Big, Fluffy Emotional Support Dog Goes Viral When Video From Flight Gets Posted Online

Feb 02, 2019 by apost team

Have you ever seen what you thought was a service animal in a no-animal zone acting nothing akin to the typical stoic service animal persona and wondered what was going on?

Have you heard the old proverb of one bad apple ruining the whole bunch? In the case of emotional support animals, or ESAs, we have some irresponsible and thoughtless owners ruining the seamless integration of support and service animals in public areas. It’s caused confusion and discontent among the public. So, let’s take a look at just what ESAs are and what going wrong.

First, it’s important to understand that service animals and emotional support animals are not one and the same. Service animals are typically confined to cats, dogs, and miniature horses. While service animals are specifically bred and raised for temperament, hand-selected for months of professional training, and integrated into their owner’s life with specific purpose, ESAs require none of the above. An ESA can be any animal. The owner simply must view the animal an invaluable comfort measure. Yes, that means that ESAs can be anything from alligators to zebrafish. They don’t have to be sweet and fluffy.

They don’t have to be well-mannered. They don’t even have to be non-dangerous to others. All they have to have is a letter from a medical professional deeming that you need the animal for your psychological well-being. Bam, they’re an ESA. As such, many owners are getting their pets of all shapes and sizes labeled as an ESA in order to allow them access to areas that just a regular old pet can’t go. ESAs can go in retail stores, fly for free on planes, stay in lodging accommodations with you, and so forth.

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Obviously, the un-restrictive nature of anything goes causes problems with ESAs. Animals that have no ability to interact with humans are being introduced to human crowds, and the result is havoc and chaos. Humans are afraid. The animal is afraid. That’s a recipe for disaster.

Even the ESA animals that don’t view us as either natural food sources or predators, most often don’t have the specific training to allow them to seamlessly fit into public arena crowds. Their lack of obedience and manners results in them becoming annoyances to bystanders as they incessantly bark and jump. Feces and urine in public spaces create public health and safety issues from falls and contamination risks. Then, there are potential liabilities for entities as they break things and create messes for others to possibly sustain an injury.

via GIPHY

The injection of untrained ESAs into public spaces reflects poorly upon service animals who’ve been bred and trained to be unassuming and not pose the above issues. Is your ESA part of the problem? If the ESA can’t pass a basic obedience class, then they’re most likely one of the bad apples giving all ESAs and service animals a poor reputation. That’s not the animal’s fault, though. It’s an issue of owners failing to be responsible and considerate.

There are plenty of ESA owners who do take the time and effort to ensure their animal is the right temperament to be around the public, trained in manners and obedience, and don’t pose a risk or annoyance to others.

A great example is this massive malamute relaxingly taking an airplane ride as an “emotional support” for his owner. The fluffy guy takes up the entire seat, but he calmly sits there just watching and listening to the traffic and noises from the passengers. Instead of an annoyance, the well-behaved ESA actually seems like a source of awe for the crowd.

Have you ever come across an ESA while traveling? If so, tell us about your experience - were the support animals well behaved or did they cause trouble? Leave a comment letting us know and don't forget to spread the word about ESAs!