My dog Lady was a rescue, and was an emotional support/service animal of some sort with some basic training according to the shelter. Her previous owners moved to Texas during the pandemic and left her at the shelter on the way. Same shelter they got her from when she was a puppy. That is wild to me, abandoning a dog that has been with you for 8/9 years, but I try to remember that I don't know people's situations and that was a very traumatic time for a lot of families. Lady had been at the particular site I visited for 6 months straight when I saw her for the first time. I like older and sizeable dogs, and I prefer rescues. She was the first dog they let me visit with when I got to the shelter. I didn't ask to see another.

Lady is my companion, not my service animal. I need the emotional support and I have a lovely therapist for that reason who would be glad to sign off on it, but now that I am not renting I really don't have a need to keep a certificate up on her "emotional support status". She is huge for her breed mix, 50% American Staffordshire Terrier/ 50% German Shephard. 120 pounds instead of somewhere between 50-80lbs as her DNA says she should be. (recent DNA test ftw!) Its mostly muscle, even now at 11 years old, so she is visibly intimidating to people not familiar with canine body language. She is not a barker, and for that I am grateful. When she barks, I know its an actual problem, not a fucking leaf in the wind, a cat on a fence, or some toy poodle being walked by the front of my house.

She loves people, she does not trust other dogs, and the people that always want to walk up and pet her are often people walking non-service animals. So neither that owner or that other pet are educated and my dog doesn't trust other dogs. To avoid issues, since it is my dog that would most likely be overly defensive, I have put a vest on her that clearly says "ask to pet" and "not animal friendly". So far, still no tragedies, but you would be amazed how many people......and usually grown fucking adults and not kids...that I have to check with "not friendly to other dogs" in an overly baritone voice so they don't just ignore me and pet her anyway. People are dumb, news at 11 I guess.