Topic: Service Animals

[amysrevenge]

Local news story.

Level one, the headline:  Man with service dog thrown out of establishment.  Obvious reaction: disgust with establishment

Level two, the man's story:  The owner threw me out, said "I'll pay the fines, just get out".  Obvious reaction: even more disgust.

Level three, the owner's story:  There are a steady stream of customer complaints about this dog.  "When I approached the man, he left voluntarily."  Reaction, less obvious: yeah right, whatever, you're probably lying.

Level four, eyewitnesses:  The dog always smells terrible and seems to be in very poor health, and seems to be badly mistreated.  Reaction:  wait, what?

[amysrevenge]

The direction the story took my thoughts was to consider how far we have to bend in order to be accomodating, and at what point we have to say no, no matter how it makes our little liberal hearts ache.

[David E.]

In this instance I would say situational.  Your chain of informed reasoning goes to ask and answer the question.  You really have to have some serious mental health issues to mistreat your own service animal (well any animal of course). 

I 

[Citizen Skeptic]

I don't have a problem with people bringing their dogs to restaurants as long as they are well behaved. I used to see this in Germany and I thought it was cool.

[amysrevenge]

I have a strage view on this, because on one hand my wife is a veterinarian and I have a front-of-the-brain appreciation/respect for animals, but on the other hand I have a deep down back-of-the-brain distaste for any dog any time.

[Traveler]

I think that service dogs should be allowed to go where people go.  But I also think that you should be able to ban a dog and its owner for the same reasons you would ban a person. If you can ask a smelly person to leave your business then you should be able to ask a person with a smelly service dog to leave your business. Or if employees are required to wear hair nets it would make no sense to have a blind employee wear a hair net while their service dog sheds all over the place.

[Skeptress]

I was thinking about something similar recently when I heard about lifts being required in pools.  Many pools it seems are not going to make the requirements in time.  Honestly I think if the establishment can offer this it's great but requiring it is in the end probably going to see many close their pool all together.  So who in the end is that helping?

[Kayto]

Is that story online?

I'm wondering what type of service dog it is and if it were obtained through a service dog organization and if so which one.

Organizations vary. But the two biggest organizations in the area where I live wouldn't allow one of their dogs to be mistreated, ill-kept, or generally make a bad impression in public (if at all possible). They are constantly trying to do the opposite!

It may also be possible for someone to get their own pet dog certified as a service dog. (Usually dog trainers or family members of dog trainers.) People that go that route may not get the assistance and support that people who get their service dogs from well-funded organizations do.

If the dog was obtained through certain service dog organizations, it certainly can not be mistreated, in poor health, or ill-kept. Mistreated dogs would be taken back (assuming the organization knew.) If the client's health has deteriorated to such an extent that he/she could no longer properly care for the animal, he/she would be given an easier one (a labrador with no under coat is considerably easier than a golden retriever or a german shepherd) or service dogs may no longer be considered as a suitable aid for him/her. If the dog were ill, the organization would see to it's medical care (assuming they knew). If the dog were old it would be retired. A lot of money and time goes into making suitable service dogs. And "bad press" may also cause the organization to lose funding - at least in United States (they get their funding through donations).

[Kwisatz Haderach]

My current dog is a retired Guide Dog and even though she is retired, Guide Dogs still checks up on her to make sure she is being well cared for!

[Karyn]

People take their dogs everywhere in Seattle.  Restaurants, grocery stores, the bus.  Most places don't have an issue as long as the dog is nice.  But I wonder about this sometimes.  We went and played board games with some people.  One of the ladies had a 'helper dog'.  This thing was a chihuahua and she did not appear to be physically disabled in any way.  Now, I don't really care, and the dog was very well behaved, but I can't figure out how it qualified as a helper dog.  The person who served us asked to see papers, which she presented, and then proceeded to rant to the rest of us about proper policy and procedure, at which time we asked, politely, what services the dog provided.  More out of curiosity than challenge.  All she said was 'he helps me with things.'  He didn't come out of her purse all night.  Can someone who has more experience enlighten me?

[Kwisatz Haderach]

People take their dogs everywhere in Seattle.  Restaurants, grocery stores, the bus.  Most places don't have an issue as long as the dog is nice.  But I wonder about this sometimes.  We went and played board games with some people.  One of the ladies had a 'helper dog'.  This thing was a chihuahua and she did not appear to be physically disabled in any way.  Now, I don't really care, and the dog was very well behaved, but I can't figure out how it qualified as a helper dog.  The person who served us asked to see papers, which she presented, and then proceeded to rant to the rest of us about proper policy and procedure, at which time we asked, politely, what services the dog provided.  More out of curiosity than challenge.  All she said was 'he helps me with things.'  He didn't come out of her purse all night.  Can someone who has more experience enlighten me?

