To believe a bitey puppy in a children's group is not an emotional support animal

Puppies under a year old can only be exercises for around half an hour at a time due to joint growth

You don't think it's a case of the child and parent struggling and the pa re ent trying anything to find a solution

This whole situation sounds really stressful. It’s wild how often people confuse emotional support animals with assistance dogs — the rules and rights are totally different. In the US, for example, ESAs have clearer guidelines, and there are services like HelpfulPets.com that help people get letters properly through licensed professionals — but even then, the animal needs to be well-behaved or it can legally be removed. It’s definitely not a free pass to bring an untrained puppy into any space. Sounds like the group organizer really should’ve stepped in earlier here.

Depending on the age of the BC, overexercise can be very bad for puppies - and the amount of exercise they require is often very misunderstood. Don't get me wrong - the woman described by the OP is an idiot. But an adult (not elderly) BC needs two things:
(a) about 2-3 hours of exercise per day BUT this includes mental exercise (they really don't do boredom well). Think about it - my assistance dog gets about 5-6 miles in the morning (before anyone asks - mobility scooter!), he is then working all day, which is huge mental stimulation. Even when he goes to a meeting with me (for example), he may look like he is snoozing under the table, but he is half alert for the slightest thing about me. He also has more toys and games than the average child - 600+ and counting - and he knows each of them by name (that sounds clever until you see this

It is also actually possible to over-exercise even a fit healthy BC - they do not spend all day herding sheep (or whatever)! Herding is often a short, sharp exercise - there is some running involved, but not over miles and miles, with lots of stopping, thinking, and slower movement. There's a reason farmers often move their dogs on tractors and bikes. Even as fit and healthy adults, care needs to be taken with their joints, and there are other things associated with over exercise too - they can become over stimulated by too much exercise to the point where they cannot relax, don't sleep well and can't relax. There is also a condition called Border Collie Collapse which is caused by over exercise. Think about it - just because humans can and do exercise incessantly doesn't mean it is good for us, and it's the same for dogs.

(b) Training - exercise isn't enough. BC's need rules and boundaries. I very seldom see well trained BC's. A BC who doesn't realise that you are in charge will very rapidly step up to fill the "leadership vacancy" and in extreme cases (which I have seen a couple of times) they can become extremely dangerous.

I have to tell my child they either can't pet it whilst the other children are and cause upset, or risk them getting bitten.

given your child is primary school aged (and I’m going to guess closer to 11 rather than 4 given your reluctance to clarify), I’d have thought that this wouldn’t have been too difficult.

In any event Op, this is assuming you’re the only parent with an issue with it but presumably other parents wouldn’t be keen on their child petting a “bitey” dog?

Exactly. A border collie in a pram isn’t having its needs met. You would have to be spectacularly dim to think it would make a successful emotional support animal in a toddler group.

Don't Border collies need lots of exercise given that they were bred to herd sheep, I feel sorry for such a puppy in a pushchair at a home education group that is going to be small and not fair on the dog.

You are vile. Would you also boot another toddler if they bit your child?

Puppies are bitey more than children because it's a big part of how they learn about the world. They are not a dog anymore than a child is a man.

You don't sound very bright tbh, just like the owner of this poor puppy.

My fully trained and certified Border Collie assistance dog would like to know what is funny? There is no legal status for emotional support animals, but a Border Collie, who are highly attuned dogs when properly trained, could very easily fulfill such a role. I've also seen a devoted owner taking their elderly BC out in a "pram" so that it could still enjoy the mental stimulation of the outside world whilst not being able to walk very far. Like any dog, the right match of owner, dog and training are what matters, whether or not it is an assistance dog.

Ok.... I'm talking about if it bit MY toddler. And no, but I would be hauling the kid off mine if it assaulted mine.

Sure. It’s certainly annoying, and you train a puppy out of it. But you’ll know that a puppy mouthing a primary school aged child is not remotely akin to a dog attack on a toddler, which is what the person I was quoting was suggesting.

Nobody should have brought the puppy to the group in the first place and the owner is a twat, but people are talking about children being endangered and injured by a dangerous dog, which isn’t what happened here.

The OP’s child isn’t a toddler. She has said that the group is for primary school age children who are home educated. And none of the kids were injured by a puppy mouthing them.

The OP also says that the child whose parent brought the puppy along is autistic and behaves aggressively / violently to other children. Would you also drop-kick them?

Obviously I think you remove yourself from the puppy if that's an issue not do anything to it.

I think it can hurt and it can certainly ruin your brand new real wool jumper from the nipping. We know someone who got a puppy and gave it a wide berth until it grew up, even now (years on) constantly jumps at you.

Puppies don’t ’bite’ in the way you’re thinking of. They mouth, like a teething baby. It doesn’t even break the skin and it’s not aggressive. Pretty much every puppy does it and they grow out of it, just like children grow out of putting everything in their mouths.

It's a dog.

Yes, I felt sorry for one in a supermarket, he had a sort of ropey muzzle on as well, that was loose but I thought that was odd for assistance dog. Had a tatty coat on stating assistance and don't pat. He just looked really miserable.

It’s not a dog.

It’s a puppy, a completely different species. Puppies are proper bitey little bastards and there is not much to be done about it. It’s not the puppy’s fault someone put her in an overwhelming situation.

The whole emotional aupport animal thing is really abusive IMO. People.carting untrained and unsuitable animals around in situations that stress them for their own selfish needs is wrong.

(Nb I don't mean properly trained and supported assistance dogs)

If you allowed your dog to bite my child then you'd be getting an even bigger kick than your dog, lady! Absolutely vile that your first thought is 'the poor dog' after a child has been bitten.

There is no such thing as an official “emotional support animal”. It’s just a pet with a vest they’ll buy from eBay, and no she shouldn’t be taking it to children’s groups.

And likely upshot would be

Police involvement, you are arrested for assault and your puppy who bit a toddler is taken by the police and an investigation commences

Assistance Dogs in Training have no legal rights.

Others are correct, once the dog is grown and trained, there is no register, you don't have to use a Support Dog vest and you are not allowed to ask for proof.

But.... Dogs in Training and Emotional Support animals are at the manager/owners discretion and have no more rights than any family pet dog.

How disgusting. If you touched a puppy of mine for behaving like a puppy, you wouldn't be the one drop-kicking anything.

I'd never put one of my dogs in that position, but it's not the poor puppy's fault that its owner is a dick.

Biting my toddler? You bet.