Pelican--JD has a unique perspective on this 'service dog' situation, as he has competed nationwide in dock diving competitions for close to ten years. (And won several national championships, by the way...) His dogs are black labs, so the only way they could travel in the passenger cabin is if he would LIE and say that they are either emotional support animals (which is a crock in general) or service dogs, which they are not. However, there are MANY people who compete in these national competitions that LIE and say that their animals are ESA's, so that they can take their dogs in the passenger cabin, and for free. So, he has that kind of background to this situation.

As far as dogs going to heaven, that's for sure. No one doubts that. It's the humans who shouldn't get there, in many cases..

At the end of the day, I would say that, in THIS circumstance, I personally don't have a problem with the dogs on the flight, because it was in essence an evacuation flight..