Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Shameful Website - Cooper's Rant

I was just reading the Pet Connection blog and came upon a website they were discussing http://bringyourdoganywhere.com/ where you can pay big bucks to have your dog "certified" as a Service Dog so you can take your dog into places that normally do not allow animals (Post Office, restaurants, stores, etc). And people are buying this "certification" so they can get an animal vest and patches for $365.00. And they tell you right up front that they don't provide any training and you self-administer a "test" to determine if your dog is a Service Dog. This is just a way that you can circumvent the law.

Now I realize that I am an older dog and you young pups may think I am set in my ways, but this is not a "service", it is a disservice to the many wonderful dogs that train and provide service to all the people in the world who really need it. To buy a fake vest just so you can take your pet into the shoe store because it is more convenient for you is shameful.

I've gotten myself a little hot under the collar so Mum says I need to go have a little nap while she figures out how to contact these folks and in a nice way give them a piece of her mind. (I love it when Mum gets a burr under her butt and gets her Thesaurus out to tell folks six ways to Sunday how naughty they are!)

9 comments:

Moco said...

There is always someone who will attempt to take the easy way out. This is quite a disservice to all the wonderful humans and dogs that spend hours upon hours training. You go girl! And Coop, also.

Peanut said...

Hey you guys I'm copying your post and posting it on my blog. This is outrageous.

Arran, Arthur and Mum said...

Hello, thanks for visiting my blog.
I agrees with you! I think that is very out of order that peoples can do that. I would like to be able to go everywhere with mum but I think I would give real hard working service dogs a bad name.
~lickies, Ludo

Totally Timmy said...

That is just so wrong on so many levels. If the dog isn't perfectly trained it could be a total disaster. I remember when I went to Paris and there were dogs sitting in the McDonalds mooching fries from people. I don't let mine do that at home! I saw a poodle pee down a ladies leg at a stop light and alot of the stores smelt like wet dog. I love my dogs but they don't need to be everywhere..especially under false pretenses like the vest!

Scottie the 'Cutie' said...

I totally agree with you and your Mom, Cooper! It's a shame that some people are finding 'loopholes' such as this...and making money out of it too! Now, it'll be harder for people to know if the doggies are really service dogs or not...gosh!

Scottie

Anonymous said...

You are purrfectly right to get hot under the collar Coop! Tell your mom to give 'em heck. There's always gotta be some people who have to ruin everything...

ocmist said...

I wonder where you find places where you can get your dog certified as a service dog if they provide services for you and have been self-trained at home.

I have done that with my dogs and with my bad back, I find their help invaluable in picking up things from the ground or from low shelves.

I don't disrespect those that have been "professionally" trained, but there is no way I could afford to do that, and I have trained my dogs all my life to do the things that they can help me with.

I wish they had a place where you could go to have your dog tested in the services you need so that you could get a "legal" certification. Linda (OC's Mom)

ocmist said...

Thank you so much for bring up this subject because I was able to do some very interesting research on it, and this website IS shameful... It is a scam website that takes advantage of people with cheap products that aren't needed. Linda (OC's Mom)

dreameyce said...

Some people are simply deplorable. It's horrible, and simply gives legit service animal teams a harder time during public access, when more frauds masquerade as service animal teams.

While I don't want to see more restrictions put on real service animal teams (Because it could cause many legit teams to be unable to work together), I do wish there were harsher punishments for frauds, who abuse the system.