A service animal means any dog trained individually to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Service
animals are appreciated and considered a blissful gift. However, not everybody is open-minded enough to accept them. It can cause conflict leading to the wreckage of families and friends. Please read the story below to see how it happened!
Source: US Service Animal (photo used for illustration)
A lady with her Reddit account name
u/throwra445788779 asked for opinions on the viral subreddit
AITA (r/AmITheA**hole) because her brother's family made her feel bad for keeping her disabled husband's service dog despite her niece's inconvenience with that pup. The original poster (OP) revealed that her brother's family moved in with hers after losing their home. While waiting for a new place to live, the fourteen-year-old niece - her brother's daughter asked the OP to move the service dog since she felt uncomfortable with him.
Source: u/throwra445788779
The OP didn't detect any harm the pup could do to her niece. The girl had no allergic symptoms and nothing else. Hence, the OP insisted on keeping him. Her brother's family stormed up to blame her for being heartless and unsupportive. They even tried talking to the disabled husband, but they failed. Then, he suggested to the OP that he should go to his father's place. She refused because his father had mistreated him. She knew she was doing the right thing, but her brother's reaction upset her.
Source: u/throwra445788780
Redditors hardly agreed with each other a hundred percent. Nonetheless, they all supported the OP to keep her service dog. Firstly, they emphasized that service animals were like medical prescriptions. People couldn't take away somebody's pills, wheelchairs, or medical items just because they didn't like or feel uncomfortable with them. No matter how the brother's family explained their request, they were disrespectful to the disabled man, his wife, and his dedicated, helpful pup.
Source: u/throwra445788781
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Secondly, Redditors advised the OP to make clear about the dog. If her niece didn't like him, she could choose between staying away from him in the OP's house or leaving it. Meanwhile, some comments pointed out that her brother and niece could hurt the pup, so she had better make them move out.
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Several Redditors wondered why the teenage niece wanted the dog to be thrown away. They assumed that she might have had post-trauma signs with dogs before. In this case, the adults needed to put more effort into her disorder. If it wasn't the case, she might just seek control and attention since she felt insecure when her world turned upside-down.
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Sound off in the comment section about your opinion on this situation! Don't forget to hit the like-share button and check out more interesting posts on our site!
