Emotional Support Animals in the Gym

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not_satisfied
not_satisfied Posts: 782 Member
in Motivation and Support
Today I saw something I'd never seen before. A woman brought her emotional support dog into the gym with her to be there next to her as she worked out.

I'm curious if any of you have had this same experience? And just how common is it? And if more people start bringing these dogs (and other animals) into the gym is that going to cause other kinds of problems such as affecting people with allergies to pet dander? What if some of the support animals get into a fight with each other?

Just trying to think of some of the unintended consequences here.

Your thoughts?

Replies

  • MarziPanda95
    MarziPanda95 Posts: 1,326 Member
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    I don't think there's any way an animal trained as an emotional support animal would get into a fight with a similarly trained animal. That's like saying 'what if two blind people brought their guide dogs into the gym? They might get into a fight!' Yeah, no. They're trained not to.
  • njitaliana
    njitaliana Posts: 814 Member
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    Was the dog wearing a vest identifying it as a service dog? Or was she just calling her pet her "emotional support dog?" Because the ADA only covers service dogs for physical disabilities, blindness, and PTSD. People with trained dogs will have ID cards with them to show that the animal is a true, trained service dog.

    I'm allergic to animals, but I'd just put up with the dander for someone who genuinely needed a service animal.

    Trained dogs won't be getting into fights, as they are on the job. Untrained dogs, whose owners are just bringing their pets to the gym, are a different matter.
  • auroranflash
    auroranflash Posts: 3,569 Member
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    There are so few of these animals since they cost so much to train and keep that I doubt you will ever be inundated with them, unless your gym advertises as a special facility for such a thing.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    MarziPanda95 wrote: »
    I don't think there's any way an animal trained as an emotional support animal would get into a fight with a similarly trained animal. That's like saying 'what if two blind people brought their guide dogs into the gym? They might get into a fight!' Yeah, no. They're trained not to.

    Exactly this.

    These dogs are working when out with their owners, like a support worker is when with a disabled child in a school. They go through years of training before they are given to the person in need. This is why you do not touch, call, pet, or interact with the animal in any way. They don't get pats while they are working.

    Dogs are intelligent enough to understand how they should behave while working.

    They're even trained on how to behave if they are attached by a pet dog.

    As for the people who get allergies: I'm going to have to say "tough" to them. An allergy is not a disability. That would be like saying that a person in a wheelchair wouldn't be allowed on a bus because it takes up too much space.
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
    edited February 2015
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    I highly doubt support animals are going to fight one another. They're specifically trained to be very calm. I agree that it is highly unlikely there will be more than one and animal dander won't be a problem.

    ETA: It's a special animal, not just any animal so people aren't all going to bring their pets in.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    Emotional Support Animals are not special and allowed anywhere unless they are certified, trained and registered as Psychiatric Service Animals. There is a difference. A PSA is registered just like a guide dog.
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    Unfortunately, many people are abusing the whole service dog idea. My niece wanted to bring her very large dog with her on the airplane when she flew home to see our dying relative. She was able to pay $20 for a certificate she bought off the Internet that was convincing enough that the airline let the dog sit in the seat next to her on the airplane and the hospital allowed the dog to stay in the waiting room. Very sad.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    yayamom3 wrote: »
    Unfortunately, many people are abusing the whole service dog idea. My niece wanted to bring her very large dog with her on the airplane when she flew home to see our dying relative. She was able to pay $20 for a certificate she bought off the Internet that was convincing enough that the airline let the dog sit in the seat next to her on the airplane and the hospital allowed the dog to stay in the waiting room. Very sad.

    This, a service dog is not.
  • dinosaurparty
    dinosaurparty Posts: 185 Member
    edited February 2015
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    Service animals are selected and trained to be mellow and well behaved, so I doubt you'd ever see them causing trouble with one another. A trainer at a ladies' gym I went to years ago would bring her little dog in with her. It was some sort of mini-poodle cross, I think. Very quiet and well trained. It just sat in her dog purse in the corner while she worked.

