AIBU to take my dog everywhere I go

[Loopylouloves]

After several posts recently about dogs in public spaces I wanted to add another angle. For context I wasnt a dog lover and never thought I would own one. However I am now the owner of one but with a difference. I have a serious medical condition which causes me to become very unwell quickly and my dog is being trained to detect when this is about to happen so I can take action promptly and get help. She goes everywhere with me including supermarkets, cafes, friends houses etc.

The issue is that shes a puppy (12 months) and is very much in the training phase so sometimes she doesnt behave when we go out. But its so important that she lives my life with me so she learns to alert me even when we are out and about. Once fully trained she is going to change my life and give me so much freedom and peace of mind.

Because she doesnt always behave like a service dog should, aibu to think that people should be more understanding and tolerant of her.

😆 🤣 😂 😹 the bingo card will fill up quickly 😜

Oh absolutely 💯. It's a complete joke to have this lame medical inconvenience. Just like it must be really inconvenient to be so ignorant but well done you for not letting it hold you back.

My partner is insanely allergic to nuts. He doesn't need to bring a dog everywhere with him and he hasn't died yet.

I think people who need made up service animals are desperate for attention.

Is he really 'insanely' allergic to nuts or is he just making it up..you know for attention.

Its just a slightly unusual situation in that guide dogs / hearing dogs / medical alerts are usually trained and then go to their new owner/partner, that said just because things have always been done a certain way in the past doesn't mean it should always be that way - i'm sorry if you've been made to feel uncomfortable, personally I wouldn't have a problem with a trainee service dog in tesco - can i ask what breed of dog is it?

Wow, sorry but your intelligence and reasoning is way over my head. What you should do is let these charities and the scientists who work with them know that they are completely wasting their time. Who cares if your dog can detect your blood glucose level is dropping better then any machine available, who cares if your dog can detect your heart rythmn is out of sync and you're about to arrest. Attention seekers the lot of them.

Side note - are you a fan of Trump?

More importantly, does he wear a vest?

Don't take the pup into John Lewis. According to MN, it's always rammed with dogs. I hope you won't be too disappointed 🤗

Thankyou. I'm not sure if all charities train owners dogs, but this one does and it seemed a good option for me. Most of her work will be scent based so it helps that she's already bonded with me. I'm almost afraid to say her breed as I know how it will go done so I will whisper it, she's a cockerpoo. The breed was recommended because of their excellent noses, high intelligence and ability to work. Bonus that they don't shed too. I'll quietly await my judgement now.

You know what I'm glad you have a fake service dog because it advertised what type of person you arem without it I'd have to waste my time waiting for you to open your mouth before I realised you weren't worth engaging with.

The scientists, charities and their CEOs and other 'experts' all want jobs. Shit like this makes jobs. No charity is no profit they all have paid staff. It's just a gimmick to funnel money away from where it's needed. Fast food companies have in house scientists who are health experts and are paid to promote very specific ideals, they do so because it keeps them in a well paid job.

But yeah go take your badly trained dog that literally would not save your life in any situations any where ever you like, I honestly don't care, I bring my dog all kinds of plsces and say it's a service dog and nobody questions it. I like dogs

One more badly behaved dog won't hurt then. I've never seen a dog in ours, I must rectify that at once.

No issue with it being a medical alert dog. Completely different to the knobheads who take their pet dogs into M&S or wherever, utterly selfish like their dog enjoys walking around the shops as much as they do.

And yet you keep on engaging. Carry on though, I don't think you realise how funny you are.

I feel for them, must be boring. Same for all the men in there too.

Don’t. Your dog is still clearly learning to be a working dog, and she’s going to find this incredibly stressful. Another poster has given good advice about risky environments for any service dog, let alone one still in training. I always feel sorry for dogs when I see them in John Lewis or Selfridges: thousands of feet kicking at their head level, the olfactory overwhelm of the perfume counters, so much stuff going on. They’re usually giving out all the small stress signals all the time, and putting your dog in that situation at this point in her training isn’t going to help either of you.

In all my 54 years I have never met so many people who hate dogs as MN does. Will always maintain my belief that dog haters are just vile, expressing their own cruelty
this thread is bonkers

Don't worry, I was joking. I wouldn't take her in there. And yes I'm really grateful for the advice I've had on here.

Agree and I'm the same age.

Being nonchalant about letting the dog stealing other people's picknick sounds absolutely like being ok with your dog bothering people. Yes, you took it back, but the fact that you consider that a good "joke" shows something about your attitude...

As for half trained - your dog isn't a fully trained service dog yet, is it? There is no guarantee that it will ever be, as you acknowledged when you said that it might fail and just be a great pet.

Just to be clear, I do believe you are aiming for having it as a service dog.

I'll ask you. If you had a very close friend who has no animals at home because of allergies or because they find hard being around animals/dogs, would you really expect to encroach on their only safely dog-free space in the world - their home - with your dog? And judge them if they accept your dog in general but keep this one small boundary?

To answer your question - yes, I wouldn't let the dog into my home. I would try really hard to make the alternatives work - meeting outside, other places, their home.

Actually, it could be life changing. We have a peanut detection dog in our organisation and he's amazing. He inspects shopping as it comes through the door, and he smells dinner plates before the food is served. He alerts if he smells peanut.

A seizure alert dog for example, can notify its owner of an oncoming seizure before the owner is aware. This gives the owner time to get to a safe place and, you know, not just fall over and smash their head/face in. Can you really not see why that might be beneficial?

You’ve not had a very positive response on here OP because you’ve drip- fed a little ie not provided all relevant details in your original post.

So it should be clear to people she’s a service dog in training, and of course you should take her where you need to take her. However, it’s not an excuse for bad behaviour. If she’s lively and potentially an annoyance to people then she should be on a leash at all times and indoors it should be a short one. The responsibility is still very much on you to keep her under control and thinking that people should be more tolerant comes across as a bit entitled.

Aren’t you a joy !

Fuck a duck OP you've got it in the neck on this thread haven't you! @Loopylouloves

My only complaint is that you are terribly selfish for not posting a photo of this amazing dog (I get why you wouldn't for privacy reasons..) because I, personally couldn't care less where your dog goes. I think assistance dogs are incredible and do life saving work, I love watching videos of them alerting owners to drops - how do they do it! So so clever.

Love how the not so subtle messages to you on here are that you are just not ill enough to require the dog to be with you wherever you go, and yet it sounds like you are very poorly indeed? I'm so sorry for what you've gone through and hope the dog changes your life. Mine certainly has done and I don't have any health issues!

She's not fully trained no but she's had alot more training than the average dog including puppy training, so she knows how to behave around people.

To be fair I do probably come across as nonchalant, because 1. I know my dog wouldn't do that because she's been trained to behave in public and 2. When you live with a terminal illness you tend to develop a weird sense of humour and dont get so worked up about things other people would.

As to your other question I haven't had that situation yet, but obviously if one of my friends was allergic then I wouldn't take my dog to their house, same with phobias etc. Yes meeting up outside of their house would be a good compromise.