Well, one of those linked articles had a woman who claimed to know a place where you could get fake certificates. The presence of fake certificates kind of implies that some places require certificates.
My friend with the service dog also had to prove it to allow the dog to live in an apartment. They allowed pets, but only one, and there was a weight limit. Her dog was over it, but as it was a service dog it had to be allowed–but she did have to prove it.
The fact that some people buy and use fake certificates does not mean that the law requires certificates.
The fact that some businesses might (as of this moment, illegally) require certificates does not mean that the law requires certificates.
If the apartment required verification beyond that listed in the ADA, they were breaking the law.
It does imply that there exist real certificates, and capitalizes on the fact that people assume such a thing exists, in order to sell their wares.
I believe some states do have their own protocol, but we have been discussing federal law.
It is probably not a certificate per se that your friend used as proof, but a letter.
According to http://www.landlordassoc.org/articles/WhatLandlordsShouldKnowAboutServiceAnimals.pdf,
“Verification of disability and need for a service animal
The tenant must provide written verification that s/he has a disability and that the accommodation is necessary to give the tenant equal opportunity to use and enjoy the community. The tenant should obtain a signed letter on professional letterhead from his or her own healthcare or mental health provider to the housing provider answering the following questions: 1) Is the person disabled as defined by the fair housing laws? and 2) In the healthcare provider’s professional opinion, does the person need the requested use of the service animal to have the same opportunity as a non-disabled person to use and enjoy the housing community? Sample letters are available at the IERA office for use only as a guide.”
Some municipalities have breed-specific legislation, and if your service dog is one of the breeds that is legislated against, or required by law to wear a muzzle, you may need to be prepared to present some kind of documentation-- and I’m not talking Pit Bulls. Some places have legislated against German Shepherds and Dobermans, which do get used occasionally as Seeing-Eye dogs when the client requests that breed (IIRC, it’s Seeing-Eye that will accommodate the request-- maybe it’s one of the other places, like Guide Dogs, or Leader Dogs); anyway, they get the dogs from Germany, because American GSDs and Dobies are too inbred, and have too many health problems to be useful as service dogs for blind people. I had a friend who was Deaf-blind, and was very tall and thin, and used a Doberman. She was about 5’10, and only maybe 130lbs, and with her body type, a Doberman worked out better for her, just like my very petite friend who was blind always has a very small, female Lab. I was at a National Federation of the Blind convention once, as a Deaf-blind interpreter, and I saw maybe four GSDs out of the couple of hundred dogs there. IIRC, they were with big men.
Anyway, a landlord might request some kind of documentation if you are asking for a pet fee or deposit to be waived. Those deposits are to cover damage, and there’s a good argument that a well-trained service dog is less likely to cause damage (in addition to the “it’s not a pet, it’s a compensatory device” argument), but if you want to use that argument, it’s reasonable for the landlord to ask for some demonstration of the dog’s training.
Our dog was 5lbs over the weight limit, but when we showed the landlord how good she was at basic obedience, including barking on command, and then stopping on command, they agreed to take her. We probably could have gotten the vet to fudge the certificate, but we preferred an honest approach. FWIW, we are the only people who pick up after our dog every single time, no exceptions, and the landlord knows it.
The blind person definitely gets training. GDB has a dorm where they stay with their first dogs while getting to know them and learning how to work with them. The place even has a section of an airplane cabin for training on dealing with flights.
Any dog who showed the slightest sign of aggressiveness during training would get immediately career changed. I guess that you can’t keep some blind people from being assholes, though. If I saw something like you saw happen I’d try to figure out where the dog came from and call the training center. In our case the dogs are still owned by GDB until they retire. Our dog is almost 10, and she has never, ever, growled at anyone or anything. No guide dog puppy I’ve ever seen has.
That the dog refused to go into the street shows that it was trained. But no dog is immune from abuse.
ETA: My problem with people training their own dogs is first, why would they be qualified, and second, what happens when a dog flunks? Being a service dog of any type is not the same as being able to obey simple commands. Plenty of guide dogs, which come from successful guide dog stock, can’t hack it. So I’d be quite dubious of claims of self-training.
There are LOTS of Certified Service Animals. The certificates are, literally, worth the paper they’re printed on. Anyone can print a Certificate and the animal is then a Certified Service Animal.
