That’s why we need to crack down on fake service dogs, because actual disabled people are reporting that their lives are made more difficult by the growing numbers of such animals.
I’m glad you agree.
Then by the same logic, we should do away with disabled parking spaces.
A poorly (or not all) trained “service dog” is not worth anything to the disabled. It’s only useful to the scammer.
Not true. You should always remove the placard while driving. Depending on the jurisdiction, you might get a ticket if it obstructs visibility.
We’ve raised four guide dogs. Blind people depend on their dogs more than most people depend on other legitimate service animals. I fail to see how the proper training and certification of the dogs jeopardizes anything. In fact, you’d think that someone who truly depended on their dog would want that dog to be absolutely reliable.
Our puppies had jackets which they wore when out training, going to a restaurant, the grocery store, on a ferry ride, etc. There was exactly one issue which was cultural against dogs in general. I doubt very much a disabled person with a dog who had a jacket would get hassled. And I agree that counterfeiting is not likely to be much of a problem.
Another advantage is that our dogs knew that when the jacket went on they were working, and behaved even better than they usually behaved.
I don’t know why anyone who depended on a dog wouldn’t want the best trained and most reliable dog possible.
Guide dogs get specially trained not to be food distracted. Also not dog or cat distracted. She’ll pass a yippy dog, put her nose in the air, and not react at all. One of the amazing things is to go to a get together for guide dog raisers. There are 100 dogs, all on leashes but all crammed into a relatively small area - and there is no barking and no lunging.
This comes about through training and by career changing dogs who can’t hack it. They also get evaluated for gentleness. Any dog who ever snapped at a person or other dog would ever make it through the program.
I don’t know about you, but we almost never had a problem. People are really good - even when a very young puppy pees, the people working at the store didn’t get upset. When our last dog became a breeder, and we got her back, the grocery invited her back because they loved her so much, but we didn’t want to set a bad example or abuse the jacket.
I don’t know about your experience, but I found it amazing that even little kids knew to ask our permission before petting the puppy.
We’ve had hardly any problems.
One restaraunt in the sticks refused us, so we refused them.
We had troubles with a flight once. Even though we checked when ticketing (but didn’t get it in writing :smack: ), when my wife was confirming details shortly in advance of the flight, she got denied. Apparently airline rules for service-dogs-in-training are different than for service dogs.
Yes, it is amazing how many kids and parents know to either ignore service animals or ask before petting them. (Actually kids are getting to pretty good about asking to pet dogs in general, which is good.) Since we’re mostly doing socialization and exposure, it’s good for us to get them interacting safely with kids.
Our group is far smaller, about 10 dogs or so. It’s still something to see, when they are all piled up in a small area in the mall, in prolonged down-stay, while everyone talks and all the kids work on distracting them. I can’t imagine 100 of them like that!
I do not agree at all.
So you’re OK with phony service dogs that could backlash on the legitimately disabled?
Sweet.
No. Some problems do not have a perfect solution. I want the one that will be of least inconvenience to disabled people. No one should lie and say their dog is a service dog, but hassling disabled people is not the answer.
Do you have any idea what is involved in getting a service dog?
http://medicalservicedogs.com/what-are-service-dogs/service-dog/
http://www.servicedogsforamerica.org/
http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.4011119/
If there was actually a state/national registry, no one except LE would be able to question the authenticity of a service dog.
And what inconvenience? When you recieve your dog, there on the vest is a clear pocket with placard and any needed paperwork.
Who wants to be grilled by LE? Like that’s just something disabled people should just have to be subjected to?
And what happens when some dog-hating busybody dickwad decides the dog is a fake and calls the cops and tries to force the person and dog to wait for them to arrive? Or do you think somehow that’s not going to happen?
How often does that happen?
Cite some cases…
Since right now, everyone knows there’s phony animals and no one seems to call the police on them.
And then the dickwad gets arrested for false imprisonment.
Nice discussion of the problem.
The woman who wrote part 2 infuriates me. Her kind aren’t even the biggest problem, but…
Intelligent, articulate person with a well mannered dog (by her report, but I don’t doubt it), yet still a jerk, quite pleased to take what she wants when she can get away with, and frankly proud of it.
Maybe it’s because I’m a law-abiding, rules-oriented kind of guy who couldn’t lie his way out of a paper bag (yeah, I know, that’s *my *problem), but I feel this hits at the some component at the essence of fairness. There’s always someone angling for perks that others don’t get, whether by hook or by crook…
Right now, there IS no requirement of proof, nor anything detailing what that “proof” might be. Shall I zoom into the future and get some cites for you?
…
Damn, the links I copied don’t work in the present because those events didn’t happen yet.
What’s missing here is any description of actual harm to disabled people from the existence of the fake service dogs.
I don’t deny that people sometimes pretend that a pet is a service dog. Once a now-former friend and I were at a park with his dog when a police officer confronted him with the fact that pets were not allowed. My then-friend (a jerk) claimed his dog was a service animal, but the officer did not believe him and demanded proof. Neither were aware that no such proof existed, I did not volunteer the information, and we left the park. I told him what a jerk he was and how people like him were contributing to making the world worse for disabled people, but being a selfish ass, he probably did not care.
The harm to disabled people will come for a requirement for proof possibly coming into being. If fake service dogs cause people to disallow real ones from being present, the disallowers are breaking the ADA legislation and can be legally dealt with.
And yet, you don’t care if the fakers get away with it, you even enabled one.
Are you aware it’s illegal to have a fake service animal? Yet the ADA forbids the detection of same.
I’ve been challenged twice on my placard by non-LE. I refused to disclose why I had it(as is my right) and went my way. No one called the police and no one tried to detain me.
I don’t understand why you want the reputation of service animals sullied by the fakes and cause a backlash against the real McCoy.