If you don’t know who Mr. Bubz is, he’s the ill-tempered chihuahua mix that went viral in August 2018 for growling at his owner’s friend while being snuggled. Even if you don’t recognize the name, you may recognize the video.
Apparently, the instagram fame has gone to their heads in thinking basic laws and regulations do not apply to them or their terribly behaved dog.
In a now deleted instagram video, a man (probably James William Penland based on his voice and frequent appearances on Mr. Bubz’s account) can be seen being escorted out of a grocery store while pushing the poorly trained dog inside of one of the grocery carts. In the midst of being escorted out, you can hear him claim that the dog known for frequent growling and snarling is his “service dog”. A copy of the video can be seen below.
There are so many issues with doing this for anyone, let alone someone with over half a million followers. I’m not even sure if I can cover all of the problems here, but I’ll be damned if I don’t try.
One major issue here is the health and food safety violation, dogs and other animals do not at all belong in grocery store for a good reason (unless absolutely needed as a legitimate service dog). Despite the old myth dog lovers cling to, dogs are filthy. If living in that filth is your choice as a dog owner, more power to you, but you don’t get to spread that filth around at a place where food is sold. Likewise, having your dog actually in the cart where food is normally placed not only spreads normal dog germs in the store, but sets the next customer up to have their food covered in your dog’s fecal matter from it rubbing it’s anus on the cart.
Again, a dog owner might not mind that for them (as many of them french kiss their dogs anyway, even though their dog licks it’s own anus frequently), however the rest of the public does not deserve to have you contaminating their food just so you can bring your dog into the store. There are millions of people with dog allergies, they don’t deserve to have their groceries contaminated with your dog’s dander. There are many, many people with compromised immune systems, whether genetically or from certain treatments like chemo. The contamination from your dog and its anus could quite literally land them in the hospital or worse. Even if you don’t care if you contract MRSA or visceral leishmaniasis or another illness from your dog, the general public shouldn’t be exposed to that, especially not unsuspectingly when they’re just trying to buy food.
Not only is it absolutely disgusting to have your dog in a cart where other customers are going to be putting their food, it’s also illegal to falsely claim a non-service dog is a service dog. In the state of California (where Mr. Bubz and co live), it’s punishable by up to six months in jail and/or a maximum fine of $1,000. Yet even with strict laws and with self provided incriminating evidence, it’s doubtful that Penland will face any consequences outside of a small amount of social backlash. Very few people, if any, are ever prosecuted for faking a service dog and laws are largely symbolic because the honor system cemented by the ADA makes it almost impossible to truly incriminate someone for service dog fraud. Even with these laws, service dog fraud is still on the rise and the majority of fraudsters just don’t care.
Things are bad enough with fake service dogs and everyone bringing their dog wherever they want, it really doesn’t help to have an account with a major following faking a service dog just to try and push a terribly trained, ill-behaved dog into the grocery store. To do it is bad enough, to share it with your followers for laughs just encourages the practice. Maybe instead leave your dog at home where it belongs.
No Dogs on Mars 