see us and brought them water and a couple of biscuits.
 
Sezzy said:
I have been having a Google, and it would appear that emotional support dogs are not recognised in the UK the same way as Assistance dogs are, so in this case I would say Asda were quite within their rights to refuse Olive. From what I understand, it is only assistance dogs for someone with a physical disability that will then get a pass for shops etc.
I suffer with mental health problems myself and Misty is my safety blanket as such, but I am still not allowed to take her to work with me. Hopefully one day things will move on but until then @Mad Murphy is right, there are plenty of products available on the internet, but they actually don’t
Click to expand...
I can't honestly say Dudley is a support dog but he has made such a difference to my life.
After retirement I just didn't go out. Since Dudley I have met so many people, made loads of really good friends and lost weight.
Unfortunately I had to have open heart surgery in January. My lovely dog walking friends looked after Dudley and supported my husband.
When I came out I had daily visits from them.
I had a faster than usual recovery apparently. I believe this is due to him.Although not allowed to hold the lead I walked with him twice a day.
My dog has done so much for me in so many ways.
 
I think what I was trying to say to Sezzy was dogs help us physically and emotionally to an extent that non dog lovers do not quite understand.
I have deliberately stated dog lovers because not all dog owners actually love their dogs
 
JudyN said:
Out of curiosity, if no one could undo the knot to steal her, how did you undo it when you'd finished shopping?

How do you get a dog accepted as a service dog? Is there a scheme whereby you can have it documented to show to any staff who challenge you?

I often have the opposite problem - I'll peer round the doorway of a shop full of nice shiny pretty things, or go in leaving OH outside with Jasper and the shop assistant will tell me that Jasper can come in. I look at the height of the displays and all the breakable items and tell them that no, that would be a really bad idea. One friendly wag of that tail and it would be a very expensive shopping trip:D
Click to expand...
It was knotted in a overhand knot, then a reef knot and then a double sheel bend i know how to get it off.
 
Using Violet’s link, this is what I had been reading before. The UK is still behind the times on this.
F90FD009-A791-4CF0-940C-38C6A98AFE34.jpeg
 
Nanny71 said:
I think what I was trying to say to Sezzy was dogs help us physically and emotionally to an extent that non dog lovers do not quite understand.
I have deliberately stated dog lovers because not all dog owners actually love their dogs
Click to expand...
Absolutely @Nanny71, I can’t believe how much Misty has helped me get back on the right track. Dogs are little miracle workers :)
 
Nanny71 said:
dogs help us physically and emotionally to an extent that non dog lovers do not quite understand.
Click to expand...
Just under two years ago, If I had read that, I would've said what a load of nonsense. Having had my first dog since then, I wholeheartedly agree! :) I read a study recently, which typically I can't find, showing that dogs in the workplace increased the sense of well-being among staff (obviously there are exceptions). I know this was the case when I took Jimbo in to work!
 
Agreed that dogs really do make a difference to many of our lives.
After Benny died I seriously considered if I should get another dog. OH has heart /lung problems and had received his diagnoses of FTD in 2014. Then our well meaning case manager sent him to day activity club with 'other people like him' I found him lumped in with a lot of alzhiemer sufferers 70+ playing dominos and painting by numbers. Poor man was so frustrated by the lack of stimulation that it made home life even worse so we thought about an assistance dog. Many organisations have strict criteria first is that they chose your dog then they check, is your home suitable ? Can you be trusted with a dog? Do you have a condtion recognised by them as needing a dog?? etc etc , or if you go it alone, chose your own dog and apply for training the costs for a recognised course were in the thousands.
So I decided to get Murphy a pup without any past trauma who would grow up accepting OH as he is now and not knowing any different. ( our other dogs have mostly been rescues with their own problems/quirks)
Ive given up work now too and I must say Murphy is a godsend, we walk every day with him in the woods or the common . We take him out at least once a week to a forest or beach and we take a flask and sandwiches with us. OH loves it and he is interested in nature and birds now which he wasnt before although he cant always remember what hes looking at! Last week he pointed out one of those pigeons, the ones with claws ,,, the big flappy bitey ones... ( a buzzard) but he has a good time it keeps him mobile and his brain active.
For me Murphy is a comfort, someone to cuddle when OH has an off day, a reason to go out, a reason to talk to people ( I am not great at social stuff) so yes in many senses of the word Murphy is an assistance/support dog. But I would never use our problems to abuse a system set in place to give blind or handicapped people some freedom.Murphy can be a real monster at times and it wouldnt be fair for people to get the idea that assistance dogs are like that!
 
