Seewalds 29: Still Marketing Cute Kids

[Yaoichan12]

Just chiming in on how I'm all for service dogs and animals, ones that are certified. I have an acquaintance  who has an 'emotional support bunny that was allowed to have the bunny in her dorm in college an allowed to have them in apartments she rented after college even if it was no pets allowed. I think she cited/claimed american disability act for being allowed to do this or something. 

I don't know her well enough to know what her need was with the bunny, but she always came across as 'getting away with something' in regards to having the bunny with her. And the bunny had so many health problems that she was constantly taking it to the vet 

[Screamapillar]

1 hour ago, Gillyweed said:

I love dogs and always want to have mine with me, but bringing dogs into stores like Target or a mall is just absurd. You never know who is extremely allergic to dogs, and they deserve to be able to shop more than your pet deserves to be in the store. If people want to bring their dogs with them so badly, the should follow New York's subway rule-- have the dog in a bag. It's led to some funny pictures of big dogs in backpacks 

Thank you. From someone who is extremely allergic to dogs, I can't tell you how many times someone has suggested that my right to be somewhere is NOT as important as their dog's.

[Georgiana]

24 minutes ago, allthegoodnamesrgone said:

I have a little 12 lb terrier Chihuahua mix, she was always excitable and prone to nipping, so we always had her muzzled in public for HER safety.  She's a little bitty dog who thinks she's a big bad ass dog, and she LOVES her humans.  She's now also 16 years old and a very cranky old thing, she loves to go for car rides still but loathes her long walks in the park, so we don't take her to the park anymore, we'll take her in the car if we are going to a drive through but that is about it.  We don't take her to petco or the farmers market either she's developed an intolerance for other dogs and just gets angry, she only has like 10 teeth and they are dull AF but she still growls. She's most happy in her chair with her blanket or her favorite humans lap (that being my 17 yr old DD) or in the warm sun on a bed of pine needles that have just fallen from our 4 huge pine trees.  We treat her like the cranky old lady she is, we've had her since she was 6 months old and DD was 2 so it will be very hard when we have to put her down or she dies.

@Georgiana Emotional Support dogs are tricky, there are LEGTIMATE reasons to have an emotional support animal, children on the spectrum, PTSD sufferers, people with severe anxiety, these people have reals reasons and these animals are just as necessary as seeing eye dogs. That said too many people are abusing the need for emotional support animals because it is harder to prove an invisible need.  But just because we can't see that disability/need doesn't mean it isn't real.  It is literally in a persons head, but very very real.

I'm not doubting the legitimacy of ESAs! However, LEGALLY they are a housing assistance, and protected under the FHA. Their rights and protections do not extend far out of housing situations, though they can be ANY animal (service animals can only be dogs or mini-horses in some caees), do not require special training, and are much easier to obtain. 

I absolutely think they are wonderful and necessary! But I side with the laws on the books that emotional support animals do not belong in public places beyond their current scope, which is very restricted. 

However, PTSD assistance dogs, spectrum assistance dogs, etc. ARE considered service dogs just as much as seeing eye dogs! If the dog performs trained tasks to aid the mobility and functionality of the owner, it's a working service animal!  And that is why I would like a license system so that folks with invisible illnesses are not constantly forced to defend their needs. PTSD sufferers have a particularly tough time as the breeds best suited for PTSD assistance work are large and intimidating breeds like German Shepherds, so they get an incredible amount of push back. Pit bulls have shown an incredible aptitude for assistance to people on the spectrum, but the breed itself requires so much advocacy in public that sometimes it's not worth it. I think this really needs to change, and I think part of the change needs to be formally recognizing service dogs so that people can no longer try and pass pets off as working animals.

 

[brusselsgriffon]

1 hour ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Which has resulted in the abuse of the service animal "system." I've seen SO MANY dogs in "emotional support" vests in restaurants, grocery stores, etc. And it's not just dogs. I've seen hamsters, guinea pigs, and even a hedgehog as an "emotional support animal."

Someone in my town once had a support iguana, but it made everyone pretty happy to see it out and about 

[FundieCentral]

Oh yes, at my workplace we’ve apparently had a service snake, which sent everyone SCREAMING. 

Count me in on: if you need a service animal, you shall have it. If you use your pet as a child replacement and obnoxiously insist on carrying it everywhere for some made up „stress“ that no medical professional is able to certify - you and your service iguana/snake/dog/bunny/pony/eat/alpaca can stay outside. Thank you.  

