That should have been a red flag.

What an asshole

It seems she chose an appropriate name, unfortunately.

Also another scam is emotional support animal industry. A stuffed toy bear is just as useful as a ESA. People are known to claim ESA's that are Rottweilers and pit bulls and landlords can't reject them.

Scam. Jail the MF.

and train it yourself, with the autistic child helping as he or she could. Puppies of many breeds are very easy to raise, gravitate towards those who need help, and offer emotional support automatically.

Yesterday, I encountered an adult golden retriever at a gathering related to dogs. It couldn't come into the building where the meeting took place, so its owner had it just outside, where it greeted people as they arrived. I had to go out to my car, so I left the building. That golden, with the name Roxie, was certain that I was its new best friend and insisted on sharing its love for me effusively and with great vigor.

Later, I watched it encounter a young child about 3 years old. It automatically went into a careful, non-rambunctious mode and let the excited child maul it and pull its ears, with its tail wagging furiously.

Many dogs know how to provide emotional support, and learn that easily as puppies. I can't remember ever meeting a mean golden retriever.

And I can see how, with a child with difficulties, training a service animal to help them would be even harder.

I have a niece who claims her pet dogs are "service animals" but they are never properly trained, even though she claims she took courses in training dogs. She has had several that she had to surrender since they were aggressive towards people and other pets, but she still manages to obtain more "service dogs" gives them lackadaisical care and training and endangers them by not properly socializing them.

My parents finally had to ban her dogs from coming in their house since they urinated and defecated everywhere and it was too much for my parents to clean up - and my niece would not clean up after her own dogs. Frankly she should be prohibited from owning a pet at all but no one has taken the effort to prevent her.

Lots of them. Many, many people have dogs as pets that they train themselves from puppyhood. It's not really rocket science. Dogs are simple creatures and are naturally friendly, at least in most breeds. Some breeds are especially suitable for children. Golden retrievers, labs, beagles, and other notably calm and friendly breeds. A puppy wants to get along with you and everyone else, really. It's dead simple to teach them how to behave, and they will also teach you or your children how to behave with them.

But, if you don't know how to do that, there are countless books and videos that will show you how. I would always prefer having a dog that grew up from puppyhood with a child than one trained by someone else. Dogs and children, including autistic children, are a natural pairing. A little supervision and training is all that is needed. There are books and videos if you have no experience.

A service dog MUST be trained to perform a specific task or tasks to help their owners function. In fact, you are allowed to ask what the dog is trained to do.

"Connect with children" is not a trained task.

More bullshit with this whole "emotional support animal" stuff. It's gotten out of hand.

"Lack of regulation and oversight"