The Americans with Disability Act (ADA) defines service dog or assistance animal in vague enough terms to allow for irresponsible dog owners to abuse the provisions of the law for their own selfish purposes.
The two main stumbling stones are the clause that a person claiming to be disabled cannot be asked anything about the nature of his disability. Nor can such an individual be asked to produce any documentation that proves a disability.
The second issue that facilitates abuse of ADA by reckless people is a challengers inability to inquire about the 'specific service' the alleged service animal does indeed perform to assist his owner.
Even an elephant sized service animal could slip through this one.
Pet owners who desire to elevate the status of their pet can use both with impunity. It is virtually impossible to doubt or challenge the status of anyone who claims to be disabled because there is no official proof of disability issued. And even if there were an official document, nobody could ask to see it because ADA expressly forbids such an inquiry. This constitutes a perfect charter for abuse.
No it does not, you say? Because many websites on the Internet will gladly provide an ID card for disabled people. Sure, they will be happy to sell you one for a handsome price. The only problem is that these ID cards are hardly worth the paper they are printed on. They prove nothing. They are not official documents attesting to a medical fact and thus conferring legal rights. They affirm only that their bearer was gullible enough to hand over money for a worthless document or wildly determined to commit fraud.
Nevertheless, many a store owner and landlord will back down when a “disabled” person voluntarily flashes such a phony document in front of their eyes. After all, store owners or managers hate to lose paying customers. And landlords are afraid of being sued for discrimination by an enraged tenant or by prospective tenants.
Most battles, if not all, over service dogs are lost by challengers right at this stage. One cannot ask the challenge question and, even if a person could, they are precluded from asking for proof. Classic Catch 22 situation. Or a no win – no win dilemma.
Consequently, it becomes an academic question what specific service the service dog performs to assist his owner or to alleviate some impairment of his master.
But even if one could ask for an explanation (and possibly demonstration), matters would not change significantly because some of the disabilities included in the revised catalog are so vaguely defined or described that they offer little guidance.
Among the most annoying and most often abused is the purported need of a service animal for emotional support. Though emotional support dogs do not qualify as service dogs, too many medical professionals bow to pressure from patients and write a letter declaring a need for the dog in order to keep the patient emotionally stable.
In the hands of reckless people these letters become an endless source of trouble inconveniencing everyone who is unfortunate enough to be present when a selfish dog owner is forcing the service dog issue.
Do not misunderstand me, dogs can be of great assistance and importance in certain medical situations, such as when a dog has the ability to sniff out cancer or to sense and alert to an impending seizure. But that is a far cry from an owner claiming to suffer from anxiety when the animal is not there.
All breeds and sizes of dogs can successfully serve as 'medical' service dogs, while the more traditional fields of assistance animals is dominated by larger dogs. However, more small dogs fall into the category of nuisance dogs – not service dogs.
How does one recognize possible impostors? Actually it is rather easy. A small dog in a shoulder bag is almost certainly not a service dog, especially if it barks incessantly. The same is true for smallish dogs on a flex leash darting ahead of their owner and from side to side even in a store. That's a nuisance but not a trained service dog. And a trip hazard.
Any dog, flex leash or not, large or small, that relives himself inside a store or building is not a service dog. The animal lacks one of the main requirements for a service animal that is allowed to accompany his owner everywhere. Same is true for barking, intense desire to contact people, constant whining, leaving the side of his handler or other signs of impatience.
Service dogs, trained service dogs, are invariably trained to be good canine citizens – not sources of noise and nuisances on four legs – or in a bag. They are not fashion accessories.
“Service dogs” that can be easily placed in one of the categories above, especially when they are making a 'nuisance' out of themselves by barking, relieving themselves, bothering people, knocking over things in a store, interfering with food and are not controlled by their owners, can – and deserve – to be removed. This is true even if the dog actually IS a service dog.
As we near the end of Part 2 of this series of articles on problems related to service dogs, we have successfully identified some main sources for problems with service dogs and their acceptance by the public in public places:
- The lack of clear definitions and criteria of a service dog in ADA.
- The lack of official confirmation and proof of the disabled status of an individual, which is essential to determine whether an animal is a service or assistance dog.
- The lack of clearly defined training requirements, demonstrated by passing a test administered by an impartial entity. Wannabe Internet service dog training facilities that issue service dog certificates (without performing any training at all) and disabled owner IDs do not count.
- The lack of proper official identification for the disabled person and for the service dog.
- The lackluster desire of property owners, store managers and other parties in control of public places to challenge the legal status of an alleged service animal.
- The abundance of dubious, worthless documents that pretend to certify disabled and dog alike by the owners of pet stores and pet relate websites.
In combination these abuses will eventually result in tighter, stricter controls on what is and what is not a service dog to the detriment of all persons who really need a service animal.
But there is still time to prevent the worst.
Let us see how in Part 3 of this series.
PJJ
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