We run into the same issue with “Certified” Herbalists and “Certified” Massage Therapists and “Certified” Auto Mechanics. Certified just means someone gave you a piece of paper that says you took their training. It gives you exactly zero information about whether that “training” was a weekend workshop, a 3 year course of study or clicking on a web link.
Some schools/teachers in some areas of academics or trade will deal with this by having their course of study approved by the State Board of Education, or by being Accredited by a regional accreditation organization, or both. Being approved and accredited is an indication that at least an outside body has looked over your curriculum and said, “yeah, this is about the same as the other curricula we’ve seen and approved/accredited that bear the same name.” Being accredited means that your class/es are substantially similar to other classes Accredited by the same organization, and that your Credits for those classes should transfer to another school also accredited by that same agency. This is why if you’re looking at colleges or trade schools, you should look for an accredited program.
LICENSED is another matter, and really what people are talking about when they talk about “Certifying” “real” “legitimate” Service Animals. Licenses are issued by the State, and indicate that you (or the dog, in this case) have met minimum educational requirements, have certain duties the State believes you trained and therefore allowed to perform, and certain responsibilities you need to fulfill to keep your license current and in good standing.
Human example: I am a Certified Massage Therapist. I completed 1000 hours (18 months) of training at a State approved school. I got a Certificate from my school when I finished. My training is sufficient to allow me to apply for a License and get it. But because I have not applied, I am not and may not call myself or work as a *Licensed *Massage Therapist. I’ve spoken with others who have taken a weekend workshop in Massage and gotten a Certificate. They’re Certified Massage Therapists, too. They don’t have enough education to get a License, but they’re Certified.
So…yes. There are tons of Certified Service Animals. Some have been Certified by reputable, widely respected training agencies who know what they’re doing, weed out unsuitable dogs (and patients) and produce well-behaved therapeutic animals. Others are Certified by fly-by nights who don’t do a thing to ensure the well-being of the animals they certify, much less provide them with good training.
No State is currently Licensing service animals that I can find. I’ve found a couple of municipalities that are Registering service dogs, like San Francisco. They are not verifying the dog’s training or requiring continuing education, just reviewing the doctor’s letter of medical need and the patient’s affidavit that the dog is trained to assist. It’s about half a step up from what any shop owner can do - they do demand to see the actual paper from the doctor, but they cannot ask what the disability is or demand that you demonstrate the dog’s training.
Everyone refines their dog’s training a little, but that isn’t the same thing as training from the ground up. The Deaf-blind woman I knew trained her dog to alert her when someone knocked at the door (she had a bell-triggered fan, but not everyone used the bell, and if she happened not to be in the living room, she wouldn’t feel the fan*). Another person I know trained her dog to know the names of buildings on her university campus.
Training a dog is a lot of work. I’d be wary of a person who trained their own dog from a puppy, because aside from the fact that training a service dog is a full-time job, you have to be able to reject a puppy that isn’t making the service-quality cut, even if it’s excellent pet-quality. I think that would be extremely difficult for someone who had bonded with a dog for almost a year. I suspect a long of people would continue to struggle on with a sub-par (for service, but not pet) dog, because they love it.
*This is an old technology. Now, a lot of Deaf-blind people have doorbell switches that set off a pager on vibrate, or, if they have some hearing, a beeping device they wear right next to their hearing-aid.
Any reasonably trained dog is going to be more help than no dog. We didn’t domesticate them so we would have something to wait on.
Actually, there’s pretty good evidence that they chose domestication.
Spoken like a person who’s never been to my mother’s house! 
What, exactly, would be the problem with the ADA (since they are so anxious I put up with mutts in areas where food is being served (and everywhere else) keep a list of registered service animals?
Upon completion of traing and placement, a second cip is implanted in a spot not generally known. Either the chip say “service critter” (preferred) or at least a unique number, registered with the ADA.
Restaurants (and anybody else who perceives an abuse of the “Service Critter” act could by a reader and have critter walk through a scanner or hold still long enough for a hand-held scanner.
No registered chip? No entry. False exclusion entitles the owner to a $100 fine.
Chip must be placed where it is supposed to be, and be of an approved design - to ensure minimum false negative scans.
Then we will see how many “service dogs” suddenly become pets.
Or just have a bot of kibble handy - a service dog will not accept food from strangers, nor will they want to play.
The ADA isn’t a “they,” it’s a law. The Americans with Disabilities Act, I believe.
Why not read the thread before posting? I know it’s kind of long, but still!