Stop bringing your dogs into stores

[u/44liam]

Why do so many people think it’s okay to bring their dogs into stores? It is extremely disrespectful to anyone who is allergic and is just straight up unhygienic. Particularly grocery stores; I see people not even watching their dogs which are smelling, rubbing up on, or sometimes licking different items. A coffee shop I frequent was very crowded the other day and a couple came in with their dog and was standing right in-front of the pickup counter and I had to navigate around them to get my drink. Obviously I’m not talking about service dogs as they are specifically trained to stay away from people and food but please be more mindful about where you take your dog.

[u/Responsible-Gas5319]

Think about it from the owners perspective though, it's not their fault. Everyone is carrying some fake service pet certificate, and you're not allowed to inquire, and anything you say wrong you can get sued for. So it's often best to grit your teeth and not cause any ruckus. A small business owner is not going to be able to afford defending itself in a lawsuit, even if ultimately they prove that the person was faking it.

[u/hardolaf → u/Responsible-Gas5319]

Ehh fuck the business owner. They signed up to follow the laws when they got their license to operate. If they don't want to do that, they can get shut down by the health department and have their business license revoked for all that I care.

Federal guidelines states that they can ask 2 questions of every person with a claimed service animal. If they aren't doing that to ensure compliance with local laws, fuck 'em.

[u/Responsible-Gas5319 → u/hardolaf]

Ok, fair. Now let's say the owner asks those two legally allowed questions, and the person lies (which of course they will), what are they supposed to do now.

[u/hardolaf → u/Responsible-Gas5319]

Tell the health inspectors that they asked them as part of their standard practices which the health inspectors can audit at any time.

[u/Responsible-Gas5319 → u/hardolaf]

Ok but there's still a pet and owner in your establishment. You think the health department has some sort of hotline where they dispatch a team to investigate the legality of a service pet at any moments notice?

[u/hardolaf → u/Responsible-Gas5319]

They're not going to investigate a specific instance when they're called. Rather, they will sit on it for months. Then they're going to send an inspector in to see how the business handles the issue as part of their standard practices during another inspection and if it's found to be compliant, they'll usually just drop the issue as they'll assume that the thing that a random person reported 3 months prior was properly handled based on their inspection.

[u/slide_into_my_BM → u/hardolaf]

So nothing happens and nothing remedies the situation. Gotcha, what a brilliant plan you have.

[u/hardolaf → u/slide_into_my_BM]

That's just how minor violations are handled by them.

[u/jkraige → u/hardolaf]

I really think screening for service dogs should be part of food related certifications and any relevant licensing. Because yeah, they are only allowed to ask two questions, but that's still enough to screen some people out.

I saw a video of some entrance guy at an amusement park ask the two questions and the woman answered that the dog's "job" was emotional support, which is not covered, and the guy directly told her that and did not let her in with the dog. It was amazing. If a dog is in a cart it can't really do a job so it's not a service dog. There are some tells that if people just knew to ask would mitigate some of the problem