Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that
falls under the U.S. Department of Justice a service dog is defined as a dog
that has been individually trained to perform specific tasks for an individual
with a disability. The tasks must be
related specifically to that person’s disability such as a hearing dog to for a
hearing impaired person, a mobility dog for a person with mobility issues, a
seeing-eye dog for a blind or seeing impaired person and so on. An Emotional Support Animal (ESA), therapy, comforts,
or companion animal however are not considered to be service dogs and are not
protected under the ADA protection because they do not provide a specific
task. There may be a state or local
government law that may protect the rights of an Emotional Support Animal
(ESA), therapy, comfort, or companion animals which would depend on each
specific state and county government.
Now there are exclusions such as a service dog for an individual with
diagnosed depression or Post-Traumatic Stress in which the service dog is
trained to remind the handler to take their medication. A diabetic alert or a person or has epilepsy
again the dog is trained to alert when their sugar levels are low or to detect
the onset of a seizure, these service dogs would be protected under ADA. For an
individual to claim their dog’s presence “calms them” during an anxiety attack
does not qualify them as a service dog either, this is a fine line. If an individual states their dog is a
service dog because the dog is able to provide a specific action to help avoid
or possibly lessen the impact of the anxiety attack that would qualify the dog
as a service dog because it is tasked for a specific job. So again, it is educating the public,
establishments, and others to understand what would qualify a service animal
under the ADA versus the fake service dogs.
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Another potential misunderstanding is No; a service
dog does not need to be professional trained.
An individual is able to train their own dog for their own
disability. Also, service dogs in
training are not qualified or protected under the ADA while still in
training. There are establishments that
will work with professional trainers to help train service dogs in training
because of the relationship obtained over the years. So if one is training your own dog an
establishment is allowed by law to turn you and your service dog in training
away. Once you and your service dog is
ready to go out, if an establishment questions if your dog is a service dog or
not they are only allowed two questions: 1. Is your dog require because of a
disability? A simple yes or no answer is
required here. You do not need to disclose your disability. 2. What is your dog tasked for? This is a
sticky situation because this will disclose your disability when you state, for
instance, they are my hearing dog or assists me with my mobility. An establishment cannot ask for
documentation, cannot ask for the dog or you to prove the task, or inquire
further in regards to your disability.
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| Under ADA a service dog does not need to wear a vest or harness. |
Another, misunderstanding is a service animal does
not need to wear a service vest, harness or anything to state it is a service
dog. Some individuals will utilize the
vest or a harness to lessen the confusion or prohibit individuals from petting
or requesting to pet their dog however it is not required for them to be worn under
the ADA. So to some people there are
positive and negatives to their dog wearing a vest or harness signifying it is
a service dog and at work.
All service dogs will need to meet all cities, state
and local vaccinations requirements, they are not exempt from the
vaccinations. If your specific city or
state requires your dog to be registered and licensed then you must obey those
laws on top of the requirements needed for your dog to qualify under the
service dog requirements. The ADA has no
specific mandatory registration or requirements just what the local governments
require.
Now this particular information was eye-opening to
me, not all Federal agencies have to comply with the ADA. For instance, the Air Carrier Access Act is
slightly different in their definitions on what would comply as a service
animal versus the ADA definition of a service animal as well as which and the
number of questions that can be asked to determine if the animal is a service
animal or not. Now, all U.S. Carriers
are to follow the Air Carrier Access Act however for foreign air carriers they
are not required to transport any other service animal just a service dog. Just
recently the Department of Veterans Affairs changed their policy in which
service dogs are allowed on their grounds and in their facilities, prior to
that it was depending up to each facility.
So even though it is a government
facility, if you have a service dog and need to visit a federal government facility
it is best to call ahead and check first if your service dog is allowed.
Now this was a lot of information and even I learned
some additional information that I was unware of during this article. So again, education and continuous education
is needed to help combat the real service dogs versus the fake service dogs.
#veteranservicedog #servicedog #fakeservicedog
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#veteransadministration #pts #ptsd #veteranswithpts #ADA #piapiapug #florida
#veteransneedsservicedogs #k9forwarriors #petsforvets #merrick #bayerpethealth
Americans with Disability Act. https://www.ada.gov/regs2010/service_animal_qa.html
Air Carrier Access Act. https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/P2.SA_.Issue%20List.SA%20Matrix.pdf
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