Animals As Antidepressants?
Oh, please. Train your damn dog to be perfectly behaved, like Lucy, so you can sneak it in like the rest of us.
Beth Landman writes in The New York Times of people who claim their dogs are "service dogs" -- but, not Seeing Eye Dogs. "Emotional Support Dogs":
The increasing appearance of pets whose owners say they are needed for emotional support in restaurants — as well as on airplanes, in offices and even in health spas — goes back, according to those who train such animals, to a 2003 ruling by the Department of Transportation. It clarified policies regarding disabled passengers on airplanes, stating for the first time that animals used to aid people with emotional ailments like depression or anxiety should be given the same access and privileges as animals helping people with physical disabilities like blindness or deafness.The following year appellate courts in New York State for the first time accepted tenants' arguments in two cases that emotional support was a viable reason to keep a pet despite a building's no-pets policy. Word of the cases and of the Transportation Department's ruling spread, aided by television and the Internet. Now airlines are grappling with how to accommodate 200-pound dogs in the passenger cabin and even emotional-support goats. And businesses like restaurants not directly addressed in the airline or housing decisions face a newly empowered group of customers seeking admittance with their animals.
Emotional support goats?
Aphrodite Clamar-Cohen, who teaches psychology at John Jay College in Manhattan and sees a psychotherapist, said her dog, a pit bull mix, helps fend off dark moods that began after her husband died eight years ago. She learned about psychological support pets from the Delta Society, a nonprofit group that aims to bring people and animals together, and got her dog, Alexander, last year. "When I travel I tell hotels up front that 'Alexander Dog Cohen' is coming and he is my emotional-needs dog," she said. She acknowledged that the dog is not trained as a service animal."He is necessary for my mental health," she said. "I would find myself at loose ends without him."
Now, I'll be the first one to tell you American health rules prohibiting dogs in public places are a load of crap. Frankly, my dog is cleaner than many of the people I see out in cafés and restaurants. She's certainly quieter and better behaved than almost all of the children I see. Best of all, because I knew I'd be taking her places, I got a Yorkie, so she has hair, like a human's, not fur, so as not to provoke people's allergies.
And, sure, if you have seizures, and your bulldog is trained to jump on your head, we'll deal. But this "emotional support dogs" stuff? And for otherwise functioning adults? Can't these people muster any shame?
Finally, if you're teaching psychology and you can't leave the house without Poopsie, maybe what you need is not an "emotional support dog," but...institutionalization?
I see where the International Brotherhood of Fleas has declared your effeminate curlette an Emotional Support Animal in addition to being some Mighty Good Eatin'!
Mao See Tung at May 13, 2006 2:00 AM
Oh, I'm so glad to hear that. I'm thrilled that my 60 lb. ball python, Snugglebuns, will be able to accompany me everywhere from now on!
Jokes aside (no, I don't actually have a ball python, but have no aversion to snakes) I agree that animals are often much better behaved than children. I grew up in a country where almost everyone has a dog, breeders and kennels are strictly controlled, behavior classes are mandated, and you can bring your animal into almost any establishment. I'd sure rather eat next to the shepherd or borzoi than someone's screaming child. I work in a store filled with bright, shiny, expensive and extremely breakable objects. When dogs come in, they get treats, water, and lots of fussing, but when kids come in, we have to follow them with bated breath because they almost always manage to break something. I've yet to have a dog decide to run away from mommy and daddy, fling itself to the floor, whine and shriek, and then yank over a whole display case when the parents try to drag them out. Indeed, give me dogs any day.
amh18057 at May 13, 2006 5:35 AM
Before the days of heightened airline security, I had a friend who used to travel with his boa constrictor. He'd feed it a few hours before the flight so it would be sleepy, he'd wrap it around his torso, throw on a bulky sweater and go. As far as I know, he was never caught.
deja pseu at May 13, 2006 6:05 AM
I know someone with a beautiful dog who does a little volunteer work as a "therapy dog" for children in hospitals. Basically, they get to play with the dog for a little while. Unfortunately, the story above suggests that this great idea has gotten completely out of hand.
Lena at May 13, 2006 8:41 PM
Yeah, I think so. Therapy dogs for hospitalized kids...a brilliant idea. Therapy dogs for adults in Manhattan restaurants? Please. What, they prevent you from losing it if the waitress knocks over the salt?
Amy Alkon at May 13, 2006 10:37 PM
Remember the line "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing ?" Somebody took it to heart.
opit at May 14, 2006 1:54 PM
That article was hilarious. I can't even imagine being seated next to someone on a plane who has her emotional needs support miniature horse with her! And the duck, and the goats...what is the world coming to?
Pat Saperstein at May 15, 2006 1:11 PM
My dad is an airline pilot. Once upon a time he received advance notification that there would be a service animal in first class and that this service animal would take the form of a small pig.
This 'small pig' turned out to be a a 250lb sow. In first class!
Being a country boy (and nearly killed by such a creature when he was a kid) he refused to let it in the cabin, 'service animal' or not.
LXV at May 17, 2006 7:40 PM
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