{"id":907,"date":"2017-03-15T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com\/blog\/?p=907"},"modified":"2025-03-05T07:43:34","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T12:43:34","slug":"fake-service-dogs-infringe-on-rights-of-abled-and-disabled-alike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydoorsign.com/blog\/fake-service-dogs-infringe-on-rights-of-abled-and-disabled-alike\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake service dogs infringe on rights of abled and disabled alike"},"content":{"rendered":"

A disturbing trend has been observed in New York and California: pet owners attempting to pass off their dogs as service dogs. From public transportation to posh restaurants, certain dog owners are either simply calling their dogs service animals, or going as far as to dress their fake service dogs in fake service vests.<\/p>\n

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Many enclosed public spaces don’t allow pets but do allow certified service animals. From MyDoorSign<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Press Democrat, which covers Napa and Sonoma counties in California, described an encounter between Ann Meacham and her service dog, Duncan, and a couple with a pit bull. The pair and their pit bull boarded Meacham\u2019s Amtrak bus\u2014though non-service animals are banned from public transport\u2014and simply said their dog was a service dog. \u201cFor the rest of the ride,\u201d reports the paper, \u201cthe dog snarled at Duncan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Service dogs undergo extensive training to learn how to behave and how to assist their owners. The Americans with Disabilities Act specifies<\/a> that \u201cA service animal is a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability,\u201d and that, in general, establishments \u201cmust permit service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas where members of the public are allowed to go.\u201d To some pet owners, that right looks like a free pass to bring dogs wherever they please.<\/p>\n

Service dogs are trained to do various tasks. According to the ADA, these include: guiding blind people; alerting deaf people; pulling a wheelchair, \u201calerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder during an anxiety attack,\u201d in addition to other duties. However, \u201cdogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals,\u201d according to the ADA.<\/p>\n

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Some pet owners go as far as to dress their dogs in fake service vests.<\/p><\/div>\n

The line between service animal and pet is clearly defined by both the law and service trainers, but not as easily recognized by certain pet owners. A California woman, who brings her 50-pound dog everywhere and who suffers from vertigo, told the Press-Democrat, \u201cI just explain that I get attacks of vertigo and my dog is trained to assist me and lead me to a safe place.\u201d Yet her dog is not a trained service dog.<\/p>\n

A New York Post reporter<\/a> took matters into her own hands, adorning a golden retriever-poodle mix with a fake service dog patch and escorting him to an expensive Manhattan restaurant where, despite the dog\u2019s behavior and the discomfort of other customers (he leapt up and nibbled from plates), staff did not ask about his service credentials. In fact, the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits them from asking for an animal’s credentials or inquiring about the human companion\u2019s disability. In another experiment with a faux service dog, a well-behaved dog (albeit one not trained to serve an owner with a disability) earned good reception from onlookers and store workers. Transit workers are at a similar crossroads when it comes to determining whether a service dog truly is a service dog\u2014or an impostor. \u201cWe don’t have the time or desire to get into debates with people as to whether they have a service dog or not, and that’s a dangerous debate to get into in the civil rights arena,\u201d Steve Roraus, a California bus transit supervisor, told the Post-Dispatch.<\/p>\n

At a recent dog run unveiling, Diana Taylor, girlfriend of NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg, spoke out against the faux-pas practice, declaring it would \u201cruin it for people that actually need service dogs,\u2019\u2019 and that it is \u201cunfair for people to take advantage of a system put in place to really help those who need it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

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Could one of these service dogs be an imposter? From The U.S. Army<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n

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