Question for all

[rabernet]

Another reason I love this board, is because I know that I'm going to find other people here that don't think I'm crazy to love my snake!

My co-workers show a passing interest (how's your snake doing?) but only because he was delivered by UPS to my job (hey, I didn't want Mr. UPS man leaving him on my front porch while I was at work).

My mother wrote me when I sent her pictures of her "grand-snake" that "I should have never encouraged you to volunteer at the Nature Science Center when you were a child!"

My boyfriend isn't real crazy about snakes, but because of the reference to the serpent in Genesis. While he's not a regular church attendee, he does read his Bible every day. I had the discussion with him on that one that the devil has taken on many forms, and not just that of the serpent (which he conceeded).

And one of my co-workers said "I'm not afraid of them, I just think they are evil" (while I didn't ask, I'm sure his comment was also from a Biblical perspective too, and I didn't want to go there).

Anyway, the point of all this was, while I'm in NC visiting my folks, I traveled with a service dog in training, a long haired dachshund named Siren who's being trained to be a hearing assist dog. We went to the movies today (got into a huge debate with the movie theatre manager who couldn't get it through his thick skull that she was a service dog and had every right to be there..."but she's not a seeing eye dog"...just how many sightless people are going to come and "see" a movie?, although she was clearly identifiable with her service dog pack and tag that said "certified service dog") and she squirmed, and licked the arm of the guy in front of us, and squirmed some more (she's just a year old, so still a baby). Ohhhh, I could go on and on about this idiot theater manager who had to call his district manager to get "permission" for the dog to stay. I was boiling mad! Never have this problem with the golden retrievers and the labs, but because it was a Doxie....I should have just told the guy I have seizures and she's my seizure alert dog!

After all this I told my mom "see, with a snake, you don't have to worry about them mis-behaving, they sleep all day, you just have to provide them with proper temps, humidity, a few hides, fresh water and food once a week. And there's not a lot of mess to clean up either".

Ahh well, at least I have you guys to understand my love for Kashmire! Have I told you yet how much I miss him? LOL

[rabernet]

Ahhhh, where was my question???? LOL

Question is, besides the boards, do you find that most people in your life just don't understand your passion for your baby(s)?

Robin

[daniel1983]

I see the same thing. My mom hates snakes and my fiance hates me spending money on snakes..ha. My brother and sister seem to think the snakes are cool though

[normballpython2]

my mom loves them my bro hates them now(blood bit him in the face) my sis hates em and my lil bro loves my snakes(only 3) all my neices and nephews love em. my friends love em'. so yeah it's 50/50 with me. but no one dares talk bad about snakes near me. thats like lighting a torch lol.

Brian

[pumba]

First let me say to you rabernet, DANG, that manager of that theater just does not know the trouble he could get in with a whole plethora of agencies about the trouble he gave you. I worked a case just a while back on one of our local resteraunts because of the same thing. Of course the lady that was the handeler was no kind person either, a bit of a quack actually, but the place fineally got the picture when I broke out the statue book. As a mater of fact she was more than a quack. I attempted to talk to her about her dog, out of pure curiosity because I only knew of seeig eye dogs and had never been around any other service dogs other than them and my police K-9 before. Dang she jumped all over me telling me that I was not allowed to ask her what the dog did, and I could be fired and all kinds of things. Of course then we discussed her attitude, as well as the Constatution of the United States, spacifically the "Free Speach" portion, and explained to her that she could not be required to answer that question, but me as a free American could ask all day long. Dang, she was about as ill tempered as they come. I was even trying to help her and was just making friendly conversation.

As for the other, I agree it is a cool thing to find others in the world that have something in comon. I get the same thing from my guys about Loki. No one seems to understand. One good thing about having a bp is if most folks come around my house and I want them gone, All I have to do is act like I am bringing him out and you can't see for the cloud of dust from some. lol. Of course that only works on a small portion of them. Fortunately for me, the boss don't mind Loki and my son loves him.

[rabernet]

Ray,


That's so funny about the cloud of dust.

Yeah, that reminds me, I need to go look up the laws in NC and print them. I had a copy and forgot them. My ID that identifies me as a certified volunteer trainer states the GA code and the fact they could be fined up to I think $1K and 30 days in jail on a misdemeanor for interfering with the admittance of a service dog. He did not care one bit.

