Blueberry Noodles

So I’ve seen the post he’s talking about around tumblr and twitter, but haven’t seen this on tumblr. I think it’s worth sharing.

@mariagvogel. This isn’t to single you out, just that you’re the person who cross posted this from twitter and that you mentioned not having enough knowledge on service dogs to form a proper opinion.

I’d first like to address the lies of Steenhout’s posts. @lumpatronics is a grown woman, not a teenager, and is working with a professional dog trainer. When the incident took place lumpatronics was in a grocery store when she tripped and dropped Raider’s (her service dog) leash. Raider was found an aisle over, not 2 blocks away, and was not pawing the woman. Raider is still working as a service dog and was never deemed inappropriate as a service dog (doh!).

With that out of the way I’d like to further explain what a service dog is. This is taken directly from ada.gov: Under the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.  The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability. There is no list of official tasks or how the dog must perform them. As long as it’s a trained behaviour that mitigates the handler’s disability, it counts. To give you an idea of some tasks a dog might perform here is a list of 143 of them thought the dog only needs to know one task and it’s not limited to that list. You’ll see ‘alert for help’ is on that list.

Each service dog is uniquely tailored to their handler’s needs. What might work with one service dog team won’t necessarily work for another. Steenhout’s example of the dog staying with their handler and barking to alert others would not work for lumpatronics because she has sensory issues and would be sent into sensory overload from the barking while recovering from her seizure. A dog being trained to find help is a perfectly valid and legal task that isn’t unheard of in seizure response dogs.

Service dogs are required to be leashed unless the leash interferes with one’s disability or performing a task. From ada.gov: Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls. Since Raider was tasking he was considered under other effective control.

While service dogs are not legally required to wear a vest that does not mean vests are a scam. Some service dog handlers choose to utilize a vest some don’t. Registries are a scam but just somebody registered their dog with one doesn’t necessarily mean the dog is a fake service dog. The handler may have simply not have known better. As far as I’m aware Raider is not registered as a service dog so I’m not sure why it was brought up.

Other things to note is that while Labradors, Golden Retreivers, Poodles, and mixes of the 3 are the most commonly seen as service dogs, there is no restriction on what breeds are allowed to be service dogs (Q22). It is also not legally required for the dog to be professionally trained and handlers with owner trained dogs have just as many rights as handlers with organization trained dogs (Q5). There is no restrictions on where the dog comes from or what age it is either. Breeder, rescue, or the family dog are all valid choices if the dog has the right temperament for service dog work.

The best thing to do if you see a service dog team is to ignore the dog. I hear a lot of people say that while they don’t pat service dogs they always make sure to tell the dog’s handler how the dog is doing a good job. While it’s coming from a good place I know a lot of handlers would prefer you didn’t. They are just trying to go through their day like anybody else but usually get stopped because of their dogs. Service dogs are medical equipment. You wouldn’t stop somebody to tell them their cane, wheelchair, oxygen tank, etc, is doing a good job, would you?

This is longer than I intended and their was more things I wanted to add but I’m having a hard time remembering them and I’m running out of energy for this. I hope what I’ve said makes sense and that I’ve educated a few people about service dogs. Here are some links to service dog handlers correcting this post. @pavusiing has a good response to this post here, @ofspaceandboys here, and @coconutsake here. I’m sure there are others but these are the only ones that have come across my dash. While not made as a response to Steenhout’s post @astraltailwags has a very good post about fake service dogs here.

Here are some links to help people to educate themselves on service animals in the USA

So I’ve seen the post he’s talking about around tumblr and twitter, but haven’t seen this on tumblr. I think it’s worth sharing.

@mariagvogel. This isn’t to single you out, just that you’re the person who cross posted this from twitter and that you mentioned not having enough knowledge on service dogs to form a proper opinion.

I’d first like to address the lies of Steenhout’s posts. @lumpatronics is a grown woman, not a teenager, and is working with a professional dog trainer. When the incident took place lumpatronics was in a grocery store when she tripped and dropped Raider’s (her service dog) leash. Raider was found an aisle over, not 2 blocks away, and was not pawing the woman. Raider is still working as a service dog and was never deemed inappropriate as a service dog (doh!).

With that out of the way I’d like to further explain what a service dog is. This is taken directly from ada.gov: Under the ADA, a service animal is defined as a dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability.  The task(s) performed by the dog must be directly related to the person’s disability. There is no list of official tasks or how the dog must perform them. As long as it’s a trained behaviour that mitigates the handler’s disability, it counts. To give you an idea of some tasks a dog might perform here is a list of 143 of them thought the dog only needs to know one task and it’s not limited to that list. You’ll see ‘alert for help’ is on that list.

Each service dog is uniquely tailored to their handler’s needs. What might work with one service dog team won’t necessarily work for another. Steenhout’s example of the dog staying with their handler and barking to alert others would not work for lumpatronics because she has sensory issues and would be sent into sensory overload from the barking while recovering from her seizure. A dog being trained to find help is a perfectly valid and legal task that isn’t unheard of in seizure response dogs.

Service dogs are required to be leashed unless the leash interferes with one’s disability or performing a task. From ada.gov: Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls. Since Raider was tasking he was considered under other effective control.

