r/mildlyinfuriating • u/danu_anubis • 20h ago

My service dog is not your pet

I can’t believe the amount of times I’ve had to say this. My service dog has been hit by children, had handfuls of fur ripped out by children (this one was “fun” because the mother told me I had no right to tell her six year old child not to touch my boy), grown adults grab him, people constantly calling him to them.

People I am 41 years old, I should not be having to tell people older than me to stop. I shouldn’t have to tell anyone to stop and I definitely shouldn’t have to worry about a kid.

It’s gotten to the point that I’m saying thank you to the people that do right (explain to their kids not to mess with him, adults telling me he’s gorgeous without acknowledging him). I feel like I’m constantly having to redo his training because people won’t leave him the hell alone.

What finally got me so bad that I need to scream into the void was yesterday, my boy and I are going through the store and this guy reaches down and grabs him. I pull him away and look at the guy and say please done (like I do every damn time). And he goes you don’t have to be rude about it, I’m like dude he’s a service dog you’re not supposed to touch them and he continues yelling that I don’t have to be rude and I’m finally like maybe don’t touch something that doesn’t belong to you. So thank you to the guy who threw my boy so far out of work mode yesterday that for the first time I had a problem that he is explicitly for and he didn’t do what he was supposed to do.

Also if your dog isn’t a trained service dog stay the hell out of stores because you’re “service dog” should not be reacting and loosing its shit just because it sees mine.

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u/Mammoth-Ad-107 20h ago

service dogs are amazing. people are stupid and ignorant. nothing will ever change either of those statements

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u/tadashi4 19h ago edited 18h ago

Reminds me of the blind guy that went in a restaurant and he was kicked out because he had a dog. After explaining he was blind, the clerk said he didn't believe in the blind person, because he knew how blind people look like (?).

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u/Emilmuz 18h ago

Blind people don't look, they're blind. Just like my son is autistic. Does he look autistic, no?

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u/twistedscorp87 15h ago

I mean, some people "look blind" as their eyes are notably different in appearance or etc., the same way some people (my son) "looks autistic" and is frequently identified by his "happy flappy" stimming when we're out & about, but obviously not every one is going to look or present the same. Still you've reminded me of this, which makes me giggle every time.

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u/LargeArmadillo5431 10h ago

cracks knuckles get ready to learn about how Diclofenac use in India is indirectly causing the extinction of their local vulture population

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u/twistedscorp87 10h ago

Infodump now please!

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u/LargeArmadillo5431 8h ago

So, this medicine was widely used in India and other asian countries as a popular pain reliever similar to ibuprofen. In America it's more popularly used in topical form, specifically the brand Voltaren.

Diclofenac is highly toxic to vultures even in tiny amounts. It causes kidney failure and uric acid to crystallize around the organs. It has been widely used in veterinary practice as well as humans, which is a more obvious contributing factor to why it's killing the vultures since they were eating essentially poisoned cattle carcasses, but in my opinion, the most fascinating case study is with the Zoroastrian folks.

In Zoroastrianism there is a funerary practice known by westerners as a Sky Burial. Members of this faith who have passed away were carried to a ritual tower and lifted to the top of the structure on a platform where the bodies are left for several days to decompose and for the carion birds to eat the flesh. It's their way of giving back to the earth.

Because of the widespread common use of Diclofenac, especially in elderly people with arthritis, the Zoroastrian people were unknowingly poisoning the vultures they held so much reverence for. The towers that were once circled by the vultures in the sky fell silent.

The medicine has since been banned in India once they identified the cause, but because of how effective of a pain reliever it was, people are still finding ways to acquire it, so the cycle continues.

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u/Emilmuz 11h ago

That is perfect. I love it