    Hey, whatever makes people's lives easier, right? I wish Emotional Support Dogs were a thing in Canada :(
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,831 Member
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    "Emotional support" animals are controversial and the laws covering them may be contradicting. For the ADA to come into play, several requirements must be met. Consider this from Wikipedia: "The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) allows people with disabilities to bring their service animals in public places.[10] However, the ADA only extends these protections to dogs that have been "individually trained" to "perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability," which is the definition of service animals under 28 C.F.R. § 36.104.[10] Since emotional support animals are typically not trained for an individual's specific disability and since emotional support animals might not be dogs, they do not receive the protections of the ADA.[10] A public place can therefore deny an emotional support animal admission.

    Because some folks have stretched the concept of service animals and claimed their pets to be emotional support animals to be able to bring the animals with them, some places have instituted strict policies. Others fearing that they would not be in compliance with ADA have not.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    There's a lot of controversy about Emotional Support Dogs vs Registered Service Animals. I'm not even going to touch that one.

    I am more concerned with the idea that someone would bring an animal into an unsafe situation like a gym. I hope that the animal was protected from harm (i.e. not near any of the weights, gymnastic equipment, etc.). Accidents happen. Other gym goer drops a plate on an adult human foot, a toe might break. Drop/roll a plate onto a dog and you could have a dead dog.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    Even a well trained dog (albeit extremely rare) would be fine in a gym, IMO. In order to pass the advanced level of obedience training, you need to have your dog sit and stay for 20+ minutes, while you walk off and go somewhere the dog cannot see you.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited February 2015
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    The mental image of a gym dog throw down is cracking me up.

    whippet_zpsvzgonvne.png
  • lishie_rebooted
    lishie_rebooted Posts: 2,973 Member
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    not_satisfied wrote: »
    I guess I was unaware of what the requirements were for a dog to be considered a support dog. I've heard that people can simply get a note from their doctor to certify that their family pet is a support animal.

    Also the woman that I saw in the gym today said that this dog is still a puppy, so it clearly hasn't had THAT much training. Also, it did have a vest on identifying it as a service dog with a big "DO NOT PET" message on its vest.

    I have no problem with someone with a disability using what means they need to, to live their life as they want. I just got the impression that this was not the case in the example I witnessed.

    You could always bring your concern up to management and see if they have a letter on file about it or something?
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
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    chivalryder wrote: »
    MarziPanda95 wrote: »
    I don't think there's any way an animal trained as an emotional support animal would get into a fight with a similarly trained animal. That's like saying 'what if two blind people brought their guide dogs into the gym? They might get into a fight!' Yeah, no. They're trained not to.

    Exactly this.

    These dogs are working when out with their owners, like a support worker is when with a disabled child in a school. They go through years of training before they are given to the person in need. This is why you do not touch, call, pet, or interact with the animal in any way. They don't get pats while they are working.

    Dogs are intelligent enough to understand how they should behave while working.

    They're even trained on how to behave if they are attached by a pet dog.

    As for the people who get allergies: I'm going to have to say "tough" to them. An allergy is not a disability. That would be like saying that a person in a wheelchair wouldn't be allowed on a bus because it takes up too much space.

    It depends on if the animal is a "real" support animal or not. I have no problem with a PSA or DSA certified and trained animal who is actually assisting the human.

    But someone claiming it without any or little support (refer to the airline example above), I think someone's ability to breathe while working out should outrank that animal.
  • AgentOrangeJuice
    AgentOrangeJuice Posts: 1,069 Member
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    This seems like one of those situations where everyone could just be like "oh there's a dog in the gym, I'll keep minding my own business"
  • SashleyA
    SashleyA Posts: 122 Member
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    britishbroccoli wrote: »
    There's a lot of controversy about Emotional Support Dogs vs Registered Service Animals. I'm not even going to touch that one.

    I am more concerned with the idea that someone would bring an animal into an unsafe situation like a gym. I hope that the animal was protected from harm (i.e. not near any of the weights, gymnastic equipment, etc.). Accidents happen. Other gym goer drops a plate on an adult human foot, a toe might break. Drop/roll a plate onto a dog and you could have a dead dog.

    My mother in law has a helper dog in training (he's not fully certified yet, but is in the phase of his training where he goes out in public). She works with a personal trainer and her not fully qualified dog knows how to get out of the way when he needs to. However, for many people, going out without their dog is more unsafe than the likelihood that their highly trained helper would get hurt in the gym.

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