# No, your pet monitor lizard/kinkajoo/boa constrictor/etc. is not a service animal **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 2, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037 "2020-12-02T19:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/41 "2021-01-09T17:34:44Z")
> [@Portlandia](#): > > Examples of fraud are rare and the majority of people do not commit fraud in order to have an assistance animal To the contrary, I think there is significant abuse of the way the ADA is framed to pass off untrained pets as “service animals”. Everybody lies. The idea that this would be the _one thing_ where selfish entitled people would not take advantage of a poorly designed system is just not consistent with human nature. > [@Portlandia](#): > > it sticks in your brain as the majority of your experiences. How many times have you not noticed the well behaved animal by their owner’s side? Probably a lot more, but you don’t count them in your head. No, your claim of confirmation bias is mistaken. I love dogs, and I certainly _do_ notice with pleasure _every_ time I see a dog in a slightly unexpected place that’s clearly well trained, dealing calmly with a level of stimulation that might get an untrained dog overexcited, and assisting its owner. Encountering dogs that are clearly _not_ trained in inapproriate places is significantly more frequent in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/42 "2021-01-09T17:43:16Z")
> [@Portlandia](#): > > it’s not sexy to write about how people are actually benefiting from these animals. Again, painting this as people someone not appreciating the importance of genuine trained service animals is a complete distortion. It’s precisely because genuine trained service animals _are_ so important that the well-intentioned but naive ADA approach that you can never question what someone _claims_ should be revised to prevent abuse. We can certainly make the greatest efforts to ensure that this doesn’t make things unduly difficult for anyone with a genuine service animal. But just _trusting_ people not to abuse a system with no enforcement mechanism is foolishly naive. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/43 "2021-01-09T18:09:18Z")
To be clear, I know people who are benefiting from support animals. I have no problem with trained support animals. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/44 "2021-01-09T19:00:12Z")
A wonderful aspect of working online is that students and clients can have their emotional support heffalumps in their own room, rather than disturbing the working dogs of students and clients with ADA conditions. ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/45 "2021-01-09T19:02:04Z")
> [@Portlandia](#): > > . Don’t forget that a person with an unruly “service animal” can be kicked out if their animal does not behave as a real service animal would. How do you “kick someone out” midway through an airplane flight? ---
**Author:** ![Portlandia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@Portlandia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Portlandia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/46 "2021-01-09T20:59:57Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > How do you “kick someone out” midway through an airplane flight? You can usually tell when an animal is going to be unruly before a flight takes off. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/47 "2021-01-09T21:15:35Z")
Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! Can you now? Can you do the same with children? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Portlandia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@Portlandia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Portlandia)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/48 "2021-01-09T21:18:03Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > To the contrary, I think there is significant abuse What do you mean by “significant abuse”? How do you even quantify this? I know several people in my community that require either an ESA or a service animal and you wouldn’t know from looking at them that they need an assistance animal. Someone from the outside might assume they were faking it, but they’re most definitely not. > [@Riemann](#): > > Everybody lies. Really? Talk about confirmation bias. I choose to believe that most people tell the truth. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/49 "2021-01-09T21:23:50Z")
> [@Portlandia](#): > > I choose to believe that most people tell the truth. Good luck with that. It may be accurate that most people tell the truth most of the time but everybody lies. ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/50 "2021-01-09T21:45:03Z")
> [@Portlandia](#): > > I know several people in my community that require either an ESA or a service animal and you wouldn’t know from looking at them that they need an assistance animal. I can tell if someone is blind by looking at them, and if you’re not blind you don’t have a service animal, you have a pet and a narcissistic personality disorder. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/51 "2021-01-09T21:47:54Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > I can tell if someone is blind by looking at them, and if you’re not blind you don’t have a service animal, you have a pet and a narcissistic personality disorder. - There are legitimate service animals that can alert to an impending seizure or dropping blood sugar, to give two examples. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/52 "2021-01-09T21:48:07Z")
