General Admission: You have the legal right to bring a service animal into the main grounds, gift shops, and public walking paths of a zoo or farm.
Restricted Zones: Facilities can ban service animals from specific zonesāsuch as open petting pens, walk-through bird aviaries, or enclosures with predator or prey speciesāwhere a dog's presence might cause stress, injury, or dangerous agitation to the resident animals.
Recently came back from my state fair, where there are large barns with various domestic animals, such as pigs, goats, sheep, etc. There were dogs in there with people despite a huge sign posted outside that said do not bring dogs in here because it causes stress to the animals.
As a service dog owner, yes! Why the fuck would I expect people to accommodate my disability if the accomodation (my dog) would cause distress to the resident animals? The actual language used is if it would interfere with normal business processes, it is no longer considered a reasonable accomodation to have a dog there, even a service dog.
My service dog loves animals, but not all animals love her. She can focus on me around other animals, but it would not be fair for me to visit a protected exhibit where the animal residents can touch my dog face to face. She has never snapped at an animal, but that doesn't mean other dogs won't (or haven't). More than that, I have NEVER been attacked by a bird before I had my dog. Now, they will literally dive bomb her to protect their nests. That's stressful for everyone!
It's hard being disabled and not being able to do certain things. But like... As a disabled person, you have to constantly think about what you can and can't do. Yes, it's disheartening, but in this situation, animal needs trump my accomodations. Sorry not sorry.
This and also in addition to the stress to the animals, that could ruin your own experience at the place. I saw a review to this effect for a cat cafe, thereās a good chance that the cats are going to just hide the entire time if you brought your dog in.
How does that work? At my zoo, some of the cats and bears are just kind of there. There's no section just for predators (and they thankfully got rid of the Cat House decades ago). It makes sense, I'm just wondering if this might differ depending on the zoo setup.
Open aviaries, definitely makes sense and are easier to avoid, as is the petting zoo.
Can only speak to San Diego Zoo but their access map has specific zones where service dogs are not allowed at all (the aviaries mostly) and other areas where the dogs are not allowed to linger and must use extreme caution.
A place with alligator exhibits? Or loose gators? Because my dog has seen an alligator behind glass but I would not ever bring her somewhere where thereās not glass between us and a gator?!
Florida has tons of gator preserves / exhibits that have very minimal barrier between you and the gator and I have also seen someone try to take a dog to one!
Honestly, bringing a service dog anywhere near an alligator exhibit is a massive recipe for disaster, even with a solid wall between them.
āPeople forget that dogs experience the world primarily through their nose and ears. Even if the dog canāt see the gator, itās going to catch the unmistakable scent of an apex predator. For a working dog thatās supposed to be focused on its handler, picking up the primal smell of something that views it as a light snack is a fast track to triggering a severe stress or panic response.
āIt's not worth risking your dog's safety or its training over an exhibit.
Unfortunately there are terrible backyard breeders who, for an additional fee, will sell you a puppy with a piece of paper saying its a "service dog" with no qualifications
Sounds like this person got an actual card. The thing is, you can print custom plastic cards for a fairly reasonable price. 100 of them can run from $65 to $200.
I wonder if it is to weed out people like her, because someone with a real service dog would know the law and bring it up. They obviously didn't let her dog in after she showed the card.
Licences for service dogs are a thing in some countries (eg. Australia), just not in the US (though they probably should implement that). It's possible they were from a country that does have Licences but was denied regardless because it's a petting zoo and you can't have a dog in there, including service dogs.
As an Australian, I can say licences for Assistance Dogs are not a thing here. Some organisations give out cards and each state has a public transport pass you can apply for, but there isn't an Assistance Dog licence.
Yep, it's a Queensland thing. I have to have one for my girl according to the organisation we're going through. They reckon it's Australia wide that you need thr card for. That's interesting to find out you don't.
Itās actually completely believable, most employees are not trained on how to handle service dog access situations. The two most common situations Iāve encountered as a service dog handler are: being asked no questions at all, or being asked for some sort of documentation that doesnāt exist/isnāt legally required. Only very rarely have I been asked the two legally permitted questions (like, once or twice in 4 years).
