Brian Mooreokay, sanity check. going on a flight in July. Trying to go through the hoops to bring my guide dog and I get this: "The final assessment for accepting the Service Dog will be made at the airport on review of documentation and observation of the behaviour of the Service Dog, as well the dog is harnessed, leashed, or tethered at all times in the airport and on the aircraft. Porter Airlines is entitled to obtain assurances that we can safely transport a service dog and that the animal behaves properly in a public setting." So my rights to travlel on a ticket I am paying for is determined by some random ticket counter agent? Are any other passengers subjected to this level of Scrutiny? I really don't think it will be a problem because he is well behaved but I have a problem with some random person with no qualification getting to determine if I get to travel. Maybe I'm just grupy as I get older?
YourFavoriteAtheist🇨🇦@bmoore123 well, Porter is high snobbery anyway.
Lynette@bmoore123 That’s ridiculous! I have flown with Porter many times, I’m a VIP member and I’ve never had any issues. Where are you going?
@lynessence I think I am too. Calgary
@lynessence I don't suspect there will be any issues because Farley behaves like a guide dog and of course he will be in harness. not much good if he isn't but I find the tone of the email offensive.
@bmoore123 Maybe they’ve changed their policies? I don’t ever remember getting an email from them about travelling with my guy dog before. I can understand why you find the tone of that offensive.
@lynessence well, they sayI have to provide his certification 48 hours in advance. I sent a photo of his ID card. Like I say, I don't suspect it will be a problem but I will deliberately do online check in which I usually do anyway just to not deal with the counter staff.
@bmoore123 Yeah, they must have changed their policies. Let’s see, I think the last time I flew on Porter with kit was last May, not May of this year but May 2024 and I know for a fact I didn’t receive any kind of email like that. What a pain in the ass!
Terry B.@lynessence @bmoore123 i know someone who flew porter from BC to Ontario with-in the last month and they didn't complain about anything.
@bmoore123 @lynessence I find it so incredibly outrageous all the hoops we have to jump through just to get our goddamn dogs on a plane these days.
@lynessence @bmoore123 I don't have a dog anymore, but unless or until something changes to where we can have some sort of universal access card from a school or licensed and certified trainer, where all we have to do is flash the card, I probably won't have another one.
@Cam @bmoore123 I am travelling to the states in three weeks but Kit is not going with me because she’s too old to attend convention. It’s just too busy for her. On one hand, I am glad that I don’t have to jump all through those stupid hoops to travel to the US with a guide dog, especially considering what’s happening now. But on the other, the anxiety is real. I’m not worried about my mobility skills, it’s just that feeling of aloneness that bothers me.
Tim Appleby@lynessence @Cam no, that sucks. I wil not get another because of things like this. it is just not worth the trade offs anymore in my view. for some people it still might be but I have had enough. Half the people in this building have a melt down when we are in the elevator even though he sits in the corner. Airline shit, ride share refusals, etc. I am just done.
@bmoore123 @Cam Well, it looks like I am going to be waiting at least another year before I get a dog from GDB, so I guess I can make a decision then. But I have had dogs constantly for 26 years and it’s really hard to imagine living the rest of my life without one.
@lynessence @Cam I suspect I will miss it a lot since I like having a dog and I might change my mind but at this point, I am done.
@bmoore123 @Cam Oh believe me, I get it. Although living here, I have to say, I don’t experience access issues very often. I don’t take Uber unless I’m with my son, and have my cane. Otherwise, I take a taxi because the drivers all know me and I don’t have any refusal issues with them. It’s only when I travel to other cities that it becomes an issue, and then usually I’ll just fork out the extra money for Uber pet.
@lynessence @Cam yes, sometimes the lack of head ache is worth the extra money!
@bmoore123 @Cam But that’s assuming that you’re privileged enough to have the extra money. Lots of guy dog owners are on fixed incomes and don’t have the extra money.
@lynessence @Cam yes, that's true too
@lynessence @Cam I rarely take ride share things in Toronto unless I am going to something that is hard to get to or I don't have energy. I took one the other day because Warden subway is under major construction and I didn't feel like figuring out where they moved the entrances to and how to get to them.
@bmoore123 @Cam As for people having a meltdown when you enter the elevator with your dog, we have had a recent influx of new people into the city, I’m not going to name any names or target any specific group, but they are not dog friendly. That annoys the hell out of me because I was here first. If you don’t like my dog you can fuck off because I was here first! My tolerance for that kind of behaviour is rapidly diminishing. Out of all of the issues that guy dog owner’s face, it’s probably the one that bothers me the most.