[SapphireSlytherin]

1 hour ago, Yaoichan12 said:

she always came across as 'getting away with something'

We have friends in Florida who've recently registered their pet poodles (they've had them for 10 years) as "service animals." Apparently, they "learned" from some of their "friends" that "service animals" (and I'm intentionally using quotes here) are allowed to be in the regular emergency evacuation centers, and not confined to crates during hurricane evacuations. They very proudly showed their photos of their two cots with their two dogs on them in a huge gym during the Hurricane Irma evacuations in Florida. Their dogs are in no way/shape/form any sort of "service" or "emotional support" animals. 

 

THIS is the system abuse I'm talking about.

[SCROW10]

 

[Carm_88]

Henry is getting big so fast! Hard to believe he will be a year old next month! 

[SapphireSlytherin]

Annnddd - he's UP and walking!

[Ace3]

My sweet dog passed away in October, but if I could have taken him everywhere, I would have but only because I had so much anxiety about leaving him home alone. He was old and blind and would sometimes get stuck outside of his dog door because he couldn't see to get back in. He would just run into the glass door and bump around until he either gave us and stayed outside or bumped his way in. Sure, it messed with my anxiety levels, but he wasn't a service animal and even if he provided me emotional support, he still only went to PetSmart with me. He was the best dog ever and I miss him everyday.

That said, my husband worked at Target for a while as a front end supervisor and had someone come in with a service iguana. He had a little vest and everything and just chilled on the guys shoulder. I wish I could have seen the little vest!

[LovelyLuna]

I qualify for a service dog and am on a list, but they are very expensive so I have no idea when I will get one.  We have HUGE abuses in the system where I live.  People are bringing their pets everywhere and it bugs the hell out of me.  If theses dogs acted like service dogs then I would have no issue. Meaning, they basically ignore everyone and everything and just chill at their owners feet.  There is a lady that brings her dog to synagog and it is alway clinking around with her noisy collar saying hello to everyone during service . Even worse just this last Saturday I was with a friend and her 4 year old. Kid needed to pee wile we were out and about so we stopped at a market.  We walked into a very pungent bathroom with 3 stalls, half way out from under one of the stalls was a smallish dog without a leash eating a chicken leg .  When the owner was done in the stall she went to wash her hands and the dog walked over to me and my friend and her kid and started sneezing on us and trying to get petted.  The poor 4 year old was wanted to pet said dog, but Mom and I were just trying to get her hands washed so we could split.  It was awful.  

If you dog is a normal pet please, please just leave them at home.  

I expect a pregnancy announcement soon as well. I think Jessa with get to 4 or 5 before she slows down.

[cascarones]

I’m wary/ frightened of larger dogs of the size where they can put their paws on my shoulders or knock me over, I’m fine once I’m introduced to the dog, but it stems from seeing two bad dog attacks on other small children when I was young. My neighbor across the street had her lips bitten off by a pitbull (she was 3) and at a little league game after warning a man to get his dog back on leash twice a police officer ended up having to shoot the animal. My cousin is downright terrified of all dogs, she does international aid work and was mauled in the neck by wild dogs, now when she goes to that site she carries a long stick with nails like the locals.  

Clowns and mascots make me uncomfortable, with mascots it’s only the plush ones where you can’t see the eyes. Living in New York gave me an intense fear and anxiety around alleyways.

 

 

[Satan'sFortress]

I am afraid of mass quantities of just about anything--birds, bugs, worms.  Once, when I was very pregnant, I opened the front door to go to work.  I saw what I first thought was hundreds of pine needles.  Then, I realized that we have no pine trees.  When I looked closer, I realized that they were small black worms.  I wanted to die.  I woke up my husband, who was none too happy . . . but when he looked out, he was pretty horrified, too.  He had to carry my gigantic pregnant self to the car and get me into it!

Similar thing happened with ants in my kitchen.  Hubby had set out ant bait/traps and I came home to find the kitchen counter covered--covered I tell you--with ants.  I was just frozen with fear/disgust. 

Funny thing, at my job, I work with snakes, spiders, lizards--all kinds of things that would creep out other people.  I am fine with just about anything on a singular basis, but mass quantities.  Ugh.

[WhoompThereItIs]

19 hours ago, luv2laugh said:

The way Ben has his hand on Jessa in the entire video makes me think she's preggo.

What video are you referring to?

[karen77]

4 minutes ago, WhoompThereItIs said:

What video are you referring to?

The congrats video to JinJer with Benessa, Jostin, Smuganna and JB and Michelle.

[BlessaYourHeart]

There is nothing that annoys me more than people not asking to pet my dog before reaching out to him or people that don’t control their dogs in public. It rags me so much when people are walking towards me with a dog and see me change my dog to the other side and tighten the lead, yet let their dog run up to me/my dog, especially when their dog starts to bark! 

