Dogs in the World?

It's near the restrooms across from Test Track, in a little garden area.

I met a wonderful man in DHS in October, he was training a dog that will be used as an ESA for servicemen. Disney let him in and allow him to use the rides, crowds and queues as a training ground. I had a good long chat with him about the dog and his work, it was fascinating and the dog was amazing.
At one point the dog was by the entrance to RnR and the owner by the bandstand bit. It was very crowded but the dog just laid waiting for instruction from a distance.
I thought it was a great example of Disney giving back to people in non monetary ways. But it does annoy me when people play the system.

We have a woman in our town who had two trained helper monkeys...she was in a wheelchair and would use them to climb to higher shelves in stores to retrieve items.

The monkeys are little and very cute, but dang- they are mean! At least to everyone but her!

I watched one have a total tantrum in Walgreens- screeching and jumping all over her, flapping its little hairy arms...
she went back to a refrigerator and took out an individual bottle of strawberry milk. She noticed we had all stopped to watch the ruckus and explained that she had forgotten to get the monkeys milk and it expected it as a treat every time they went to the store. She proceeded to unseal the bottle, give the monkey the bottle and it sat on her lap sucking the milk down (before it was paid for) as she continued on her way.

After several run ins with the monkey our city attorney researched the ADA laws and found out that monkeys are not covered.

At one time she had come to our emergency room, refusing to let go of the monkey and one of our police troopers was bit trying to secure it in a vehicle (yeah, he got lots of shots after that). Luckily one of our animal control officers had previous training with monkeys and he took it home to care for it until she was released from the hospital. On top of it- the monkey was diabetic and required to have daily insulin shots.

Than she tried to take it into a court of law to answer to her criminal charges when the judge kicked her monkey out of the court house. Now that's something you don't see too often!

Really folks, you can't make stuff like this up- maybe I should write a book .....

Ok, enough of my monkey business - lets get back to the dogs.....

Well sure it was diabetic if she gave it sugary treats all the time! Wow - umm - good to know monkeys aren't covered. I know that mini-horses aren't covered either.

right on Kristin!

I know I shouldn't laugh, but MM that is a funny story! Poor cop being bitten though

Totally OT but here it goes. I once sent my SIL the attached letter. I had it mailed from a pen pal overseas with some vague letterhead and envelope. I also got my hands on some federal express failed delivery notices and wildlife shipping stickers and well, you can imagine the fun.

http://www.banterist.com/ftp/Your-New-Monkey.pdf

Colonel,

I salute you! Absolutely Hilarious! I will be needing an overseas accomplice to send that letter to my brother who will be 50 years old this year! Seems like a most appropriate "Gift".

Oh my gosh Colonel ~! That is hysterical ~!

There were several parts that I burst out in laughter, but this sent me over the edge..
"some States require Monkey seats"

Colonel, you frequently have me sitting at an IPad and laughing out loud with no witness but a confused cat. Hysterical monkeyshines.

Oh my gosh Colonel I almost had coffee come out my nose as I read that! What a way to start my morning off. That was great!

Here's a little more fuel for the fire... This posted on the Fox News website yesterday.
I feel like I need to write a "what is a service dog" article.

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/01/15/adorable-corgi-meets-his-favorite-disney-characters/
http://callofthenerd.tumblr.com/post/106934366749/my-friend-posed-her-dog-with-disney-characters-at

Here's a little more fuel for the fire... This posted on the Fox News website yesterday.

http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2015/01/15/adorable-corgi-meets-his-favorite-disney-characters/
http://callofthenerd.tumblr.com/post/106934366749/my-friend-posed-her-dog-with-disney-characters-at

I feel like I need to write a "what is a service dog" article.
That being said, I have no knowledge of this dog's training. I know that corgis are widely used for emotional support dogs, but I have no knowledge of their service record as a breed.

Hi all I'm new!!! Was googling and found the forum and this particular topic. Thought I would chime in if you guys don't mind.

I have a PSD as I have been in extensive treatment for severe anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and PTSD and my golden girl Disney (who is now 19 months) has been excellent. I got documentation from my psychiatric team as well as my family practice doctor for me to have her and she has been a god send. She started knowing my signs and signals when she was 4 months and has saved my life so many times. She is trained to alert when an impending attack is coming or if there's a situation that is too overwhelming for me she "blocks" other people or stimuli that could be triggers. She also has learned to steer me towards more quiet and less triggering spots til the episodes pass. She has also gotten good at providing pressure work when an attack is in progress. She's amazing.

