They are mostly recognizable by their uniform, which makes it evident that they are service animals. They should not be distracted because they are on duty and might divert from defending their owners.
When she refused to let children pet her service dog, a Redditor who wrote in the r/aita section was seen as disrespectful. OP was generally fortunate enough to have people understand when she told them not to pet her service dog, Atom, but this time, things went south.
Some children asked to pet the service dog of the OP while they were at the bookstore. OP needed her assistance dog harder that day because she was already dealing with anxiety.
The kids’ mother had to explain to them that her dog was working and that they shouldn’t pet her before giving them the all-clear to pet her, but they held firm enough to follow OP to another aisle.
By this point, OP had been so stressed out that she had a full-blown anxiety attack, which led her to yell at the children to be quiet. As a result, the mother fled the area and yelled at the OP for forbidding her children from continuing to pet the service dog.
The mother and kids were asked to leave OP by the personnel as soon as they intervened. They did, but not before the mother made remarks on how the OP’s disability seemed.
Several customers told OP that she should’ve just let the kids give her dog pets which made her feel like she was the one in the wrong. OP mentioned that Atom was also wearing her assistance dog’s vest.
Keep on scrolling down below to know the whole story here and make sure you guys and gals read it till the end. Good Luck!
1. Here goes the title where OP asks if she was an A-hole for yelling at kids
2. OP gives brief information about her health so you guys could better understand the need for a service dog
3. The kids came and start petting Atom which of course OP didn’t want to
4. But they did not stop following her even though OP explained to them that Atom was a service dog and it has work to do
5. But at least the mother should have understood that it was a service dog, not a regular dog so she should have restrained her kids to pet the dog.
6. Instead the lady was so rude and stubborn that as she was leaving she made comments about her disability, no sane person would have ever do that.
7. NTA
8. And this kid is 2 years old and I am assuming those kids were older than this kid
9. Kids also need to be trained so they can better interact with the dogs
10. After all, it is the owner who would authorize you to pet the dog or not, so you better ask them nicely or understand them well when they say it is a service dog.
11. It is very important to understand other people’s boundaries and respect it
12. The OP is not an A-hole hence proved by so many people
13. This is so rude of those customers there’s no wonder that those customers were like that mother and her kids
14. Absolutely, OP is NTA.
15. First those kids need to learn how to behave with a dog and then they should have a dog
16. It would be the most uncomfortable reaction ever no doubt
17. This user is on a legit point
18. Not all disabilities are visible
It is quite obvious here that OP is not an A-hole. That mother and her kids need to understand that we have to respect everyone else preferences and boundaries. And when an owner says no you cannot pet my dog it simply means no, and you cannot argue that because you don’t own that animal.
As that mother was making comments about her disability right before leaving it was the moment that she is the A-hole we are looking for not the OP.
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