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

[Thegreengreenleavesofmay]

Someone has brought a bitey puppy to a children's group and said that because they are training it to be an emotional support animal for a SEN child, they cannot legally be asked to keep it at home.

İs this true?

Got images of them trying to take it into the cinema or the swimming pool changing rooms when it's fully grown...

I'd have booted it from here to the moon if it had bit my child.

My assistance dog is a collie x golden retriever - intelligent and eager to please. No nipping, but we're still working on the barking prior to a walk!

A tiny baby puppy? Yeah, OK.

Biting my toddler? You bet.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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)

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.

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 a dog.

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.

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?