Its not that I have an aggressive dog, I don’t. He’s a golden lab, so a bigger dog, but he’s a gentle giant and will ignore other dogs and he rarely ever barks at dogs or people unless he feels very threatened. But he’s a big scaredy cat! He gets so nervous and scared when other dogs bark at him or come at him. He’s good if a dog gently approaches him, but otherwise he panics and tries to run away which in turn hurts my arms because he’s so big and has strength and I’m only a 5’6 22 year old girl. Similarly, he won’t bark or bite if someone goes to pet him, he just sits there, especially if it’s a kid, he loves kids and will just sit there and let them pet him all day! But I think it’s just impolite if someone pets without asking 

On another note, I think Jessa will definitely announce a pregnancy soon 

[SapphireSlytherin]

InTouchWeekly has been ALL.OVER the previous Seewald thread. Congrats (HAH!) to those of you they quoted!

11 minutes ago, BlessaYourHeart said:

people that don’t control their dogs in public.

Oh yeah. Especially those whose dogs approach me (I've already stated my opinion on this) and when I back away or ask them to curb their dog, they respond, "Oh, he's friendly/not aggressive/just wants you to pet him." Seriously? 

[Bad Wolf]

Just got back from Wal-Mart. Two people with non service dogs. I wonder why the greeters tell them it's not allowed. Clearly says on the door service dogs only. These people didn't even pretend they were service dogs. My dog goes to Petsmart, but nowhere else. Inconsiderate people. 

[LacyMay]

I'm happy for all the perspectives (and sorry not sorry for inadvertently hijacking the discussion.) It's definitely given me a lot to think about when considering bringing Mr. Mae Pup to pet friendly but not pet centered stores (and again I swear I would never bring him to somewhere with food/super busy/not pet friendly.) 

I agree with the people who mentioned stuff about asking permission before petting/controlling your animals. I'm usually fairly calm and mild mannered but I've ripped into people before for not controlling their animals. Mr. Pup is a rescue and he's amazing with people (calm, mild mannered, quiet and a good size in that he's 40lbs so big enough to not be a hyper jumpy yappy dog but small enough that he doesn't over people. He's also old so fairly calm and has joint issues so slow haha. We're actually looking at training him as a therapy dog.) However before we got him he was attacked by a pack of dogs so he can sometimes be reactive *especially* with other dogs especially when approached by digs who aren't on leash, we know this so we don't bring up to say hello to other dogs, avoid busy dog areas and are generally overly cautious. But we can't control other people, I've lost count of the number of times we've been in a leashed area and someone has their dog off leash and their dog comes running up to ours. Of course the owner always says how friendly they are and looks at me like I'm crazy for shouting at them. If you want to have your dog off leash that's what off leash areas are for. But don't put my dog and your dog at risk because you're too stubborn to keep fluffy on a leash. 

Side note, my grandmother is the crazy dog person we've all talked about. She was visiting a few years ago and we went to a museum about 90 mins from our house. She insisted on bringing the dog even though we all told her that you can't bring a dog into a museum. When we got there she made *me* call to see if they would let the dog in and to explain that "it was just a little dog" my mom firmly reminded her that the rules do in fact apply to her and her dog but no we needed to call. I was mortified beyond all belief (hindsight- says I should have made her call.) 

[Carm_88]

http://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/ben-seewald-best-duggar-in-law-150566

@SapphireSlytherin peaked my curiosity and for the love of god. WE ARE NOT FANS! Can't you get it through your thick skulls?  

[singsingsing]

Omg I'm fucking dying.

You go, Ben. You hear that? The tabloids think you're the best Duggar in-law! I mean that's a really, really, REALLY low bar, but CONGRATS DUDE!!!

And yes, it's SO GREAT that they insist on calling us 'fans'. It's so great when people who actually are fans read that and think, "Oh boy, I love the Duggars! I'm going to check out this FJ place right now!"

[FundieCentral]

@Carm_88: the title of the forum should give that away  

[SilverBeach]

I'm surprised no one mentioned a fear of flying. I knew someone who was afraid of Japanese art if it had samurai warriors in it. I also knew a little girl who turned her dolls and stuffed animals backwards at bedtime because she said they were staring at her. DD went through a fear of elevators phase but grew out of it. I white-knuckled driving across some long bridges but that fear went away.

[MayMay1123]

1 hour ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

 

Oh yeah. Especially those whose dogs approach me (I've already stated my opinion on this) and when I back away or ask them to curb their dog, they respond, "Oh, he's friendly/not aggressive/just wants you to pet him." Seriously? 

I get that all the time...I turn away or walk away from all dogs, someone telling me their dog is wonderful doesn't allay my fears, I promise. If I have time to really get to know a small or medium sized dog, I may eventually pet them, otherwise, they're  a nope from me!

[2manyKidzzz]

I used the service that drives you across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Not a bridge person.