r/ServiceDog_CircleJerk

I’m genuinely confused about why so many comments on these posts end up focused on what disabilities someone is “allowed” to have a service dog for, or why they chose a certain breed.

I understand that these post about fake “service dogs” can be helpful and interesting to read. No hate at all. Yet, that’s entirely different from judging someone’s disability or dog based on assumptions.

Service dogs are medical aids for people with disabilities. While I understand the concern when someone is choosing to rely on their dog for absolutely everything, the purpose of a service dog is to help mitigate a disability. (This doesn’t mean ‘cure’ it.)

The same goes for breed choice. Personally, I think the Fab Four are great and I’m all for them, but that doesn’t mean other breeds can’t succeed in service work. If someone is able to properly own, train, and care for their dog, why judge them simply because it isn’t the breed you would have chosen? (I know this may come off contradictory to the sub, but there are genuinely posts like this lol)

It’s really not anyone else’s place to decide whether another person is “disabled enough” to need a service dog.
Service dogs can assist with a variety of disabilities. I don’t personally support nor condone tasks like counterbalance or putting weight on a dog, but if someone has PTSD, panic disorder, GAD, POTS, diabetes, or another disability that qualifies for a service dog, and their dog is trained to perform legitimate tasks that mitigate that disability, why does it matter which specific tasks they perform?

The important question is whether the dog is trained to do disability-related work.

this community is meant to discuss misbehaving pets being passed off as service dogs, untrained “service dogs,” and genuinely entitled handlers. It is not to breed-shame dogs that haven’t done anything wrong or question whether strangers are disabled enough.

Some of the comments come across as more entitled than the people being criticized. No offense intended. I’m genuinely open to discussion. I just think that if you’re going to comment on a post I’d keep it relative to the post and not what dog or disability the handler has unless they’re faking or self-diagnosing, which unless stated you don’t know. (And yes, I thought the IBS post was funny imo.)

Most of what I said here is stated in the community guidelines.. but I’m curious to hear what you have to say. I don’t have anything against this subreddit, in fact I think it’s entertaining. :)

So I follow this sub and the other one. I will read the post and just roll my eyes. The things people are looking for dogs to do just seem so.... Extensive and unnecessary. I say this as a person with many diagnoses and many things that would be considered a disability if I didn't get so fatigued from dealing with state disability. However - I will see people on that board talking about .. skin picking... Or nail biting... Like they want to train their dog to just let them know someone is giving them stank face.

Then they have a rule about not fake spotting. But I feel like 75-80% of people are on there getting tips on how to convince others they're real.

There are so many people who brag about their dogs training and alerting before the dog is even a year old. Then others are like that's too young. There others will be like don't say anything if you don't have constructive criticism. It's wild there.

I saw someone asking about a dog for Narcolepsy and ADHD or maybe. Naroclepsy and Fibromyalgia. I could not imagine having a service dog for my narcolepsy. I realized I am better offer without children because how much care they need and they won't understand when I have sleep attacks or cataplexy episodes. I cannot fathom taking care of a dog when I can hardly care for myself.