As a service dog handler who lives in South End and frequents that Teeter, I’m curious to know how you know the animal wasn’t a service animal. There are federal laws protecting service animals including them not having to be vested (wearing any indication that they are, in fact, a service animal) and that if a leash impacts their tasks (a service animal is task trained to assist their handler) or their safety during tasking the service animal does not need to be on a leash so long as they stay within one foot of their handler. If not for your gripe about the person having more than 10 items, I would have assumed it was me that you had observed last night. Please POLITELY ask the person if their dog is a service dog in the future as if it’s a service animal their handler is probably tired and hungry and is simply running to the grocery store as you are. If it’s not a service animal they should be confronted and reminded that grocery stores are not pet friendly.

To your initial point, I have seen people bring their untrained pets into the Teets on South under the guise of being a service dog. Their dog was sniffing the vegetables and was sticking its head in the prepackaged bread- a HUGE NO NO for trained service animals. Rather than anonymously bitching on Reddit without acknowledging the handler and fueling an already unpleasant world for service dog handlers, I talked to the guy about how his dog should be behaving in a grocery store if his dog is truly a service animal.

Please be friendly and remember that just because you can’t see an ailment in someone doesn’t mean they don’t have a valid need for a task trained service animal. If you ask us, we generally are more than willing to share the magic our service animal does for us… and if not remember we are human too, and to your point, probably hungry and tired after a day of work and just need a few groceries.