Anyone else had to threaten suicide to get pets?

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The moment someone does that stunt, I lose all sympathy for them.

One man once threatened suicide on a commute train here because no one would give him any money. He said "If I don't eat something, I am going to kill myself" and that got him a negative reaction out of people and one lady sitting diagonal from me chewed him out and said "You don't want no food, you just want drugs because you are a druggie and that is what you are, I can tell just by how you look, you want drugs, not food." A 17 year old sitting across from me gave him a dollar and some coins while that other young woman chewed him out. She was either a little older than me (mid to late twenties) or around my age like 22 years of age. This was back in 2009.

I even over heard someone say how pathetic it is he wanted to kill himself over no food. But once he got a little bit of change, he acted like nothing happened and he never got off the train until we got to the airport and he hung out in the smoking area with his buddies. I new he didn't want food or else he would have been looking for a place to eat and it was so late at night.

The problem with emotional support animals is anyone can just claim that their dog is one just so they can bring them to places. There are even fake service animals out there too. People just slap a vest on them to make them look like a service dog. It's pretty sickening. Also it does damage to those with actual support animals. Then places will get jaded about support animals and pretty soon will require actual proof that this is a true service dog. Can you imagine the nuisance as a disabled person always need to get proof they are a service animal and not a fake one and always having to be stopped just to show the employees or security the papers or certificate that they are indeed a service dog? Plus this could lead to lawsuits I imagine and disabled would would call it discrimination and say they were harassed. Then work places may be too jaded to confront anyone with a service animal to be sure they are real because of fakers.

But luckily housing assistance requires a letter from doctors so that would be very hard to claim that your dog is a emotional support animal.

Thanx for the info Knofskia & Arganger. I was wondering about housing specially cuz me & my girlfriend are trying to move & we each have a pet. She has a cat & I have a chinchilla. We both have mental & physical issues & our doc has signed paperwork before for other accommodations so I'm sure we could get her to sign off on them being emotional support animals.
The other stuff is good to know too Knofskia for curiosities sake & there may be someone else reading this thread it could be useful for.

Actually, not just anyone can claim their dog is an Emotional Support Animal. Only people with disabilities qualify for an Emotional Support Animal and every situation that protects Emotional Support Animals requires proof from their doctor that they are actually disabled. And claiming their dog is an Emotional Support Animal will not help them "bring their pet to places". Emotional Support Animals are not legally protected any more than pets are in non pet friendly public places, like hotels, restaurants, grocers, or public transportation. If someone claims their dog is an Emotional Support Animal, then the business can already legally deny the dog, no other questions asked.

A vest is not legally required or recognized as proof that a dog is a Service Dog either. Businesses are still responsible for asking, "if the dog is a Service Dog required because of a disability" and "what tasks it is trained to perform to mitigate that disability", and removing any dog that is disruptive, destructive, or dangerous. A dog that is not extensively trained like a Service Dog will not "look" (i.e. behave) like a Service Dog to anyone that is familiar with the law.

But, unfortunately, businesses not learning their rights and responsibilities and enforcing those laws is what has hurt Service Dog handlers by allowing inappropriate dogs or denying legitimate ones.


nick007, sorry if I have gone off topic. Offering information about all of this has become a habit. I have learned a lot about Assistance Animals and have spent a lot of time educating newer handlers on the laws and such.

Don't worry about it. I go off topic a lot & this is still relevant here. Plus I'd like to know this stuff incase we get a dog down the road.

So, agreeing that it is disingenuous and even immoral to threaten suicide to get a pet, (though the person doing it may not think so, as they may feel life owes them something), in the vein of inquiry, has anybody ever faked or exaggerated this or that symptom of autism or anything to get this or that kind of letter or diagnosis from a doctor?

Second question, also, in the vein or at least spirit of inquiry, has anyone ever exaggerated this or that feeling and/or sensation to yourself to the extent that you convinced yourself that you have this or that thingy--cancer or a psychological disorder that in actuality you do not or at least, re psychological symptom, would not if you wre not thinking in a mode that created them? (Personally I have done this, both physical and psychological). This is NOT to suggest that there is no such thing as autism or that people do not experience and are in some ways incapacitated and deeply suffer from some of the symptoms that accompany autism.

There are crazy dog nutters out there that will say their dog is a emotional support dog and then throw a hissy fit when they are not allowed to bring them in the store or restaurant or into a arena. I have heard stories and see it in the media. Dog owners that think rules don't apply to their pet.

When I saw the heading of this thread I was in disbelief. It's an insult to all who have attempted/comitted suicide over real trouble in their life/mental illness.

Oh, I know full well how entitled pet owners try to do this. But if businesses would bother to learn and enforce the law, these entitled people would not be able to get away with it. And if businesses had bothered to learn and enforce the law any time in the last 30 years, it would not have even gotten this bad in the first place.

Has anyone else noticed that the OP has not posted in this thread for 20 days?

I did

I guess most people probably noticed the OP has not been on here, but no big deal to me. He may even have a talent for making threads, as he started an interesting and informative thread, imo, and he does not have to post; however he is making some articulate and interesting comments on another thread which he started afterwards, and I have been reading.

Though I do not support threatening suicide to get anything, I know for a fact that some people, probably more than is commonly realized. do threaten suicide or self-harm to get some kind of payoff, either psychological, physical or both, and I would be interested in inquiring into the dynamics of that.

Unless you have relatives like my brothers, who will hand you the tools for you to do the deed right on the spot, then laugh while you do the deed. Finally, they would dance on your carcass once you are dead, then throw your remains out in the wilderness to be consumed by the scavengers.