WHAT MAKES A DOG A SERVICE DOG?
We see a lot more dogs with colored vests in public places lately. Most assist a person with a disability. Some may include impairments of mobility, hearing, PTSD, autism, or blindness, along with several less common disabilities. Unfortunately, there are also many dogs (and some cats!) whose owners choose to claim as service animals. Doing so breaks the law enacted in 1990 called the Americans with Disabilities Act. The goal of the ADA is to ensure access to public areas for people with a disability. It doesn’t protect every dog, cat, bird, or turtle someone claims is a service animal.
To understand what certification means, let’s look at some basic definitions first.
DEFINITION OF A SERVICE DOG
A service dog is a dog selected by temperament and sometimes size to match with a person with a disability. They can be of any breed. Common breeds for mobility and vision loss are retrievers, poodles, and German shepherds. Mixed breed dogs may find themselves working with people who have lost their hearing or have autism. Health and temperament are key factors, along with intelligence and size.
A Service Dog has had up to 2 years of specialized professional training. The cost of this training can be more than $50,000. Because their training calls for the highest standards of temperament, intelligence, and health, as many as 50% never graduate from highly accredited training programs. The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) allows a service dog to go wherever his handler goes.
Specialized training equips these dogs to assist people with a certified disability. This may include mobility limitations, hearing loss, blindness, autism, PTSD, and several less common and often invisible medical conditions. A person receiving a trained dog also goes through extensive training to properly handle their new companion.
DEFINITION OF AN ASSISTANCE DOG
An Assistance Dog is a highly trained animal that aids professionals within their work environment. Some places they are found include libraries, hospitals, schools, and courts. They provide emotional support to the public who these institutions serve. Going through rigorous training and meeting the same standards for temperament, they do not have guaranteed access except as required for their jobs. Dogs trained for search and rescue or security would fit in this category. Their handlers also attend classes to learn how to work together with an Assistance Dog.
DEFINITION OF AN
EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL
An Emotional Support Animal (ESA) – may be a dog, cat, bird, or another animal that has met essential criteria for community behavior standards through a limited training program. A person in need of emotional support must usually have a recommendation from their medical provider. With basic obedience certification, they may be allowed in rental properties, and have some limited public access for travel at the discretion of the business, but the laws are much more limiting. The ADA does not cover emotional support dogs for unlimited rights of public access to places like restaurants, stores, and entertainment venues.
DEFINITION OF PETS
A ‘Pet’ is anything a person keeps for companionship and support. Some ‘pets’ may be rocks, houseplants, or stuffed animals, but generally, ‘Pet’ refers to a domestic animal kept for pleasure.
I capitalize ‘Pet’ because I believe Pets are vitally important in their owners’ lives, and there is no question that they provide emotional support. However, a Pet, even one with obedience training, does not have the same rights (or responsibilities) as a highly trained and certified service dog. Pets are pets. A vest and a certificate do not make them any more qualified to serve than a person who wants to be a fireman and dresses up in a fireman’s uniform. The clothes do not make the dog!
MEETING A SERVICE DOG IN PUBLIC
Misunderstandings on how to appropriately interact when you meet someone using a service or assistance dog lead to more than frustration for the owner. When the dog is distracted from his job of keeping an eye on his ‘person,’ the door opens for unseen risks for the one who’s life may depend on their service dog staying alert.
Making eye contact is also counterproductive because these dogs are especially alert with their eyes. Making eye contact with a service dog can be as distracting as calling them by name with a treat in your hand.
People see a gentle dog with floppy ears and big round eyes, and the instinct is to reach down to cop a feel of that soft fur and embodied love. That is understandable.
What is less explainable is when they read the patch on the vest that says “Do Not Pet” and ask to pet anyway. I wonder if this may be a result of the number of ‘fake’ service dogs in the world today who have affected the expectations of strangers when it comes to interacting with dogs in open places. A blurred distinction between ‘real’ and imposter creates many problems.
‘FAKE’ SERVICE DOGS
It is not an act of ignorance, but an illegal act of defiance of ADA laws when someone dresses up their dog with a vest purchased online, buys a certificate (also available online), and passes their animal off as a service dog. Their motivation may be to take advantage of what they see as a ‘privilege.’ It makes me wonder if they would volunteer for the ‘privilege’ of a disability to go with the dog.
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
What’s the problem, you ask, if someone wants to pretend their dog is a service dog? I have already mentioned how the prevalence of fake service dogs changes the public’s sensitivity to a legitimate working dog’s concentration. Allowing untrained, unskilled animals to wear a ‘uniform’ is similar to allowing people who want to be doctors to wear white so they can access areas in the hospital where no one else can go. Or for an untrained ‘wannabee’ to don the uniform of a police officer. When the laws don’t keep up with imposters trying to gain privilege without paying the dues (and expenses) of the proper education, we are all at risk!
Perhaps the biggest problem is how fake service dogs invalidate the struggles and victories of people with real disabilities. It has been a long uphill road since we passed the ADA in 1990. The public meets too many dogs with minimal or no training wearing a vest. They become less sensitive to someone with real needs trying to have a normative experience despite challenging limitations. A few states, California and New Jersey are two, passed laws that make using a vest on a pet to pass it off as a service dog a crime punishable by steep fines. Massachusetts has been working to enact legislation to protect people from the injustices of fake service animals. Many other state, including Maine, have not yet begun to address this on a legislative level.
HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A FAKE SERVICE DOG AND A REAL SERVICE DOG
How do you tell the difference when you meet someone with a dog they claim is a “Service Dog?” The quickest, easiest, foolproof way is obedience. A well-trained service dog will not bark, sniff other people (or food on the shelves), or relieve himself in public. He (or she) ignores other animals it meets in passing and looks to its handler for instruction in an unusual situation.
How we tackle this problem is seldom in a one-on-one confrontation. We can’t ask another person anything about ‘why’ they need a service dog. Strong Hippa laws prohibit such intrusion. It is allowable for business owners to ask what the dog does for someone, but a response of “she mitigates my disability” is sufficient. Hippa laws may challenge anything else. Asking for certification papers is useless because they can be purchased online. However, the best businesses and areas of public access do set boundaries.
WHAT CAN THE AVERAGE PERSON DO ABOUT FAKE SERVICE DOGS
Don’t hesitate to talk to store managers about the importance of limiting access to suitably trained and certified animals. Some will listen, and others won’t. It is a process of education. I was at a restaurant not too long ago that had a comprehensive explanation of service dogs on the entry door, and a clear message that no other animals were allowed. We can all register our concerns with business managers. Tell them you don’t appreciate untrained animals near the food you plan to eat. We can speak or write to our legislators and ask for this problem to find a place on their list. The benefit is not only for people with disabilities but also for the health and welfare of the public, not equipped to deal with all the imposters (fake service dogs) in their world.
And the next time you meet a person using a service dog, try to remember the importance of treating the animal with the same respect you might give a wheelchair that a person sits in. You know you are curious. Of course, you have many questions.–What’s it like to sit in a chair all day? What is the reason you need a wheelchair? How fast can it go? But you don’t ask. It is personal. So too, if they are using a Service Dog. Polite disinterest is the most welcome response when a person’s wellbeing depends on the canine by his or her feet.
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Thank you.
Dekker says “Woof!”
