@sheltie_fidget: Just a short little clip of service dogs being the absolute best pups while walking across a bridge at the zoo to go see some giraffes! 🦒🐾 But I also wanted to take this moment to talk about something incredibly important. If your dog is a pet and is not task-trained to mitigate your disability, please stop bringing them into non-pet-friendly zoos. I see far too many people online posting videos of themselves bringing their pets or misrepresenting their dogs as service animals just so they can enter non-pet-friendly zoos. And in so many of these videos, you can clearly see the stress and discomfort being caused, not only to the dogs themselves, but also to the animals living in the exhibits. I’ve seen barrier frustration, excessive barking, lunging, and other stress-related behaviors from pets, along with reactions from zoo animals. One animal becomes stressed, the other reacts, and suddenly you’ve created a chain reaction of unnecessary stress for everyone involved. And for what? Just so you could bring your pet somewhere they weren’t supposed to be? Zoo animals deserve to feel safe in their environment, and your pet deserves to feel safe in theirs. Of course, zoo animals may be curious about service dogs! That’s completely normal. But service dogs should be trained to remain calm, controlled, non-threatening, and neutral around other animals. They should not be barking, lunging, fixating, or creating unnecessary disturbances. And handlers should always be mindful of how their dog’s presence may affect the animals in the exhibits. Even a well-trained service dog may attract attention from zoo animals, which is why being respectful, maintaining appropriate distances, and following zoo policies are so important. It’s incredibly disrespectful to your own pet, to the animals living at the zoo, and to the disabled handlers who rely on their service dogs when people disregard these rules. Not every environment is appropriate for every dog, and that’s okay. Please stop prioritizing your desire to bring your pet everywhere over the comfort, safety, and well-being of the animals involved. Sometimes, the most responsible and loving thing you can do for your pet is simply leave them at home. #servicedogs #zoo #viral #fyp #zooanimals

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