In Spite of CostCo

Im sorry, but you were looking for the dogs owners, not her parents, call animal control, they can scan the dog for chips, and its usually the first place people look for their lost pets.

But again, why not go to the store for help first? I get not being allowed to bring the dog into the store and not expecting the store to be locked down, but why not see if they will make an announcement first? Our AC is only operating during 8-4 M-F, no weekends or evenings. When we have found strays in the evening we've gone through the neighborhood looking for the owners, then had no choice but to take them to the police station where they were stuck in a crate until animal control opened. It seems totally logical for me to check the store for the owners before dealing with all that. And as it turns out the owners were at the store, so I'm not seeing the big issue?

I think checking with the store first is fine. If they had and were willing to use a PA system, all the better. But it seemed like there was expectations above and beyond. The store is not wrong or bad for not allowing the dog in.

This is in general, not exactly specific to this situation. I am glad this situation had a good ending though.

But:

If it's not possible to bring a stray dog home with you or bring it to a shelter, just drive it to a nearby vet and leave it with them. They can scan it for a chip and might know the owner if it came from nearby. They also have cages/kennels it could be safely held in until AC is able to come get it.

Around here AC won't come out to pick up strays unless they're menacing people. And even when they do, they take hours to show up. I've picked up a lot of stray dogs over the years and never had a vet refuse to hold on to it.

On the way to dog class one Saturday we found a female pit running through traffic. She had no ID but had a rabies tag so I called the vet. We asked if we could bring her there and they said "No we don't do that." They have us the address associated with the tag and we just took her home ourselves. If we had just showed up with her that might have been different though. That's a good thought Romy.

We don't let people drop strays off with us. We are the impound facility for the city, so a lot of people try. They are told to call animal control, or if the AC officer is off duty, then they have to call the police department and have a cop get the animal. This is not really just some policy we came up with; AC doesn't want strays dropped off, either. But I don't think there is really an issue with our AC officer being slow to respond, she's pretty good.

Guess it's all largely dependent on area.

In most places they are going to quickly and privately have staff man the entries before announcing a Code Adam. After that they will then announce it over a PA or radio.

At the vet I worked for, we would accept strays if they could be identified as a dog we treated (by appearance, rabies tag, chip, etc.) but not just any old stray. But we ALWAYS let people come to have a stray scanned for a chip.

Yes, as someone who is working with their doctor to try to get their dog certified as a service dog, or at the very least an emotional support animal, I find it very annoying that you wanted to pass this dog off as a service dog.

now I have expressed annoyance to no dog policies in stores but I have never broken the rules with any dog and taken them in to a store UNLESS I knew the owner and they were okay with it. a lot of the local business in our small town are okay with people bringing their well behaved dogs in.

DD, again, no such thing as certification lol

I think she just means ..she is working with her doctor to get the dog covered under ADA. I'm assuming (and yes, I know what they say about assuming) that you would need some kind of 'doctor's note'? Or else anyone could yell service dog& no one could ever dispute it?

The only person allowed to ask for proof of a disability under the ADA is a judge in court.

I know that.. but I mean is, it is illegal if you don't have a doctor's consent, isn't it? I mean.. if you don't need consent from a doctor then any dog can be a service dog if it is task trained, right?

You need to legally disabled, the dog must be trained to do something to mitigate your disability. That's all.

Strongly recommended to have a doctors prescription, but not specified in the ADA.

Yes.. so basically what I said. She is trying to get herself classed as legally disabled, I am assuming.

Who knows.

Yes, I know that she is, but "certifying" a dog as a SD makes it harder for handlers who didn't shell out money for a bogus piece of paper that has no legal value. It makes gatekeepers think all SDs need to be certified, when they do not. I'm just trying to make sure she understands that she should not call her dog certified and doesn't get scammed out of money for a "certification".

Keeping in mind this is all in the US, of course.

I don't have a doctor's note for my SD. I'll need one if I move into no-pets housing, but that's about it.

But you're disabled (I'm sorry.. that sounds SO rude& I don't mean it rudely, I'm just not sure how else to phrase it) under ADA& it's confirmed by a doctor, correct?

Or else I could just say I have anxiety, train Penn to snuggle me& take her everywhere& no one would be able to say anything because I don't need to have any sort of conformation from a doctor ..which seems really wrong?

Unfortunately it is that easy, which is why there's a huge faker problem.

Yes I meant by way of a doctor's note, I am sorry for using the term "certified", I had a brain burp and forgot that it was a loaded word in regards to SD's I myself would be ok with getting her recognized (is that a more appropriate way to say it?) as an ESA if she proves unfit to be a full SD.

I just want to go about this the right way but this my first journey doing this and I am a little embarrassed about it I have gotten every reaction from people who know me well being happy for me to others being all "so that means you're crazy, right?" Or "why do you need an SD you aren't physically disabled!" :/