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Trying to watch a movie in a theater while a very large fake "service" dog is panting, drooling, whining, and sticking its nose on peoples' legs is not a quality experience.
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Are we ok allowing that dog in public, even if it's a nuisance?
while panting and drooling isn't disruptive, whining, approaching strangers, not staying with its handler, having to be reeled in ect...unless the dog was tring to get help IS disruptive behavior you would have been well within your rights to complain to management who would have been well within their rights, if the dog was bring truly disruptive to ask the handler to remove the dog due to it being disruptive...
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What kind of trick would that be in a movie theater? What would the dog do if the owner was in imminent danger of having a blackout or seizure?
I have seizures and hypoglycemia, my service dog is trained to alert me when my blood sugar begins to drop, if I however ignore her or for whatever reason cannot get my medication or food in time shes also trained to bark for attention, repetitivl lick and nudge me and stay by my side to prevent someone from stealing my purse (and yes I actually had that happen prior to my service dog, someone actually stole my purse when i whent down...)
shes also trained to press my medical alert button...
we are also assuming this woman had seizures...did you ASK her what services her dog performed? did she tell you she was epileptic? theres MANY invisible disabilities that a service dog can help with, mabe the dog is a diabeti or hypoglycemic alert/response dog, mabe a psychiatric service dog (please note again psych service dogs are NOT emotpinal support or therapy dogs, they are TASK TRAINED) mabe its a PTSD dog, being a large breed mabe the handler has mobility issues and the dog helps with balance and stability, mabe the dog was a young dog and in training and this was its first time in a movie theater...
and
many epileptics CAN get their lisences back after getting a service dog because the dog tells the handler BEFORE they have a seizure so they can safely pull off the road and call for help BEFORE they have a seizure...
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I often find that peoples' requirements for dog behavior are more stringent than those they have for people, which is crazy to me.
ABSOLUTLY agree with this...my dobe is still in training for me (were currently working on public acess and shes doing incredibly well), i took her to a drs appointment, the moment we walked in and took a seat the looks and quiet comments started, one woman commented on how a "dirty dog" shouldn't be in a place where theres sick people, (in the mean time her little girl was shoving used tissues into the sides of the chair and rubbing her snotty nose on the seat.
another guy there with 3 young kids, who were running round the waiting room screaming like banchees, commented on how Disruptive a dog in the waiting room was...
in the meantime keira sat at my side, perfectly quietly, at one point she stood up and placed her head in my lap (which is part of her training when my anxiety levels start to rise) she didn't bark or cry or try to say hello to anyone...
and in the meantime they felt they had the right to call her dirty and disruptive as their own kids ran riot and dirtied up the place....
had she even blinked or sneezed funny i can only imagine the outrage...
and she does have a harness with a service dog patch on it so its not like she was completely unmarked.
For what it's worth, the new regulations now allowes individual states to criminalize "Service Animal" violations as it pertains to fake service dogs. Right now I believe only 4 states had laws making impersonating a service dog a violation of law, most had simple violations like a parking ticket that was never or seldom enforced. With the US Justice Department saying that local law enforcement is not in violation of ADA for vettng the legitimacy of a Service Dog if there is a reasonable belief that the animal may not be legitimate.
It shuld also be noted that many disabled advocacy/support groups for people with Service Animals aqlong with organizations involved in legitimate Service Dog advancement, have come out in favor of tougher federal regulations to include, if necessary, some form of identification. If you read the last DOJ comment request, virtually all organization for service animals supported working for new rules and only those questionable groups felt it was unfair.
I think that those with legitimate Service Animals realize that the current system is broken and fraud has overtaken the legitmate users. Some even advoicate for a single federal set of regulatiosn instead of the current three. They want one standard so people aren't abusing one law and applying it to an area not covered. Since major orgnizations that deal with legitimate service animals are not longer opposed to toughrer regulations, we may just see another revision of ADA, FHA and ACA that is designed to stop the fraud.
What skin is it off anyone's back if they have their dog along?........
.......Mind your own.
It is a lot of skin off a landlord's back if he has a no-pets rental and has to let in an untrained, badly cared for dog just because the healthy owner lies and declares it to be a service animal. The landlord can't even get a deposit for the dog and the landlord has to pay for the ruined carpet, the chewed cabinets, and the vacancies when other tenants move out because of the howling and barking.
It's expensive skin off the store owner's back when an untrained fake service dog pees on an end cap display.
It's skin off the restaurant owner's back when the untrained fake service dog knocks down a customer and the restaurant owner gets sued over it.
It is a lot of skin off a landlord's back if he has a no-pets rental and has to let in an untrained, badly cared for dog just because the healthy owner lies and declares it to be a service animal. The landlord can't even get a deposit for the dog and the landlord has to pay for the ruined carpet, the chewed cabinets, and the vacancies when other tenants move out because of the howling and barking.
It's expensive skin off the store owner's back when an untrained fake service dog pees on an end cap display.
It's skin off the restaurant owner's back when the untrained fake service dog knocks down a customer and the restaurant owner gets sued over it.
To be fair, those really aren't problems with the current law. It's people breaking that law. In every single case you mentioned, the owner of the dog is responsible for the damage caused. You could charge them to make repairs in the house, make them pay for the damage to the store, and would not be liable in tort for damage to the person knocked over by a dog in a situation that did not involve your own negligence.
I am in favor of legislation to protect legitimate service dogs. When everyone who has a dog, "poses" their dog as a "service dog" it does a huge disservice to people who have disabilities, and legitimate service dogs.
I am not ANTI-legislation to protect service dogs. I AM anti legislation that would tack another cost onto those who can least afford to pay it: those with handicaps. Find some way to fund this legislation that does not involve paying a fee BY THOSE WHO NEED it to get a license/certificate/tag that identifies the service dog; perhaps the fees should be paid by fines in some way on those who misidentify.
But there's the rub - how does one prove that the dog is not a true service dog?
It would help if there were some serious legislation making it illegal to misrepresent a pet dog as a service dog.
There are signs at the handicapped parking stating that there is a $1000 fine for parking in that space if you don't have a handicapped sticker.
Pass a law against it with a big fine and let the stores post that on the door. "No animals except for service animals. $1000 fine for misrepresenting a pet as a service animal per Statute ####"
One of my friends, who has a service animal and is a prominent dog trainer sometimes testifies in court over whether or not a dog is really a service animal. She is considered to be an expert witness, and she is not very understanding about people who pretend to be handicapped in order to get special privileges.
For this to work EVERY State Has to also agree as to What Training a SD Needs Above & Beyond just assisting some one with their Disability. Training ALL Dogs can be tested for. And should be for the Life time of the Dog not yearly.
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