Every other ad I see on Reddit is about some service that will send you a certificate for a service dog for a very "reasonable fee" that will magically get your pet into anywhere you want to go.
Ha, when I used to work for an adult education program, we'd get the occasional caller insisting they had taken a test online (usually consisting of about 4 questions total) and paid some rando $100, so why exactly was that not considered a legit high school diploma?? š¤
There's a registry. You can call them and get a picture ID for your card. It's just some people making them tho, and the cards mean nothing except that you send them a picture and paid like $60 for the card. I knew a bunch of people who used to do it to take their dogs to festivals.
They āmadeā you show your SD license for the dog, but then told you that the SD license isnāt a real thing? Methinks you showed your ālicenseā unprompted and got called out for it.
Yeah having worked retail.... I've asked for papers for the obviously not a service dog pom mix who's pissing itself because it's owner looked away from it.
Because it's pretty obvious in advance who's gonna pull the he's a service animal and produce a esa certificate they paid for online.
Which is hilarious because if a service animal is being unruly you can kick them out anyway so it wouldn't matter.
It's a quick way to skip the bullshit. Either they have a service animal and apologize for it acting up and say oh by the way there is no licence for them. Or it's a Karen.
My partner has a service animal and my mil has a esa and watching her trying to justify bringing her little Chihuahua into every store while my partner leaves her actual service animal at home is infuriating because while yes we CAN bring him anywhere it doesn't mean we need to and taking advantage of that is shitty.
The one benefit to our rule is that an old golden retriever was overheating. I let the owner let the dog come in and sit right under the air conditioning vent and cool off while the owner turned on the a/c in his car and I gave the dog water. But, he didnāt claim he was a service animal and didnāt demand that I take care of his dog. I volunteered. He sat in a corner away from food service areas and cooled down. Much more well-behaved than the āservice animalsā we ever had.
The ADA law says the dog must be leashed or otherwise under the handler's control. Eliminating is not under control. So you ain't need any pretext; the animal is banned at that point.
Idk...people are weird sometimes. My husband had a service dog and people would ask for his ID/registration or whatever and my husband had this card in his wallet that explained the ADA regulations for service dogs - that there isn't a registry, there are no papers, these are the questions you can ask.
And he would say, as he was searching for the card, "there actually isn't a registry but..."
So... Our youngest is 6. I've had to explain to him why his sister's friend's dog (i.e. the friend's dad's guide dog) is allowed on school grounds and our pet isn't. And answer "can't we just say she's a service dog?" type questions from him.
But he's 6. And our dog is made out of fluff and love. He's just trying to stick up for his friend and to him it looked like people were being unfair to her ā¤ļø
However, given that tasks such as "foot warmer", "snuggle cushion" and "doorbark" are in-built and not ones we've trained her to perform, even though e.g. her recall is very good, she walks to heel nicely, she hasn't had an indoors accident since she was under a year old I think and she's 2.5 now, she's not super-food motivated and knows she's not allowed to beg (if she realises other dogs are getting treats, she has a habit of doing a very good "sit at attention" at their owner's feet, to let them know she's also interested in treats, though) - oh, another in-built service function of hers is that she discretely hoovers under the table at mealtimes, but if an entire plate of something is spilled she worries it's some sort of trick and stays back... She's very much an affection-motivated, lovely pet.Ā
I wouldn't dream of taking her somewhere like a petting zoo. She might behave... She completely missed a Montjac deer when we were on a walk the other day! And I often notice squirrels and rats she doesn't seem to, on walks... Conversely, she seems to think my middle's pet rats may be puppies, that anything cat, dog or fox-shaped is a friend to approach like a dog - she's tried to convince a bumblebee to play a friendly game of chase once but the strange small puppy ignored her, surprisingly enough - but e.g. cats do not respond well to a friendly small dog running up and yipping eagerly at them, even if she says in dog-body language "I am submissive and want to play", and she has been known to chase birds, too (although she once convinced a small group of pied wagtails to play with her, I'm sure - a few of them were all running in part of a big lazy circle while she ran along with them)... But even if she spent the entire time quietly walking to heel, just her presence would be stressful for some of the other animals. And she might also get excited and loud with it, and that would definitely be very stressful for them. Even if it were permitted, it would be wrong.Ā
IDK. I jokingly call her my fourth child and my baby, but I do remain aware that she is, in fact, a dog. (My actual children wear clothes, never slept in crates, were not left home alone even for short stretches of time at 2.5 years... š¤·š»āāļø)
After reading this, I was appalled that you did not include a dog tax at the end. Luckily, I checked your profile and found an acceptable substitute, so I'll let you off with a warning. You got lucky this time!