The ADA definition for “service animals” and the Fair Housing Act definition of" assistance animals" are not the same , and the rules are different. The [Fair Housing Act](https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/assistance_animals) permits landlords to require documentation of the need for an assistance animal if the need is not apparent. The FHA obviously only covers housing , and has nothing to do with service/assistance animals being allowed in places of public accommodation such as restaurants. The definition of a service animal under the [ADA](https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm) does not include emotional support animals and doesn’t allow anyone to require documentation - they can only ask those two questions. And while I wouldn’t assume that someone claiming to need a service animal is lying , that doesn’t mean than none of the people making that claim are lying. I will generally know if clients of my agency need a service animal and more than one has come in with what they claim is a service animal ( although no disability is noted in our records) and cannot answer the question about what task it performs. Or they simply say that the animal provides comfort - which does not qualify as a service animal. They would absolutely get away with it if they were better liars, but they are clearly counting on nobody asking questions. ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/53 "2021-01-09T21:53:32Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > There are legitimate service animals that can alert to an impending seizure or dropping blood sugar, to give two examples. There are people who _believe_ their pets have psychic medical powers, but in reality of course [they do not](https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/798481601/the-hope-and-hype-of-diabetic-alert-dogs). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/54 "2021-01-09T22:09:54Z")
> [@Portlandia](#): > > I know several people in my community that require either an ESA or a service animal and you wouldn’t know from looking at them that they need an assistance animal. Someone from the outside might assume they were faking it, but they’re most definitely not. I’m not talking about the _people_ faking it. It’s not my place to pass judgment on a _person_’s condition. What I’m talking about it entitled assholes passing of their untrained pets as service animals. And this you can obviously see from the _animal_’s behavior. A chihuahua barking aggressively and defecating indiscriminately is not a trained service animal, notwithstanding the “service dog” vest that the owner bought for their precious on Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/55 "2021-01-09T22:34:43Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > There are people who _believe_ their pets have psychic medical powers, but in reality of course [they do not](https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/798481601/the-hope-and-hype-of-diabetic-alert-dogs). While I concur that the effectiveness of diabetic alert dogs is much more overhyped than actual study results warrant, the hypothesis doesn’t rest on assumptions of dogs’ “psychic” or other supernatural powers. It suggests that the dogs are probably responding—however erratically and unreliably—to a combination of human behavioral cues and possibly detecting elevated VOC levels in breath. The hypothesis may not be true, and even if it is true the effect may not be dependable enough to warrant relying on alert dogs, but it’s not merely “magical thinking”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/56 "2021-01-10T01:13:44Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > > [@Portlandia](#): > > > > I know several people in my community that require either an ESA or a service animal and you wouldn’t know from looking at them that they need an assistance animal. > > I can tell if someone is blind by looking at them, and if you’re not blind you don’t have a service animal, you have a pet and a narcissistic personality disorder. > [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > > [@running\_coach](#): > > > > There are legitimate service animals that can alert to an impending seizure or dropping blood sugar, to give two examples. > > There are people who _believe_ their pets have psychic medical powers, but in reality of course [they do not](https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/798481601/the-hope-and-hype-of-diabetic-alert-dogs). These posts are needlessly hostile and are not appropriate for MPTIMS. You can make your point (that you think diabetic alert dogs aren’t very accurate, I think) in a less abrasive way. Please don’t do it again. ---
**Author:** ![Portlandia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@Portlandia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Portlandia)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/57 "2021-01-12T14:32:31Z")
> [@ZosterSandstorm](#): > > I can tell if someone is blind by looking at them, and if you’re not blind you don’t have a service animal, you have a pet and a narcissistic personality disorder. Yeah, like war veterans with PTSD? Having some compassion could go a long way. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/58 "2021-01-12T14:33:29Z")
Please don’t reply to moderated posts. Generally the point of moderation is to stop the conversation from going to an inappropriate place. ---
**Author:** ![Portlandia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6de8d8/32.png) [@Portlandia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Portlandia)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/59 "2021-01-14T03:16:32Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > What I’m talking about it entitled assholes passing of their untrained pets as service animals. I am all for banning untrained pets that pose as service animals. Even most airlines are no longer allowing emotional support animals. However, there are so many invisible disabilities these days and dealing with these issues are no longer taboo. This is why we are seeing more assistance animals out in the wild. Hell, practically [anyone can make their dog a service dog](https://www.servicedogcertifications.org/how-to-make-my-dog-a-service-dog/) if they have a disability and the patience to train them. Just saying we should stop judging those that need it and focus on treating people with more kindess. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037/60 "2021-01-14T03:33:11Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I thought the legitimate seeing-eye mini horse was not entirely unheard of. I’m a little surprised they weren’t included. When I worked at Sears, dogs and miniature horses were specifically the only animals allowed. Never did see a horse, though… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-your-pet-monitor-lizard-kinkajoo-boa-constrictor-etc-is-not-a-service-animal/927037.md?page=4)