We are venturing to Disney for the first time with her in June and I am beyond excited for this new opportunity for her and for us as a team. She is owner trained ( Its hard in my state to find organizations that train PSDs so I have been working with an organization based out of California) and I'm so excited for us.

I can't tell you how much it has irritated me that people bring their dogs everywhere. My friend who also has a PSD and I were at the mall the other night and all of a sudden a high pitch bark came out of nowhere and we see this couple with a shih tzu in a stroller. Our SDs didn't flinch a bit at the other dog (good girls!) and the owners looked at our dog like THEY had done something wrong. Huh?!

In any case, glad I found this thread and while I am excited to take the trip with her I am nervous of others.

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She is beautiful! I am constantly amazed at what our dogs can sense and respond too!

I need one of these bad boys to help me carry my special medicine.

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He is adorable!

Disney is lovely, and I don't think anyone here has a problem with a real service animal in the Parks. In fact some of my favorite moments have been watching Characters interact with service animals.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us

Hey Skye,

I agree with many of the points you made about Emotional Support Animals except when you said they are "not allowed at Disney, Disney World Resorts, restaurants, trains, planes, hospitals or any other such place. Letters from counselors, psychiatrists, doctors, lawyers or Indian chiefs mean absolutely nothing." While it's true the ADA doesn't mandate access to restaurants for ESAs, the FAA generates the laws governing what is or is not allowed on airplanes and they do allow ESAs to accompany the people they assist. I'm not sure about train travel but they probably have standards similar to those set by the FAA.

While you didn't address this in your post I noted some folks seemed a bit confused about identifying if a dog is an ESA or SA with regard to some mental health or neurological conditions, specifically one person noted that a dog serving a person with Autism would be an ESA. As you noted, a Service Dog is a dog that is trained to provide service to an individual with disabilities. In the case of Autism, if the dog has been trained to apply deep pressure therapy when the individual is agitated, calm a tantrum/acting out behavior, distract them when they are performing "self-soothing" behaviors like hand flapping, hair pulling, hitting themselves and so on, then they are a Service Dog. Autism is a neurologic condition and not a mental illness. PTSD is a mental illness but they can also use the services of a canine, or miniature horse, that is trained to assist them in offsetting the debilitating effects of their illness. People with both conditions can elect to have an ESA rather than an SA, but, unless you know differently it's best to assume the animal is an SA. (Speaking from an avoid a lawsuit perspective.)

I noted that Disney doesn't specifically exclude ESAs when they address the issue of Service Animals. They do say other animals are not permitted in the parks, it's clear to folks who know the difference that ESAs should spend their time in Doggie Daycare.

I agree totally with the person who talked about well-intended folks doing their own training and I assure you I've made every effort to avoid falling into that category. We bought our girl from a breeder who specialized in breeding for service work. We live in an area where there were no trainers available to help usto specifically train a Service Animal so we found a training facility that trains teams to compete in AKC Obedience and Agility, and and then we trained her for the AKC CGC, and then worked with her on distracting him with his self-soothing behavior and to apply deep pressure therapy when he gets agitated. I've also worked with our girl on socializing her for as a variety of different environments as possible. The good news for my family is that my son has no desire to go on the highly stimulating rides. The few that Disney considers "no-gos" comfort my son to the point that a switch pass will work just fine (Soarin and the Kilimanjaro Safari....actually we'll switch on that one because Ben loves elephants but it would be unfair to put Beatrix's herding instincts vs. Service Dog training to the test of strong animal smells with groups of animals so clearly in need of being sorted out. All Collies have OCD, and as much as I'd love to I can't socialize her into ignoring herds of animals on the African Savanah. )

It's really become too easy for someone to buy "certification" for their pet and drag them anywhere they want to take them, whether the dog enjoys the experience or not. That alarmed me when I started looking into Ben's request to have a Service Animal. Since we've been on this journey I've met a lot of folks who's Service Animals (or ESAs) have helped them tremendously. I've also spotted lots of folks with dogs wearing vests who can't be bothered to bond with their animals, let alone train them. At some point, the shoe's going to drop and I've done everything I can to make sure my son isn't on the losing side of things.

Rebecca