While service dogs are not legally required to wear a vest that does not mean vests are a scam. Some service dog handlers choose to utilize a vest some don’t. Registries are a scam but just somebody registered their dog with one doesn’t necessarily mean the dog is a fake service dog. The handler may have simply not have known better. As far as I’m aware Raider is not registered as a service dog so I’m not sure why it was brought up.

Other things to note is that while Labradors, Golden Retreivers, Poodles, and mixes of the 3 are the most commonly seen as service dogs, there is no restriction on what breeds are allowed to be service dogs (Q22). It is also not legally required for the dog to be professionally trained and handlers with owner trained dogs have just as many rights as handlers with organization trained dogs (Q5). There is no restrictions on where the dog comes from or what age it is either. Breeder, rescue, or the family dog are all valid choices if the dog has the right temperament for service dog work.

The best thing to do if you see a service dog team is to ignore the dog. I hear a lot of people say that while they don’t pat service dogs they always make sure to tell the dog’s handler how the dog is doing a good job. While it’s coming from a good place I know a lot of handlers would prefer you didn’t. They are just trying to go through their day like anybody else but usually get stopped because of their dogs. Service dogs are medical equipment. You wouldn’t stop somebody to tell them their cane, wheelchair, oxygen tank, etc, is doing a good job, would you?

This is longer than I intended and their was more things I wanted to add but I’m having a hard time remembering them and I’m running out of energy for this. I hope what I’ve said makes sense and that I’ve educated a few people about service dogs. Here are some links to service dog handlers correcting this post. @pavusiing has a good response to this post here, @ofspaceandboys here, and @coconutsake here. I’m sure there are others but these are the only ones that have come across my dash. While not made as a response to Steenhout’s post @astraltailwags has a very good post about fake service dogs here.

Here are some links to help people to educate themselves on service animals in the USA

Tumblr’s at it again, thanks to the new European Privacy Laws. There’s probably nobody who will read this, but it pissed me off so much that I decided to make a post about it. (Ignore the weird language mish-mash, depending on your country the language might differ.)

OK, so many of us get this screen when we try to access our dash:

Realise how the ‘OK’ button is a nice, attention-grabbing blue? If you’re like me, you’re not exactly into reading a 100 pages document and tend to just click it.

My tip? DONT. Instead click on ‘Manage Options’ right next to it:

Now you’ll see this page:

Still pretty harmless, right? That ‘Accept’ button is looking really attractive right now. Instead, click on Verwalten (Probably something like ‘Manage Options’ or something in english) and you’ll get to this page:

Now that’s not too bad, right? I just switched all the buttons to ‘off’, because I’m jealously guarding my personal information and don’t want Tumblr to go off and do who knows what with it. Looks like we’re done! But wait: There’s a SHOW option.

When we click on that one, what we will get is this:

A HUGE list with OVER 300 ENTRIES of companies that can use your data by default if you’d just clicked ‘OK’ on that very first page. Coincidence that this list is hidden that much? Me thinks not. They’re all switched on by default, but I am still a petty bitch that doesn’t want to give out her data, so I switched them all off. All 300+ of them. There is no option to switch them all off at once, and even if you disable all the options above, the companies are still switched on.

There’s still a chance to keep this overly broad, massively damaging law from being passed as written - Governor Chris Christie has to be convinced to veto it. 

The best way to make that happen is to call his office at 609-292-6000 and tell them that Governor Christie needs to veto Senate Bill 2508 (Nosey’s Law). You don’t want to say too much - I suggest saying you want it vetoed because it will outlaw vital outreach and conservation programs as well as the intended targets, eliminating educational opportunities for residents and destroying local businesses. If you are a NJ resident, say so first. If you’re not, call anyways - the opinions of NJ constituents will have the most weight, but you’ll still help get the Governor’s attention. 

If you’re not able to make a phone call, you can tweet your message to  @ChrisChristie. Use the hastag #vetonoseyslaw. If you feel like doing multiple tweets, use your subsequent ones to tell the Governor about the impact mobile animal outreach programs have had on your life (for example: when educators brought snakes to your classroom and you fell in love with reptiles). 

Good, I’ve got your attention. I’ve heard about this net neutrality bullshit returning. I fought it when it started popping up a few years ago, and I’m going to fight it again. Guys, it’s BACK AGAIN and even worse theres a big chance it will END UP PASSING!

https://www.battleforthenet.com/#bftn-action-form

This could literally mean a shit ton of you wont be able to see me anymore if your provider decides that they want to regulate/censor, sayyy overly sexual content. You’ll also have to pay extra money to even use Tumblr!

https://www.battleforthenet.com/#bftn-action-form

Please guys, we defeated this shit once, we can do it again. They’re trying to do it now while people are distracted by the holidays and fucking Justice League. As of today, it seems as though there have only been 266,810 calls made to Congress. This is NOT good enough!! MILLIONS of people use the net, and if each one of them took 60 seconds to call and protect it, holy balls do you KNOW how much of a difference that would make??? But noooo, you’re busy streaming an ecchi anime that wont be available to you soon!!!!!

