Last one was about a dog, not a "helper dog", or whatever the correct term is, brought in to a Denny's Restaurant. May have discussed this in that other forum, not sure. But today, as we were leaving Wal-Mart, two ladies were preparing to enter with their dog, a rather large mixed breed having what looked like a tight brown leather jacket around it's middle, with a leash attached. One of them picked it up, and set it down in the child-carrier portion of a shopping cart! Is this a hygienically acceptable thing to do? Or are we just old, non-"PC" folks? Frank
I wonder if it was a hearing dog @Frank Sanoica ,We have assistance dogs for all sorts of disabilities .. ..Do they allow people to take Pets? Into shopping centres where you live ? Or only assistance dogs ? As for being the hygienic thing to do ,I'd say no ..it seems a little strange why someone would put a dog in a trolley child seat. We have security guards in most shopping centres they would question a person if they seen someone with a dog in a shopping centre, as all assistance dogs I have seen have a small coat on with an explanation of the assistance They are providing
@Kate Ellery Yes, Kate, as I understand things, a "bona-fide" helper dog must have a certain type of identifiable recognition upon it. My wife's consternation was, for the possible later contamination of foodstuffs placed by the unknowing next user of the cart, in whatever might have been left behind by the dog (or child, for that matter). I think that just the thought, the fact of connecting presence of a dog (no offense intended against dogs, it could be any other animal pet), with location of the foods we buy is a destabilizing thought. Frank
Lowe's allows all dogs in the store but then we don't carry food items. Service dogs are allowed in most stores but it seems to me they should be on the floor. I think it would bother me a little to to see dogs being put in food carts.
I think the ones in the picture were probably at a store such as Petsmart, where it would be more acceptable to put the dogs into the cart. It does seem a bit odd to put a dog in a grocery store cart. Everything I buy is packaged in one way or another. I even put the meat packages inside of a plastic bag before setting them in the shopping cart, but this brings up a good point. How much do we know about how carts are treated? I doubt they're very hygienic places even without dogs. It'd be nice if they went through a sanitization station between uses.
Given the rising number of issues for which animals can be introduced as medically necessary, I don't think stores try very hard to enforce rules about pets in their stores anymore, for fear of a lawsuit from someone with a service animal for a disorder that no one would ever have considered only a few years ago, I think they prefer to just let it go. I see dogs in Walmart pretty much every time I go there now. Of course, I see a lot of other strange things in Walmart too.
Although I have seen other animals used as service animals, according to the ADA, only dogs have been recognized as service animals since March 15, 2010, although state and local laws can define a service animal more broadly. That might be where some of the other animals are coming from but I strongly suspect that many of those who bring animals into stores and restaurants with them are not medically entitled to do so, and the animals are not trained to fit the definitions of a service animal under the ADA. The ADA does allow miniature horses for some disabilities, oddly enough. Thus far, I have not seen anyone riding a miniature horse along the aisles of Walmart.
@Ken Anderson "I see a lot of other strange things in Walmart too." Ken, this is just too juicy a chance to pass up. Speaking only for myself, I (maybe others) would love to hear you share some of those strange things with us! This almost sounds as though it contains bedrock for a major new thread! I perceive that from the Yahoo headlines blaring rare and "jaw-dropping" Wal-Mart scenes. Frank
Today some one came into Lowe's with a cute little dog in a cart, everytime any one stopped to pet the dog, the dog urinated on the floor through the bottom of the cart. Needless to say the owners did nothing to clean the trail the dog was leaving across the store.
I think that there is a big difference between taking in a certified service dog, and someone just bringing their dog along to the store. Service dogs are there for a reason, and they are actually "on duty" when they are out with the person they are helping. Most people do not want their service dogs petted or distracted by another person, so petting would generally not be allowed. There was a lady that was in one of the shopping malls here when i was working at that mall selling the newspaper subscriptions, and she had a little Chihuahua in a kind of sling similar to how you might carry a baby along on your hip/side. People were stopping to look at the cute little dog, and she asked them not to touch her dog, and said that she sometimes had seizures, and the dog could sense when one was coming and alert her so she could take safety measures before it happned. Since these dogs are trained, they would not usually cause any kind of a problem in the store, like the one that @Chris Ladewig saw in Lowes did. The dogs have to go through all sorts of training before they can be certified. As far as people just taking their dogs along, and putting them in the shopping cart, I think that most places would not want that to happen. However, they do make little "dog strollers" which would be ideal for someone who does want to take their dog along with them into a store.