@lynessence @Cam yes me too. he isn't doing anything to you or even acknowledging that you exist. Also, you made a choice to move into a building where people have pet dogs and lots of them. If you don't like them that much, perhaps that should have been a consideration
@lynessence @Cam if I didn't live on the 14th floor, I would not take the elevator at all but not prepared to walk up that several times a day, especially if I have stuff. Sometimes we do it just because we can but not when I am carrying things.
@bmoore123 @Cam Lol I don’t think I would ever climb up 14 flights of stairs just for fun. 😂
@lynessence @Cam its good exercise.
@bmoore123 @Cam Yeah I can’t argue with that. Good for cardio and good for the leg muscles.
@lynessence @bmoore123 When I lived at Yonge and Eg, I lived on the 14th floor. Only once did I ever have to climb all that way up on the stairs. It was murder. I'm not exactly in shape. Lol
@lynessence @bmoore123 I agree with you completely on this bryan. I just don't have the patience to fight access issues and people's self entitled attitudes when it comes to this kind of thing anymore. And I absolutely do commend and deeply respect those who do keep on fighting for the cause. But like you, I'm just done.
@lynessence @bmoore123 I can understand that for sure. When I didn't have Sandor or Pierre anymore, I felt that. I just can't handle the aggravation of flying with my dog, Ride refusals by uninformed or misinformed rideshare people, or those who refuse to learn. These people with purse pal dogs and their self entitled sense of righteousness that they can take their dog anywhere just because they feel like it, or show bogus emotional support garbage defence papers just really burns me up. I just would really like to know what happened to the days when the only dogs allowed in controlled public environments were certified service dogs.
@Cam @bmoore123 As a woman, I definitely feel safer travelling with a dog, especially since I love to do night walks. I would never do that on my own with a cane. I just feel so much more vulnerable.
@lynessence @Cam you are brave going to the US. I am not sure I would go unless I had to. I guess it is a work requirement thing but I would be hesitant.
@bmoore123 @Cam It is a work requirement but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous at all.
@lynessence @Cam yes, fair enough
@bmoore123 @Cam I will be keeping in close contact with lots of people during my trip. If I happen to get detained, people will know. I won’t just disappear. I have been reading some truly frightening horror stories, and I don’t know if they’re exaggerated or not, but I don’t wanna take the chance.
@lynessence @Cam do you have a phone with basically nothing on it that you can present if they ask to see it? be sure and leave talkback or voice over on because it will create confusion!
@bmoore123 @Cam Yes I do. I have an android phone that I use specifically for work. It doesn’t have any social media or anything like that on it.
@bmoore123 @lynessence That's the joys of dealing with corporate greed!
@carrottop1023 @bmoore123 No, I suspect that the language in that email is more targeted towards folks who are trying to pass off pets as service animals. Legitimate service dog users just happened to get caught in the crossfire.
@lynessence @carrottop1023 yes, that is exactly what is happening.
@lynessence @bmoore123 It's obvious that the guide dog user community is continuously being targeted.
@carrottop1023 @lynessence it isn't just us. all legitimate service dog users are caught up in this.
@bmoore123 @lynessence That's rather unfortunate.
@bmoore123 @lynessence I believe more education is needed, especially when it comes to service animal legislation., companies need to be held accountable for the language that's being used in any documentation that's ritten, including but, not limited to emails.
@carrottop1023 @bmoore123 @lynessence the way it works is they draft a message that is intended for everyone they don't sit there and write one for each person. education usually doesn't have anything to do with it and it wouldn't be even required if people were not already abusing the system.
@bmoore123 @lynessence However, legislation can only go so far though.
@bmoore123 @carrottop1023 Exactly, and the reason for that is that people with fake service dogs can actually have pretty legitimate looking papers. We had an incident in my building a while ago where there was a woman who had a pitbull and she said it was service dog. She was able to convince Building management that it was a service dog because she had papers for it. It attacked a couple of people, including a child, and they were having a hard time getting her out of the building. I don’t know whatever happened, fortunately we never ran into that dog.
@lynessence @bmoore123 Oh, good grief, that's absolutely ridiculous!
@carrottop1023 @bmoore123 It certainly is. My dog was almost attacked a few years ago by a lady in our building who was passing off an emotional service dog as a legitimate service animal. Sorry, I mean emotional support dog. I made sure to provide proof to management that emotional support animals are not legitimate service dogs
@lynessence @carrottop1023 @bmoore123 yes i totally agree with you and those people are frankly a pain in the ass and cause a lot of trouble for those who actually need service animals.