Feel cheated

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Recently I met as an acquaintance a friend's friend, who happens to be a nurse. She had a lovely medium-sized adult dog, and I love dogs! She travels by airplane quite frequently for vacations and to visit extended family. This nurse is a fortunate woman - happily married with a nice family, financially secure, really healthy both physically and psychologically, etc.

She told me that she really wants her dog to travel in the airplane cabin on her lap (it's her 'baby'). Now, that's against the rules. Dogs are not allowed on airplanes except for, of course, guide dogs and in some instances therapy dogs. (And newborn pups & kittens stowed in approved secured kennels under the seat with veterinarian certificate).

And I am peeved.....She wants her dog designated as a therapy dog! This nurse, through her job, knows how to 'pull some strings' and even knows people at her workplace who will sign the paperwork for her so she can. This nurse does NOT need a therapy dog, by her own admission, and does not deserve this privilege just to suit her selfish desire.

This just hurt my feelings. I know people who truly need, and deserve, a therapy dog and cannot because they do not have access to the resources. Those who have, for example, PTSD, severe clinical depression, autism/AS.

I am going through a difficult time just now. I'll be OK, but working diligently and struggling for now. There's a dog that lives nearby who visit me every day, and I just love her. But I am not allowed to have any pets. Just hurts that certain people really take advantage of the system and abuse their power to get services they do not need.

I know someone who does that, she takes her dog to school. But it is a very friendly dog and all the kids at school love the dog. So it can be positive sometimes?

I am sorry to read that you are going through a difficult time, I hope your able to do nice things for yourself aside from work. Corruptly using the support system for a pet she has humanised into a baby simply because she can... practice like that would really bug me too.

That kind of scamming goes on all the time and sometimes those who have the most scam the most.

The best ending I could see would be she somehow ends up having to use the dog as a therapy dog or lose the privilege.

I'll be honest, I think.. maybe, 90% of the service dogs I've seen in my life had no business being labeled as such. I'm aware of their uses and the people who genuinely need one, but the ones I see are usually based on what you just described.

Right, and I do not mean to be critical of this particular nurse who is working the system. Rather, the issue is that (most) people just don't realize that there are others who really do need and deserve therapy dogs. Like those who suffer from PTSD, etc. Just exasperating.