I posted this in my LiveJournal, but I thought I should post it here as well because I think it's important.

I've been reading a lot lately about how a lot of people have taken their dogs into shops and places like that by saying their dogs are service dogs, emotional support dogs or therapy dogs when they aren't. First of all, I wish that dogs were allowed in more places as long as the dogs are well behaved and don't bark at or otherwise annoy my dog. But the fact is they're not and I totally understand why. Some people train their dogs to be well behaved and keep the dogs under control, but a lot of people don't.
I've noticed that people seem to get emotional support animals confused with service animals. Emotional support animals don't have the same access rights as service animals because they don't have to be trained in tasks to assist their handler. Service dogs do. And I'm fairly sure that therapy dogs don't have the same access rights as service dogs either, but I'd have to check that.
I think that pretending your dog is a service dog just so you can take the dog somewhere you aren't allowed to is extremely disrespectful to the people who have real disabilities and actually need their dogs with them. And it hurts the reputation of service dogs if an untrained dog goes into a shop and behaves really badly. Some people I've talked to have actually been in that situation. Someone's taken a dog into a shop claiming it was a service dog and the dog's behaved very badly and the shop owner won't let the real service dogs in because they don't want that to happen again.
And people shouldn't claim that they have a disability when they don't. Being worried about your pet because you have to leave it at home is not a disability. Being a little bit anxious about flying or something isn't a disability. A disability is a lot worse than that and not fun at all! I wish that people who think it is could spend a day being disabled and find out what it's really like. As someone else has said, it's not something that you can just turn on when you want your dog to come with you places and turn off later when it's not convenient. I can't speak for everyone else, but I think not being able to take my dog everywhere with me would be fine if I got my sight back and stuff. I would love to be able to go shopping alone and not have to take my dog with me and worry about her misbehaving or doing something embarrassing. But unfortunately I can't because I can't get around without her or my cane. And then there's the panic attacks and the anxiety. Before I got Cindy I wouldn't go anywhere even though I had my cane because it was so bad. And now that I have Cindy I still have panic attacks, but they aren't as bad as they used to be. I still have a lot of trouble and still can't go into a lot of shops, but I'm working on it and now that I've got Cindy I think that I can finally find a way to deal with it so that I will be able to go into shops and crowded places on my own and not have a panic attack.
Basically, the jobs service dogs do are very important and not jobs that any dog off the street can do. It's very hard for these dogs and a lot of time and effort (not to mention money!) goes into training them to do the things they do to help their handlers. So it's extremely disrespectful to claim that your pet is a service dog when it isn't trained as a service dog is and when you don't have a disability!

Sorry for the long post everyone! Like I said, I do wish that more dogs were allowed in more public places and maybe someday they will be, but they aren't right now and pretending a pet is a service dog isn't okay! Some shops are kind enough to let people bring their pets in, so the best thing to do is ask and make sure your dog is extremely well behaved and gives a good impression if it is allowed in.

Edit: I just thought I should mention that in order to have an emotional support animal you have to be disabled. ESAs just don't have to be trained to do anything to help you or be public access trained. They do have some more rights than pets, but not the right to go into shops and places like that.

I agree with you ShadowCat 100%. In Australia it costs au$200,000 to train a guide dog. Pretending to be blind so you can take your dog into a shop is an awful thing to do as if that dog plays up, others who really are blind can't take the seeing eye dog in the shop with them. Doing that is wrong and I think that blind (or people who need a seeing eye dog) should be issued with a special card so that any fakers can be eleminated. I shake my fist in fury and anger at the people who put a bad reputation on guide dogs. <_<

The problem isn't really with people faking guide dogs. It's more with people faking other kinds of service dogs, like psychiatric ones. Someone who has a psychiatric service dog doesn't look disabled so it's easy for people to say their dog is a PSD because people can't tell if they're disabled or not. It really makes it hard for the people who have real PSDs. And you can buy the service dog vests on the Net and you don't have to prove your disabled and your dog is a service dog! Some people even lie and say they're disabled to get the ID cards and stuff. Some people even get a note from their doctor to say they need an ESA or service dog when they don't.
I have actually heard of one person who came across a pet in a store that was harrassing their service dog. The owner and the store manager wouldn't do anything about it! The manager said they didn't want the customer to leave unhappy! That's stupid because the service dog had every right to be there by law and the pet didn't and the service dog owner left very unhappy indeed and won't shop at that store any more! And I'll bet other people shopping in the store that day wouldn't have been impressed with the badly behaved dog either.

I agree with you...90%

Why? Because some Emotional Support Pets can be very important--possibly. Like someone prone to panic attacks having one around to calm them down. While one like they are using now, bad.

Like I said, I don't mind having dogs in stores as long as they don't harrass my dog or bark all the time and stuff like that. I have no problem with ESAs in shops as long as they're as well behaved as a service dog is supposed to be. The problem is that some of them aren't because they aren't held to the same standards as a service dog is. They're basically a pet.
People who have panic attacks that are so bad that they can't go anywhere would more than likely be able to have a service dog, which they would benefit more from than just having an ESA because the dog would be able to do specific things for them to help them. There's a list of what PSDs can do for their handlers at http://www.psychdog.org/tasks.html. A dog trained to do any of these tasks for a person who has a psychiatric disability would be able to be a service dog (as long as it had the right temperament, general public access and obedience training and stuff).
Bear in mind that you actually have to be disabled to have an emotional support dog.

Wow, I didn't know Service dogs could do all those things, or at least be trained to do so. I paticurally wonder how "Hallucination Discernment" is managed.

But then in reguards to disabilities, psycology is still a fairly 'soft' science, and there can be borderline cases. Likewise maybe they already adapted to a pet they already have, say a girl becomes depressed and already has a pet dog who loves her very much. While the dog can't do all the Service dog can it does no her, kisses and laying against and such. Or someone who developed having their dog as a sort of saftey blanket. Not a Service Dog, and possibly a Service dog couldn't replace said dog.

Sorry for playing Devil's Advocate. But I DO admit that ESDs are being used liek ritalin--over perscribed

Like I said, I don't have a problem with ESAs. Some people need them. But a lot of people don't and are saying they do just so they can take their dogs into restaurants and can have them if they live in places that don't allow dogs. It makes it really hard for the people who need their dogs and it's very disrespectful to them. People who don't even have disabilities are claiming their dogs are ESAs when you have to be disabled to have an ESA.
A lot of people have trained their pet dogs to be PSDs because of the fact that the dog knows them. They have to make sure the dog has the right temperament and can handle being in public places, but if they're lucky enough to have a dog like that then that's great. They usually get professional trainers to help them train the dogs to do the things they need to do. The problem with getting a new dog to be a PSD is that sometimes you need the dog to know you to know when to do certain things. Like Cindy doesn't know when I'm having panic attacks. Most of what she does for me to help that is stuff that I ask her to do or she just happens to do at that time. I can't train her to do much until she knows when I'm having panic attacks.
It is hard to tell whether a person is disabled or not. The line can be pretty blurry. But when it's obvious that the person isn't disabled they shouldn't have an ESA or a service dog.

Then we agree completely, wow.

Though I personally wouldn't mind training my catdog (she's a cat, but she follows me like a dog and scratches at the door when I lock her out, even the bathroom) to be more afectionet at correct times. She cuddles me when I am trying to go to sleep, damnit!