A bride-to-be has divided opinions after revealing in a viral post that she doesn't want her bridesmaid's service dog to be a part of her wedding.
In a Reddit post shared on Friday in the r/AmITheA****** subreddit, under the username u/Plenty_Tap9799, the 28-year-old woman, who is getting married next spring, revealed that one of her bridesmaids suffers from PTSD. While she respects her service dog, the bride-to-be doesn't want him to be included in her photos or ceremony.
"My Fiance and I don't particularly care for dogs, and we've decided we don't want her service dog in our photos or in the ceremony," the bride-to-be said.
"When I asked her she got excited and immediately said her dog could wear something to match the rest of the bridesmaids. That's when I explained that the dog could come to the wedding, but wouldn't be an active participant in the day.
"We don't want it in photos or in the ceremony. It could go to photos, but not be in them. It'll be off to the side for the 10-15 minute ceremony. In preliminary discussions with our photographer we've brought this up."
The bridesmaid didn't exactly take it well; in fact, she called her 'ableist' and an a****** over it, and still hasn't accepted her offer to be a bridesmaid, nor has she formally declined yet.
Dr. Huyn Han from TelaVets told Newsweek that excluding a service dog can unintentionally exclude the person who relies on them, especially when their disability isn't visible.
"Service dogs are trained to be calm and unobtrusive, so they rarely disrupt photos or ceremonies. Including them honors the important role they play in the handler's life."
Han said that service dogs are trained to stay with their handler because their job is to provide immediate assistance, whether that is alerting to a seizure, stabilizing balance, or interrupting anxiety behaviors. If they are not right there, then they can't do their job.
Han said: "A service dog is not a guest; it is medical equipment and a lifeline. Asking someone to be repeatedly separated from their dog for photos could compromise their safety or comfort."
Dr. Carly Fox, senior veterinarian in the emergency and critical care service at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, told Newsweek: "Ideally, the dog should stay with the owner whenever the owner needs support, especially outside their home, but it's not required for them to be right next to their owners 100 percent of the time.
"That being said, in this instance, the dog can move out of frame shot and still be present for the owner if needed," Fox added.
The video quickly went viral on social media and has so far received over 11,000 upvotes and more than 9,400 comments on the platform.
One user, Isthatacorsage, commented: "You're not preventing her service dog from going. You just don't want it in pictures. It would be the same as not letting her date be in your pictures if they aren't part of the wedding."
ExhaustedNightowl said that, "if it was a wheelchair, would you tell her she couldn't use it?"
Thebackright added: "Is it a trained service dog or an emotional support animal? If it's the first, [You're The A******]. If it's the second, [Not The A******]."
Newsweek reached out to @Plenty_Tap9799 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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