Friend lied about having emotional support dog.

[Otins]

A friend of mine has a dog. He is a pet. She loves him, but he is a pet. Nothing else.

She recently went on a day out to a stately home. Dogs not allowed inside.

She told them it was an emotional support dog and they let him in.

She thought it was really funny and clever to do this.

I told her that I didn’t approve - and we moved on, and it was fine.

But the more I think about it, the more it winds me up.

For transparency, I am not a dog lover (not a dog hater either) and the sense of entitlement I see from many dog owners annoys me, and I think dogs being allowed (emotional support or not) in cafes and shops is inappropriate.

Whatever happened to leaving your dog at home to snooze on the sofa while you went out?

AIBU

Yes - how does this affect you if she takes her dog into places when you’re not there.

No - she was wrong to deceive the stately home in this way.

I agree it would annoy me anyone pretending to have a disability should be ashamed of themselves

Emotional support dogs are not a thing in the UK. Assistance Dogs however are legally allowed in places such as the stately home.

You say no dogs should be allowed, emotional support or not. Does that mean no Guide Dogs? Assistance Dogs is a term that covers Guide Dogs, as well as many other dogs that support disabled people. It is vital that they be allowed whether you like it or not.

However, you are definitely NOT being unreasonable with your friend. It is so wrong to pretend a dog is an Assistance Dog.

She's unreasonable because her dog is not trained to the standards of actual disability support dogs. So when dogs like hers are allowed in and behave like normal pet dogs, it makes it harder for people with e.g. guide dogs, hearing dogs. And those people have a tough enough time from people who don't know the law.

Emotional Support Dogs have no rights of access in the UK. Only guide dogs and assistance dogs.

She was wrong to do that. So YANBU on that count.

But regarding dogs being allowed in other places you are. It's up to the owners of the establishments at the end of the day. It must benefit them to let dogs in or they wouldn't do it.

My dog goes to pubs with us and when we're on holiday, to dog friendly cafes etc.

Yes, that would annoy me too, I once had a friend who pretended he had a food allergy so they wouldn’t put something on his food and it drove me nuts, the thought of all the worry in the kitchen just because he didn’t like something

Of course I don’t include Assistance dogs in my gripe about dogs being allowed in cafes etc.

My friend wasn’t pretending her pet was an Assistance dog, but an Emotional Support dog.

It's disgraceful behaviour and is damaging to those who genuinely have need. To be honest I'm not a fan of emotional support animals at all. People are getting very entitled about taking their pets all over the place when they are not appropriately trained and then when they misbehave it tarnishes the reputation of trained assistant dogs because a lot of people simply don't know the difference between an assistance dog and an emotional support dog.

You seem to have conflated 2 issues. I don’t think she’s wrong to take her dog out and about with her. I got a dog as a companion and a friend- which he can’t do if I’m he’s left on the sofa all day. She shouldn’t be pretending it’s an assistance dog though.

I was sat in a McDonalds a few months back (in the UK) and there was a woman with a tiny little dog and they asked her to leave, she then wanted to speak to a manager because the dog was her emotional support dog.
Assistance dogs for the blind etc I understand but I don’t think dogs should be allowed everywhere

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.

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 😡

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.

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

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,

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

How about emotional support peacocks?

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

I know more than one person who does this regularly.

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

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.