Jasper was originally intended to help DS2 with his emotional issues. I have fibromyalgia but I'd been let to believe that lurchers just needed a couple of half-hour walks a day so I thought he'd fit in.

Long story short, he didn't help DS2 at all as his social anxiety still prevented him from going out, and the issues that J developed meant the stress levels in the house increased a lot! But we stuck with him, and he basically became mine. I now had to get out the house and walk twice a day, as well as doing all the training & constant monitoring that a puppy entails. Having to build up his walks gradually to project his joints meant that my fitness gradually improved too... but he definitely wasn't going to be satisfied with two walks a day!

Pain and energy levels have a mental component as well as physical, and having to do all this meant I did do it, rather than sitting around at home getting more and more achey, and going back to bed for naps in the day. And of course he really distracted from my focus on what was happening in my body.

Eight years on, I think nothing of walking for three hours a day, and I also manage to fit in work and housework. Sure, I have rough patches, but I am overall so much healthier that I've no doubt it's extended my life expectancy. I'm still knackered by the evening, but that's OK! When J is no longer with us we will have to get another dog just so we don't end up walking no further than the local shops.

We have also discovered so many local (and more distant) beauty spots, seen some wonderful wildlife, and made new friends. Rain is no longer an excuse to stay indoors. I feel really guilty that we didn't go to these places when the children were young but back then I didn't have the energy and the boys loved their technology far too much.

DS2 has also sorted himself out and now has a good job and a lovely girlfriend, and they've bought their first house.

I'm certainly not saying conditions like fibro are all in the mind - they're certainly not, and not everyone with fibro would even be able to contemplate doing what I've managed.

Also, I've discovered emotional strength I didn't know I had from dealing with Jasper's issues. And discovered all over again just how wonderful OH is. He didn't even want a dog, but even when J bit him badly and we were really struggling, he never suggested we should get rid of him. And when I had a health scare last year, he said without a moment's hesitation that if I wasn't able to care for J for whatever reason (including if I just wasn't around any more) then, as we couldn't trust J with someone other than us, he'd resign from work if necessary to care for him.
 
What great stories @Mad Murphy and @JudyN :) Dogs have a massive impact on our lives and they are amazing with mental and physical health problems. I love dogs :)
 
For me its simple, I lost my wife 12 yrs ago, retired 7 yrs ago. I live on my own, but due to Folly I am not lonely. I meet quite a few people and talk to them. (Strange thing though although I know their dogs names I do not know the peoples names). I take her to racing and there I am with nice dog people with nice dogs. So all in Folly is a big part of my life and is a big positve influence on me.
 
Coincidentally I spotted this article in The Guardian today: Prescription pets: 'I got a doctor’s note to fly with my dog' Emotional support duck? Dogs running up and down aisles on planes? A dog attacking the person on the next seat to him? An emotional support Great Dane? Sadly, a lot of people have a sense of entitlement, even when that includes being entitled to take an unruly dog of iffy temperament on a plane which then disrupts everyone else's trip.

It strikes me that we do need some sort of official recognition, based on the needs of the person and the level of training of the dog (in that it will behave in shops, crowds, etc.) so that people who genuinely need their dog with them can go to places dogs aren't normally allowed, and those who would just like to take their dogs with them everywhere can't abuse the system.

Do you think I could claim to be Jasper's Emotional Support Human?
 
@JudyN yes i do think so but please if you can see if you can be partnered with a assistant dog company as they will be able to help with training, I'm sure you said Jasper has anxiety? I don't mind making a thread about how to get 'accepted' etc.
 
I was joking, @Violet Turner :D Sure, he has anxiety (he's just run out of the room because there was a fly on his bed) and he needs his mum more than your average dog, but no way would I insist on taking him in supermarkets and any other place he might completely embarrass me!
 
JudyN said:
I was joking, @Violet Turner :D Sure, he has anxiety (he's just run out of the room because there was a fly on his bed) and he needs his mum more than your average dog, but no way would I insist on taking him in supermarkets and any other place he might completely embarrass me!
Click to expand...
Yeah but if it was required he for sure would be more than capable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top