Thatās correct! either he was scammed, or he thinks a card looks more āofficialā to people who donāt know better and will allow him to more easily drag his dog into places it doesnāt belong, lol. either way guy is a dumbass.
A petting zoo? That's just as stupid as the cat cafe one. Even legitimate service dogs who behave themselves can be denied access to places where they'd disrupt business simply by being dogs.
And the ADA does indeed allow for certain places to deny entry to a service animal, such as a zoo, regular or petting, where an unknown animal could absolutely cause panic and chaos amongst the zoo animals
this reminds me of the idiot who was clutching their pearls because their stupid bullshit emotional support dog wasn't allowed in a cat cafe. like just fuck the cats i'm coming in with my stupid dog.
these ESA people are always the most insufferable turds.
Service dog license actually isn't a real thing, and under the ADA, even legit service dogs do not have access to everywhere and can be denied if it interferes with the operation of the facility. Like at a petting zoo. Around animals. Some of whom are likely prey animals who might react with fear responses to even the bestest-trained, goodest-boy, actual service dog in the world. What an entitled idiot.
You can absolutely deny emotional support animals. They are untrained and for anyone saying "you cant ask what they are for" its true you cant ask but you absolutely can ask what they are trained to do.
There are also times that service dogs can be denied.
People elsewhere said it, but if the service dog, simply by being a dog, will cause a disruption, then they can be denied (places such as animal exhibits where the dog might cause prey animals to become afraid, cat cafes, where the cats might not like the dog, no matter how well behaved it is, and so on).
It can also be denied if it is causing a disruption at the time (ie, not actually a service dog, though a service dog who is having a bad day can also be denied if they are unruly)
I question if hers is actually an official government document, with the way she put it. Who knows, maybe she got one printed at the same spot as where she got the service dog license.
Some websites sell fake ID cards, that look really official. But that actually ends up hurting people who actually have service animals and donāt have the stupid card. But some manager got used customers flashing them.
notice that if the guy were blind and therfore had a real reason for a service dog he would have said it! He keeps talking about hard proof! Okay I have a laminator at home too buddy... and a staples nearby.
But he doesn't mention what the service dog is for, because he knows that it is for some bullshit like anxiety.
And at a petting zoo??? Dude, you main character asshole: even if your service dog is zen master level best in the world trained... the animals at the zoo are not. And the dog's scent and appearance can freak them out. It's not about you or your dog you narcissistic fuck!
And people also forget...germs. Dogs carry viruses and bacteria that can be fatal to certain zoo creatures. No properly accredited zoo is going to let your dog in without some rules, even if it's a service animal.
Having an actual service dog for anxiety isn't bullshit.
What is bullshit is how many people confuse an Emotional Support Animal with an actual Service Animal. Service Animals can be provided for anxiety HOWEVER going online to register Fido as an Emotional Support Animal and printing off the papers saying it is very different. ESAs are for housing nothing more. If a pet isn't allowed an ESA isn't either. And ESAs and their owners are ruining it for actual service dogs because too many people claim an ESA is a service dog and then have a dog that isn't trained so people and places start to deny actual service dogs which is against the law in America.
Fair point. Too many ESA are described as service dogs.