Heres a direct link to make a difference (theres also links to other sites of the same nature on here), and yes, YOU can make a fucking difference because this is YOUR internet at stake here. If you’re not going to make the call, share this and maybe SOMEONE fucking will!! This is important as shit and we cant afford to lose. Dec 14th is the deadline.

The reason they started this again is because… the timing.

Coincidence? I think NOT.

My dad’s dog has been bitten 5 times.

My pitbull mix was bitten once (she passed for an entirely different, unrelated reason)

I was housesitting for someone the other day whose dog ran up and stuck it’s nose in a rattlesnakes face and he was fine.

I don’t wanna hear any more of this “well you’ve never encountered one and have NEVER had to…” yeah fuck that. I live in the rattlesnake capital of the WORLD.

GG EZ

Source

I found out he had purchased the tortoise from a reptile show 8 years ago and that it lived in a ten gallon aquarium with gravel for substrate. It’s diet consisted of lettuce and carrots. Only. The only water provided was from a spray bottle that was used to mist the cage every other day. There was no heat, UV light, cage decor, hide, nothing. I wrote everything down and asked him for the box.

I opened the box and looked inside and nearly lost my composure. Inside was a stunted, gnarled creature about 4 inches long with a grossly abnormal shell. I took him out and put him on the table and pulled himself across the table bits and pieces of his carapace fell off. I don’t mean the scutes, I mean the actual pieces of bone that make up the shell. You could see his organs through gaps in his ribs.

“I will be right back” I said and grabbed the tortoise and went into the treatment room. I was so angry that my hands were shaking. Calculating some dosages I handed them to my tech and asked her to draw up pain medication and a sedative. “Did he approve this?” she asked.

“No. I don’t care. Please draw it up and give this IM.”

Slowly I walked back into the room. I asked the owner how long the tortoise had been like that. He wasn’t sure. He had just stopped eating a day ago. Up until then it was perfectly healthy.

“Your tortoise has been very poorly taken care of. If he were a dog this would be considered animal abuse. Because he is a reptile I am not very likely to get far with the authorities so I’m gonna make you a deal. You sign him over to me and pay for the examination and you can go.”

He thought about it and told me no, it was his tortoise. I asked why he didn’t take care of it. “I thought I was” was his response.

“Why doesn’t he have any source of heat?”

“I didn’t know they needed it.”

“Why didn’t you give him UV light?”

“I didn’t know they needed it.”

“You are telling me that you never opened a book, magazine, internet care sheet, nothing to find out how to care for a tortoise?”

“Yeah. I just thought I knew.”

We talked some more and I finally convinced him to sign the tortoise over. I went back to check on him and he looked even worse. More of his shell had fallen off. I could see his lungs now. I decided it would be for the best to humanely euthanize him so he wouldn’t suffer anymore.

In this day and age “I didn’t know” is not a valid excuse. You can look up anything on your phone from who invented pizza to where the closest movie theater is. There are literally hundreds of books, websites, and internet forums all about reptile care. You can call any veterinarian before purchasing an animal and ask them about their care and I promise you they will talk to you.

I am no longer going to gently nudge people in the right direction husbandry wise. I will no longer tell them “well, lots of people make that mistake, it’s ok”. I am going to call it like it is and if an animal is suffering they will know it is abuse. There is zero excuse for this.

It is sad that reptiles and other exotics don’t have the “cute” factor other animals do. No one would allow an owner to get away with feeding their dog nothing but potato peelings  because they just “didn’t know” and yet it is perfectly fine to own a reptile and watch it slowly starve to death because someone “didn’t know” it needed to eat insects.

Iguanas that live in cages so small they can’t turn around. Tortoises kept without the proper heat gradient. Monitor lizards over fed until they are morbidly obese and can’t even walk. This is all abuse and it is wrong. Unfortunately reptiles are survivors and they can be dying for YEARS before anything is noticed. Owners confuse being alive with being healthy far too often.

I simply cannot stand by and watch this happen anymore. I allowed myself to be drawn into the “well, exotics are different, people just don’t know” mind set and did lots of hand holding while owners declined or refused my recommendations. From now on I promise I will flat out tell people it is animal cruelty and will have to make a phone call if things don’t change. It will not make me a popular vet nor a rich one but at least I will be able to sleep at night.

https://www.gofundme.com/3v6h95k?pc=fm_co_shareflow_a

Dear sweet Yuri, first thing is first, you gotta sign up with Care Credit. Its a credit card (dont shoot me) specifically for pet medical needs. Every vet ive ever used accepts care credit! Whatever your bill is goes on the card and you pay a little bit off each week/month till your done. Super easy peasy! We recently addopted a very sick kitten who after 5 weeks, ended up passing away. He went to the vet every single Monday and had 2 surgeries and im already done paying off his bills. I only get paid 134.98$ a week :/ so i had to get care credit. But i also have an elderly cat named Kurtis who could start having age related problems and Care Credit is awesome to have for emergancies!

Secondly! You HAVE to ask the receptionist about prices on medications! Shop around! If you've got a sneaking suspicion that hes got an ear infection, ask each office how much their antibiotics run!