I’m an animal lover. I’ve had pets all my life. Dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, fish and lord knows what else but never did we think it was ok to take our pets into stores. I’m tired of going to the market or stores like Target and seeing dog hair all in the carts or dog piss on the floors. Your pets aren’t service animals and they belong at home.
The whole point of a service animals it to help with people with disabilities. Here is the definition of a service animal from The American with Disabilities Act: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 2010 Regulations define a service animal as “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition.” C.F.R. § 35.104 and § 36.104 (2010).
So leave your pet peacock at home and not on the plane. Leave your gerbils running in a wheel at home and not running around in your purse at CVS. Leave your pets at home, they’re not service animals.
I’m not sure who is to blame more, the people who bring pets into stores or the stores themselves for not enforcing a not pet policy. Walk into a store with no shirt or shoes and they treat you like a felon. Bring your pet German Shepard in and they turn a blind eye.
I’m going to repeat this over and over and hope some people finally get it, your pets aren’t service animals. I don’t care if you bought a cute doggy vest from Etsy. That doesn’t make your pet a service animal.
Have you ever heard a service dog bark for no reason? You ever see a service dog lift it’s leg and pee on a mannequin? It’s because they’re trained.
Your pets and like most of the kids I see these days in stores, are untrained. Running wildly doing as they please. Both pets and kids.
I don’t care if your dog is cute it doesn’t belong slobbering over produce.
It feels like ever since Covid people have just stopped caring about everyone else’s safety or wellbeing and feel entitled to do what they want when they want. Granted this type of behavior has been exhibited for a long time, but it just feels like now it’s everywhere.
It’s just time to end this whole charade that pets who aren’t trained to be service animals are allowed into stores. For the final time, you pets aren’t service animals.
Photo by Peter Plashkin on Unsplash
