Friend lied about having emotional support dog.

Let's leave aside all those for whom an assistance dog of one sort or another is an essential way of being able to manage their disability or other condition. We all know how vital they are.

Anyone else who is so emotionally attached to their furbaby that they lie their way into a stately home with the animal is... well... barking.

What the hell is an emotional support dog?

I am convinced a little more each day that humans are making themselves so feeble, that we are on the road to extinction.

I just saw that. The stately home should have asked for proof

They might not be happy, just trying to avoid a scene/one star reviews on Trip Advisor.

No they aren't.
https://www.esaorguk.com/

Of course she lied.

She doesn't use it/need it for emotional support.

Your friend behaved entirely unreasonably, so YANBU. However it’s entirely up to the owners of the cafes/restaurants etc as to whether they allow/encourage dogs (and obviously completely up to you as to whether you decide to frequent the establishment based on that).

I'd prefer a donkey.

Emotional support dogs are basically pets, so she didn't really lie.

We meed an official registration for emotional support dogs. I know someone who has one and he is going through the tests for paperwork etc, to get him registered. People like your friend are abusing a system set up for people who have MH/disabilities. It's one step over parking in a disabled place.

It's a cunty thing to do and it makes life harder for the people who really do need such adjustments to be made.

I'd be really pissed off.

The thing is, the venues must be happy to let them in because they don't have to.

I know more than one person who does this regularly.

Nothing against Support Dogs
But why do people feel the need to take dogs everywhere they go..
In Ambleside this place is overun with dogs,,and dog shit.

Your friend was being very unreasonable saying her dog was a support dog . It's unfair on people who do need a support dog.

Unfortunately there is no official scheme so it makes it harder.
I work with people moving to The Uk from abroad and I was discussing finding one client a property that would accept their cat. They claimed that as the cat was a "registered" emotional support cat it was illegal for a Landlord not to accept it and if a LL turned them down for any reason they would be able to claim it was due to the cat and sue. I explained that it didn't work like that here.

I could have written this! In fact I was just about to 😲

I also work at a visitor attraction and we don't allow 'emotional support' dogs in at all.

But assistance dogs are a little more tricky as they don't legally need ID.

Yes, I work at a visitor attraction that only admits assistance dogs. The amount of 'emotional' support dogs that we see is growing. But we always ask to see proof and tell the owner it needs to wear the appropriate harness/jacket identifying it as an assistance dog. Funny how many people have driven such a long way and left that at home!

How about emotional support peacocks?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42880690

YANBU , there needs to be a crack down on this ‘support dog’ business , won’t be long before everyone has their pet going everywhere . I love my dog and don’t mind well behaved dogs in cafes etc but I don’t want to be bumping into loads of dogs in shops , museums , stately homes etc

There is a woman I follow on SM insists her dog is an emotional support dog it even has a harness label, it's just her pet but she takes it everywhere it's a bit daft really,

While I fully understand how properly trained dogs can support people with diabilities I don't hold with all this "support dog" nonsense - largely because of people like your friend who take the piss.
I have a dog and I sometimes take him to dog friendly cafes or similar (where he keeps out of everyones way and is no trouble to anyone) but I wouldn't dream of trying to claim he supports me emotionally to take him somewhere that dogs aren't allowed.
Your friend basically pretended to be disabled, which is a shitty thing to do

YANBU. I’m not a dog person so my judgement might be clouded but I’m sick of dogs being everywhere (service/assistance dogs doing a job not included, they are so clever!).

I’m sick of people getting breeds they can’t manage, leaving the dog dirty and smelly, carting them everywhere and anywhere instead of doing dog friendly activities with them or leaving them at home/in the care of someone. I know a man with an old bulldog that he got just for the ‘look’ years ago and he now couldn’t care less about the dog, shows no affection to it and the poor thing stinks and is too fat to clean himself.

Sorry I thought you meant no dogs at all. Apologies.

So she shouldn't have been allowed entry as Emotional support dogs are not a thing in the UK. That's a term from USA. The UK is strictly Assistance Dogs under the Equality Act 2010. So if she keeps trying that she could find herself in difficulty... It annoys me so much when people fake Assistance Dog status 😡

I thought the main benefit to having an 'emotional support dog' was that it was a ruse that allowed you to take it in the cabin to fly around the US for free/very cheap rather than having to pay for specialist pet transportation.