My dad was saying "you'll catch more flies with honey", but that guy really got under my craw. I was close to saying, "please call the police who will let you know that under the Americans with Disabilities Act, you cannot legally deny access to your facility"

He had the nerve to tell me "well, it was your fault for just walking up in here like you had every right to, without first asking for the manager". I said "I walked in here like I had every right to, because I do!" He said something to the effect "well, now that we know what's going on, you shouldn't have this problem in the future" . I said "you're right, because I won't be coming back here again and spending my money with you".

That lady that you dealt with does sound stupid. While "technically" correct that you can't ask someone what their disability is, you were just asking out of curiosity and interest.

I think because Siren is a dachshund, and not what most people expect to be a service dog, I'm getting challenged so much more than when I have the big dogs, but I also get a kick out of mom's telling their kids "that dog is going to help someone who is blind one day" (yeah, can you see the harness on a doxie for a blind person? LOL). However the doxies can be seizure alert dogs, but we are training them for hearing assist (alerting to certain sounds like telephone, alarm clock, doorbell, microwave going off, tea kettle whistling, etc).

OK, I'll shut up, yet another one of my passions, I've been volunteering with Canine Assistants for 5 years now (the two puppies on the front of the puppy sized Milkbones are two of our dogs who are now in service...Milkbone is one of our sponsors).

[frankykeno]

Good for you Robin! Honey is good but sometimes a big ole dose of vinegar is what is called for. Too bad our society just loves the Paris Hilton's and that like that take their spoiled pets everywhere but attempts to stop a service dog (or one in training) from doing their work in assisting a human in the activities of daily living we all enjoy. I would ever so nicely mail a copy of your applicable state law to that movie theatre and "suggest" they train their employees properly (but then I'm a closet vinegar lady LOL).

As far as snakes being "evil". I feel nothing is evil that cannot form intent to be evil. Snakes are hardly evolved to the point of forming intent other than to survive and reproduce (it's not like they are lying in their tubs doing higher math and planning how to take over Boyne City, Michigan).

The way I figure it my snakes do not run loose pooping on other people's lawns and are less risk than your average nippy poodle to a child. They don't bark at racoons, get turned loose to breed in the forest like the poor feral cat I watch every day, don't dig up the yard, mess on my carpets or cause anyone any real trouble. A quite perfect pet in my mind.

Everyone asks "oh do they bite!!!". Simple answer...if it has teeth it "can" bite....will it....not likely. I've been bit more by my own 4 darling children then by any of our pets actually LOL (pets are better trained I think).

We get a lot of questions about having snakes with a 4 year old in the house. Again a puppy would be likely more issue with safety than a small ball python but regardless we don't allow unsupervised access to either our snakes or our pet rats by a small child.....that's just sensible for him and for the poor pets (he can on the other hand form intent LOL).

People are just sometimes more stupid than the creatures of our world aren't they.


~~Jo~~

[new2BP]

i have so far got a lot of mixed replies when people find out i have a snake. Ussually when they find out its a Python they automatically think huge snake LOL. i guess even my little phantom is big for some people even though she is only 20". My gf will touch her but has yet to hold her. she is still a little timid of snakes, but i am sure she will come around. seems so in our area reptiles are not very popular. probably because it is a colder climate with harsh winters so its rare than an average person would even come acrossed a snake in the summer. there are only 3 types of snakes in my area and no lizards and even if u want to find a snake out in teh woods, it ussualy takes some time to find.

[Shelby]

Well, at my job, I hold a snake a lot of the time, so I get a huge range of responses. Many people ask me how I do it.. am I afraid? Do I hate snakes? Then I tell them I have 9 of them in my house, and they usually get this shocked look on their face.

Some ask me.. why snakes? What makes you like them? I tell them that I think they are beautiful, and facinating, easy to take care of, and neat to interact with. They look at me like I'm crazy usually.

[pumba]

Ah, but maby just maby we are all crazy,,,It could be, you can never tell,,,Naah I don't think so, I prefer different! lol,,,lmao,,,,(Grin)