Airline implements stricter service dog rules because of rampant fraud

On March 1, 2018, Delta Air Lines will start to enforce the new rules that require additional written documentation from a health or animal expert before the emotional support animal can board an airplane.

Starting March 1, Delta Airlines will require a letter from a health professional certifying the need of a person for a service or comfort animal and, at least, vaccination papers that show that the animal has received a full set of vaccines 48 hours prior to the planned trip. In addition, all service and therapy animals must be fully trained and well behaved.

Excessive, incessant noise creates disturbances for other passengers that justify a refusal to admit the animal to the plane. So do, of course, animals that are not housebroken. They also forfeit their privilege to accompany their owner on a plane.

The new rules to be implemented by Delta Air Lines were prompted by an eighty percent increase over last year in complaints about service dogs and comfort animals. Approximately 250,000 service and comfort animals travel on Delta planes every year.

Though dogs are by far the most common service animals, airline passengers have attempted to fly with comfort turkeys, snakes, spiders, possums, and many other species.

True, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) gives disabled and other qualified persons the right to be accompanied by their service dog. These dogs are trained to perform services for their owner (such as fetching things and pulling wheelchairs) that make life easier and more enjoyable for their owner. Comfort dogs, more often referred to as therapy dogs, do not qualify as service dogs because they lack the necessary training to be true service animals.

Nevertheless, they should be allowed to go with their owners on public transportation and airplanes. It is certainly not asking too much to demand a written statement from a health professional or animal expert certifying the need of a person for a therapy animal and the qualification of a specific animal to perform such service.

No doubt, comfort animals that urinate and defecate all over the place, have no business in public transportation. And neither do large or scary animals that run loose and startle unsuspecting passengers.

The general public has the right to use public transportation without fear of having ‘companions’ forcing themselves on them. Like the 70-pound companion dog who manhandled and injured a flight passenger. Or the companion snake that started to slither around freely in an airplane during a long flight.

Service dogs and companion animals fulfill valuable services for the disabled and needy. On the other hand, the very wide and vague definitions in ADA allow unscrupulous and reckless people to take advantage of ADA. And if it is only to prove the point that ADA in its current version invites abuse. Worse, however, are those interested in making a quick buck and not in the welfare and the safety of the public in general.

Those people set up online shops and hawk everything from phony service dog vests, patches, and other trinkets to certificates of graduation from a licensed service dog training facility.

Licensed by whom?

There is no ADA certification training and licensing program for service dogs. It is all voluntary and only subject to self-policing.

Talk about putting the fox in charge of the hen house!

True, it is only a relatively small number of websites that sell phony service dog stuff and maintain equally bogus service animal training and certification schools. But the damage they do to the disabled that indeed need a service animal is disproportionately great.

From the beginning, we have postulated that ADA needs to be modified to reign in the fraud and abuse that is now associated with it. Unfortunately and predictably, things have not improved at all. On the contrary, there is more abuse of the privileges ADA affords service animals now than ever before.

Why? Because the rampant abuse by a  few rotten apples spoils it for the majority of those who have an honest need for assistance.

A backlash is inevitable and sure to come. The only question is when it will hit really hard. The new airline procedures and restrictions for service and comfort animals are just a beginning. Legislative action and court decisions are only a logical escalation.

Service dog fraud will continue unabated until legislative action has put some 'teeth' into ADA. We can not continue to leave it up to some creative entrepreneurs to set the terms for what a service dog can do rightfully. And, of course, which animal has honestly earned the right to claim service animal privileges.

It generally takes months to train a seeing eye dog. Only a few dogs even qualify for the training.
Explain to me why and how an online service dog training facility can fully prepare a dog in a few hours online. Any service animal "certification" from such an online outfit is not worth the paper it is written on.

I hold that the owners and operators of such service dog schools should be prosecuted for defrauding the public. 

PJJ

THE ANKLE-BITERS ARE COMING BEWARE!

A court in Wimbledon, south London, heard the case against a ’dangerously out of control dog’. The vicious animal stands accused of having bit the ankles of a mail person. The perpetrator is an 8 inch tall Chihuahua.

Meet Louie, the ankle biter. And watch his left ear! It is a dead giveaway.

The incident happened in March of last year when residents noticed Louie, the vicious dog, hanging off the ankle of the mail carrier. The owner John Anslow had let his dog off the leash near his home in south London. Anslow denies the charge of being the owner of a dangerously out of control dog that caused the injuries which hospitalized the mail person.

Furthermore, Anslow denies that Louie came anywhere near the mail person. Louie ‘only barked’ said Anslow. The mail person simply walked away without claiming that she had been bitten, said Anslow.

Wild pigs rip off fingers of innocent dog walkers. Chihuahuas, however, are too small and not strong enough to do such evil deeds.

However, statistics of dog bites in the United States point at Chihuahua dogs as the number one ankle biters among all dogs. Chihuahuas contribute the highest number of dog bites according to those data. While the number of dog bites from small Chihuahua dogs is high, their severity is usually not. The dogs are just too small to do major damage.

Severe dog bites that are life threatening are inflicted by large breeds such as the infamous pit bulls, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, and a number of large hunting or herding breeds that have no business living in urban apartments.

Nevertheless, any bite from one of these breeds makes it to the pages of local and national newspapers.

Ankle biter or not?

No, this one takes off or breaks entire limbs. But rarely.

Small Chihuahua dogs get a free pass. After all, they are only “8 inches” tall. Yet, their teeth are needle sharp and they can have a nasty temperament especially when it comes to things they consider their property.

Just try to sit on a pillow your tiny Chihuahua owns. You might be in for a surprise.

By the way, another one of these underestimated small dogs is the miniature version of the good old ‘Wienerdog’. They hold the number two rank in the list of biters, ankle biters that is.

I know because we had one living with us.

He was well-known as ankle biter and chicken thief throughout the entire neighborhood.

Chris P.