Random Wednesday Irritations

Yesterday I was kind of sunshiney and irritatingly positive and upbeat, but fear not, I'm back to normal today. But last nights snow did not cause it, I love the snow no matter what time of year.

But, the snow has caused people to act in ways that do bother me. Here's my simple rules of how to not kill others when it snows.

1. Clean off your car. No, not run the wipers or scrape just the little spot on the windshield that you ever look out, but clean it off. If you're to short, get a broom. Don't be the asshole who can only see out of one little section of windshield causing a moving blizzard that blinds all other drivers as bad as yourself.
2. If it's cold enough to snow, it's cold enough to possibly cause ice on the roadways. Slow down and give yourself some extra time to get to where you need to go. This morning I saw three different accidents on the way to walk the dogs. Three. If people gave themselves time and space they probably could have averted the accident.

That's the main things I think today for driving. I admit, I am not a perfect driver, since a couple weeks ago I told you of my traffic ticket, but even on that snowy day I had done everything I request here and still got to work on time because I had given myself a lot of time in bad weather to keep from speeding or driving stupidly in bad conditions. The officer may have also given me the break on the ticket because my car was obviously cleaned off so I could see and I had a shovel in the back seat in case I got stuck or needed to help someone else who was.

As for other items, I was reading a forum today regarding adopting an older dog versus a puppy when I came across someone speaking of their older mutt they adopted. After telling us her behavioral issues from fear due to an abusive past she states she's a great "service dog" as long as she can hide under a table. Really? That's your service dog? No, that's the dog you put a service dog vest on so you can have an excuse to take anywhere you want. A service dog is relaxed, and calm in all situations due to specialized training to provide you with an actual service due to mental or physical handicap and/or trauma and has been certified by someone with ADA credentialing to do so. And I can tell you right now that if your dog is fearful and hiding under a table, she is not, nor will ever be certified as a service dog.

Or better yet, from ADA.gov:

"Service animals are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA.This definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act."

I have witnessed an ever growing population of people who use "Service Animal" to skirt what is allowable for their dogs. Including here locally a woman who works in a pet store retailer with her service dog that regularly attempts to attack other peoples dogs who are supposedly welcome there. And may I also point out that the DA states that only trained dogs, are service animals. Not your parrot or ferret.

Okay, I know I demand a certain level of behavior from my dogs that others do not. I get it. I love to take my dogs out with me every where when able and therefor require them to behave properly (as I was raised myself, thanks Mom) and get kind of pissed when I see people who are clueless regarding their dogs behavior and cannot grasp why they are not welcome everywhere they feel they should be. I also grasp that not everyone loves dogs as I do. I have a friend who is actually quite fearful of dogs and I make decisions when I know she will be around to purposefully not have her and my dogs in each others presence. I know she has another friend who simply doesn't care about such niceties and places our mutual friend in fearful situations with her two dogs. I have a lot of other dog related issues with this person and can simply say that our views clash in many many areas regarding appropriate canine behavior. So, in the long and short of it, this is just my view point on dogs and driving and I hope that my sense of common sense is more popular than I think it is. I'm probably wrong though and right now there's someone else writing on their blog about how domineering and ass-holish my viewpoints are. That's okay, I know I'm already the "Dick of the Dog Park", I can be that here too, it's my blog.

Some gratuitous knitting picture now.

Have a great one guys, and drive safe whether you have snow on the ground or not.