City of Absurdity: Every New York Dog is a Service Dog

There are many laws and regulations in New York that don’t make a lick of sense, but my definite favorite is the law concerning animals allowed to enter a restaurant with their owner. It’s plain absurd. Of course I am not objecting to dogs designated to their disabled owners – these dogs should be definitely allowed and are (they’re called “service dogs” over here). The problem is, New Yorkers try to squeeze every single dog into a restaurant as a service dog. How does that work? Usually a lady walks into the restaurant (I have to say it’s mostly women who exert the right) with a dog, and as soon as she hears that dogs are not allowed, she fires off the line: “But it’s a service dog!”. What can you do in a case like that? Well, nothing. You have to let her in. Can you require her to show a document validating her words? Nope. That would be against the law! The only thing you’re allowed to ask is how exactly the dog is helping the owner. But no one is asking that, for since the lady said it’s a service dog, the restaurant is covered in case of a control. No one is going to ask the question also for another reason – there’s no point in getting into an argument with a determined, irrational client who will make a scene no matter if she’s right or not. After all, she’s a New Yorker, and that means she feels she has all the rights in the world.

My favorite part comes when some of those ladies actually succeed in smuggling a dog onto premises and then try to keep the dog in a bag under the table, often covering its head with a foot, so that no one sees the animal. As soon as an employee makes a remark, the surefire answer comes. None of those ladies will even flinch as they deliver the lie. I don’t have to add that the dogs in question are usually tiny little ones, mostly a Yorksire or a Shitzu.

To make things even funnier, it turns out that according to New York law, the group of „service animals” also includes… miniature horses! I am not kidding! I have to say I dream of witnessing a situation of someone walking into a bar with their horse and claiming it’s their “service animal”, only to make the employees remove 2 or 3 chairs in order to make room for the new guest. As Americans say – it would make my day. You bet your ass I would write a separate post about that.

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