They say the Golden Age of air travel is over. But if your anxiety is assuaged by the soothing bleats of an emotional support goat, now is a magical time to fly. Ever since the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act was passed to let seeing-eye dogs on planes, the definition of what constitutes a helping animal has stretched to a point where miniature horses and capuchin monkeys are permitted to fly. All you need is a doctor's note, a service animal registration ($64.95 online, vests and buttons included) and a critter that fits on your lap or inside your row. Cost for a therapy pet to travel: zero.
It's a recipe for misuse, and data suggests that's exactly what's happening, with service-animal registrations rising from 2,400 in 2011 to 10 times that number in 2015. The zaniest anecdotes (like the "support pig" ejected from a D.C.-bound plane after it relieved itself in the aisle or the "therapy turkey" whisked via wheelchair onto a recent Delta flight) tend to go viral. But the habit has become particularly commonplace on the LAX-JFK route favored by fussy celebrities and industry execs. "Now I don't even react when an agent tells me there are three support animals on board," says Heather Poole, a flight attendant for a major U.S. airline. "I just pray they're not too big — and that it's a dog and not a goat."
Surprisingly, the proliferation of mile-high menageries hasn't caused a rise in catfights. "I haven't seen anyone go into a rage over an emotional support animal," says Poole, "though I have had passengers who refuse to sit next to them."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/miniature-horses-a-therapy-turkey-880625
Service animals trigger me
I need a therapy alligator to eat these animals and calm my PTSD
>>38418
We will find for you a Therapy Floridian to bring you that...
Insecure people with their cuddle buddies ruin it for the people who need to use the service animals such as a seeing eye dog.
Coddle state 2016...
>>38415
I am so sick of seeing people with their animals in the store. I can't go shopping anymore with out seeing a cockatoo, a small dog, or a cat. If you are blind and need a dog it seems like you would want a bigger dog. I don't know I am not blind, but a bigger dog would help better I think. When I see people pushing their carts or riding rascal carts through the grocery store and there is a gad damn bird on their shoulder or a tiny dog riding in the basket, or a cat in a transport container. How the fuck is that helping anyone?
GOD!
>>38415
What about bringing a dog into a shop and someone is allergic to the dog hair? That's really fucking inconsiderate just because you have some shitty version of ptsd and can't man up.
>>38502
People that are allergic to animals are often allergic to the dander (dead skin that is continually shed), the saliva, or the urine, not the hair.
>>38531
The alligator had no comments on his owner's atrocious behavior.
>>38502
For ptsd that's severe enough to warrant a service dog it usually involves the person having a dissociative episode, which can be incredibly dangerous. The dog is there to help them snap back to reality.
>>38415
knew a girl in grad school who did this. her servicd dog was a dumb piece of shit and pissed on me on two separate occasions. she wasn't much better
I have friends who registered their pets as support animals. I don't really agree with the decision, but in their case, it was to assure that their apartment complex, who gave them the OK for one of the pets and 4 months later tried to evict them over it, couldn't just do that.
There are a lot of unusual animals who make good companions, and if they're paying extra through the airline, what else can we do to regulate it? Make it so you can only get animals from Approved locations?
I hate these people like no one's business. Special snowflakes bringing their yap dog into the Asthmatics of America convention because "Muh rights! Muh emotions!"
I could tell you so many stories about abuse of this. Some funny some enraging, some just plain sad.
>>38595
>if they're paying extra
which they're not, as the OP notes
>Cost for a therapy pet to travel: zero.
>>38625
My dog doesn't know how to bark, she is always quiet on planes
>>38750
Psychological trauma
An Assistance dog means “any guide dog, hearing assistance dog or service dog.”
A Guide dog means “a dog which has been specially selected, trained and tested for the purpose of guiding a person who is legally blind.”
A Hearing assistance dog means “a dog which is specially selected, trained and tested to alert or warn individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to specific sounds.”
A Service dog means “a dog which has been specially selected, trained and tested to perform a variety of tasks for persons with disabilities. These tasks include, but are not limited to: Pulling wheelchairs, lending balance support, picking up dropped objects or providing assistance in, or to avoid, a medical crisis, or to otherwise mitigate the effects of a disability.”
The presence of a dog for comfort, protection or personal defense does not qualify a dog as being trained to mitigate an individual’s disability and therefore does not qualify the dog as an assistance dog covered under the provisions of this act [K.S.A. 39-1113, 39-1101 through 39-1109].”
Therepy dogs/animals are nothing more than pets that have a little training and some even lack that.
>>38593
did she piss on you too ?
>>38894
Hot