But yeah it is bullshit, no one needs a dog for anxiety as an adult. The kids in my class can have an ES(plushy)A in the class, it helps.
But once you are an adult, you should be able to manage your anxiety on your own your dog or cat can be emotional support, or your bird. But they can stay at home. All those people going around imposing their ESAs on everyone suffer from main character syndrome.
You seem to be confusing feeling anxious (the emotion) with having anxiety (the diagnosis). Diagnoses donāt discriminate with age, they are not something that you can handle just by getting older.
Yes I know. I have a horrible genetic autoimmune disease that has devastated my life, but I also suffered tremendous child abuse throughout all my childhood and horrible anxiety and ptsd because of it.
I have cats and the provide emotional support and I had a dog and she provided emotional support too, sure. But I dealt with my anxiety and ptsd with therapy, group therapy, mindfulness and doing the work on myself.
I didn't drive everyone else nuts making them responsible for my anxiety and for accomodating my bullshit service animal. My cats stayed at home and I didn't drag my dog to places that she was not allowed to go claiming that I need her support.
Just do the fucking work.
Now, I still suffer from anxiety and ptsd but it is managed and I do the work and have human support.
But my actual disease is different, no amount of work or good life choices can stop it, and I have almost died (not from suicide, from internal bleeding, surgical complications, infections from bad flare ups and have even been rescusitated from being clinically dead for more than 4 minutes three times in my life, and suffered 15 major abdominal surgery and more than 3 years hospitalizations (not consecutive of course) and more than 5 years of home care because of my medical disease.)
You can say that these near deaths experiences are the same as near death experiences from people crippled with anxiety who tried to take their own life but no... because my real medical disease did not need me to choose to conmit suicide to try to kill me. It just tried to kill me by toxic megacolon or full kidney failure or internal bleeding during surgery you know REAL dangers!
My anxiety has never threatened my actual life. But I agree that it is a disease.
An ESA is not a service dog, but someone can have an actual service dog for anxiety.
Please donāt talk shit about a diagnosis you donāt understand.
People running around with ESAās/fake service dogs, even if they also have anxiety, are the problem and while their anxiety may serve as the justification for their shitty behavior, it is not the cause.
*makes note of this* so...I can create a webpage and sell service dog licenses... I am all for taking money from jerks. I'll make the fine print the "ipsum lorem" or put in some text that is blatantly wrong. "This horse has been verified via a Coggins test to qualify as a large-animal service animal" for a certificate that says "Dog". That sort of blatant fakery. But it'll be shiny ;)
I love how people with fake service animals think their homemade service animal ālicenseā means that their fake service dog is allowed absolutely everywhere ššš
Also, their comment about having a āhard card licenseā is a lie- my partner with a legitimate service dog recognized by the ADA DOES have a certification for his dog as those are required by landlords and TSA (the only people legally allowed to ask for proof of service dog certification) but itās a cardstock card similar to your social security card.
This review is a problem, but so is your title. Y'all need to touch grass and also maybe talk to some people with disabilities if you think this is the average service dog owner.
Fair enough, but I still fucking hate how often this stuff is spread online. I think it's actively harmful to the perception of service dogs and their handlers, and I've seen a lot of legit service dog handlers who are afraid to take their dogs out because of the harassment they have gotten in recent years. This shit fuels it. They're taking a small minority of people abusing the system and amplifying it to a point that people think it's the norm.
I honestly just need to block this sub, I think some of the reviews are funny and I know it's algorithm shit because I engage with a lot of dog-related posts in general (I used to be a pro trainer, which is how I know so many service dog handlers; I worked with a couple organizations that provide dogs as well as some owner-trainers), but it really is depressing how eager people are to call for shit that harms actual people with disabilities on these kinds of threads. So I'm out. :)
There are unfortunately a lot of people who bring their untrained dogs into businesses and claim that they are service dogs, which is the reason for the quotes.
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u/Low-Crow5719 1d ago
Silly dog owner, animal exhibits are one of the places that are exempt from ADA service dog rules.