A quick google search revealed:

Anne Wicklund, owner of Service Dog Registry, tells the newspaper that around 70 per cent of the service licenses she gives out go to owners of pooches around the size of a Yorkshire terrier.

 

Oh great.  Now she's spreading her lies to other countries.

The most common breed for a  real service dog is a labrador retriever or golden retriever.  NOT a chihuahua.  I'm not saying there aren't any chihuahua service dogs, because I know there are.  But REAL chihuahua service dogs are very rare.

What this statistic REALLY says is that either 70% of fakers pass off purse dogs or fakers with purse dogs are more than twice as likely as anyone else to fall for fake certification scams.

[Traveler]

People take their dogs everywhere in Seattle.  Restaurants, grocery stores, the bus.  Most places don't have an issue as long as the dog is nice.  But I wonder about this sometimes.  We went and played board games with some people.  One of the ladies had a 'helper dog'.  This thing was a chihuahua and she did not appear to be physically disabled in any way.  Now, I don't really care, and the dog was very well behaved, but I can't figure out how it qualified as a helper dog.  The person who served us asked to see papers, which she presented, and then proceeded to rant to the rest of us about proper policy and procedure, at which time we asked, politely, what services the dog provided.  More out of curiosity than challenge.  All she said was 'he helps me with things.'  He didn't come out of her purse all night.  Can someone who has more experience enlighten me?

Maybe a psychiatric service dog.

[Karyn]

People take their dogs everywhere in Seattle.  Restaurants, grocery stores, the bus.  Most places don't have an issue as long as the dog is nice.  But I wonder about this sometimes.  We went and played board games with some people.  One of the ladies had a 'helper dog'.  This thing was a chihuahua and she did not appear to be physically disabled in any way.  Now, I don't really care, and the dog was very well behaved, but I can't figure out how it qualified as a helper dog.  The person who served us asked to see papers, which she presented, and then proceeded to rant to the rest of us about proper policy and procedure, at which time we asked, politely, what services the dog provided.  More out of curiosity than challenge.  All she said was 'he helps me with things.'  He didn't come out of her purse all night.  Can someone who has more experience enlighten me?

Maybe a psychiatric service dog.

Well that's certainly possible.  This lady seemed fine, I thought she was fantastic, but then maybe that was because of the dog.

[Skeptress]

People take their dogs everywhere in Seattle.  Restaurants, grocery stores, the bus.  Most places don't have an issue as long as the dog is nice.  But I wonder about this sometimes.  We went and played board games with some people.  One of the ladies had a 'helper dog'.  This thing was a chihuahua and she did not appear to be physically disabled in any way.  Now, I don't really care, and the dog was very well behaved, but I can't figure out how it qualified as a helper dog.  The person who served us asked to see papers, which she presented, and then proceeded to rant to the rest of us about proper policy and procedure, at which time we asked, politely, what services the dog provided.  More out of curiosity than challenge.  All she said was 'he helps me with things.'  He didn't come out of her purse all night.  Can someone who has more experience enlighten me?

Maybe a psychiatric service dog.

Talked to a man at the hospital with a St. Bernard guide dog.  Thing was massive.  The man has PTSD and extreme anxiety disorder.   Seeing as chihuahuas are nervous anyway I'd find it strange for them to be psych dogs but anything is possible.

[Kayto]

Unfortunately Kwisatz Haderach's may be the most likely but also...

Service Dogs are used for...
    * Service Dogs (for a physical disability, debilitating chronic illness or neurological disorder)
    * Hearing Dogs (for the deaf or hard of hearing)
    * Seizure Response Dogs
    * Combination Dogs (service/hearing, service/seizure, hearing/seizure)
    * Service Dogs for Children with Autism
    * Social Support Dogs (in-home only companion)

But even THEN, most are still retrievers....they are super easy to train, REALLY want to please, connect easily with their person, friendly, and are really good at doing things with their mouths (retrieving, opening doors, pulling-up covers, really anything remotely similar to retrieving can be trained.)

It would not be the case with that woman but service dogs are also used as therapy dogs (in a psychologist's office, in the courtroom for cases involving children, in nursing homes and hospitals, in libraries and schools to put children at ease when they are learning to read, probably a few more that I have forgotten)