Here's an article about a celebrity with a fake service dog. It seems the only reason his dog is wearing a service dog vest is so the dog can fly in the cabin of the plane with him. I wish airlines would crack down on this kind of thing.
See the photos of him carrying the dog through the airport? That is a dead giveaway that it's not even a real service dog. A real service dog would be walking through the airport, heeling nicely.
What's wrong with people pretending their dogs are service dogs when they're not? Well, besides the fact that it's dishonest, unethical, and illegal, it ends up making things harder for people with real service dogs. The public gets used to seeing all these fake service dogs and suspects that real service dogs are also pretend service dogs. They get tired of dealing with ill-behaved pets and just want dogs to stay out of public places altogether. I wish airlines and other businesses would start excising their rights and not allowing people to bring in fake service dogs.
I think there needs to be some regulation with service animals. People are claiming pets are service animals to get over on pet deposits where I live. I have been told that they landlords ask if the pet is a service animal and the tenant says yet, then the landlord isn't allowed to ask for any proof. If this is right then that explains why so many people are getting away with this.
ReplyDeleteThat is not right. The Fair Housing Act requires landlords to make reasonable accommodations for tenants with disabilities, which includes requiring them to allow tenants with service dogs and emotional support animals to live in no pets housing and forbids them from charging pet deposits for service dogs and emotional support animals.
DeleteA service dog, by the way, must be trained to perform specific tasks that mitigate a person's disability, while emotional support animals are simply pets that are prescribed by a health care provider as part of a treatment plan for people with mental disabilities. Emotional support animals do not have to be trained to perform any specific tasks.
Anyway, the Fair Housing Act allows landlords to require proof that a tenant is in fact disabled (though they are not allowed to require the tenant to disclose the exact nature of the disability; for instance, if I ask a landlord to allow me to have an emotional support animal, the landlord can require a letter from my psychiatrist verifying that I am disabled by a mental illness, but I do not have to state what that mental illness is) and proof that a service animal has been trained to perform tasks to mitigate that disability. When I moved into my apartment, I had to provide a letter from my psychiatrist stating that I had a disability and required a service dog. His letter had to state that my dog was trained to perform tasks that mitigate my disability and list what some of those tasks are. I was not required to provide any information from the program that trained Isaac, but my landlord would have had the legal right to require that information, as well.
Check out this link if you want to learn more about the rights of tenants with service dogs and the rights of landlords: http://www.bazelon.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=mHq8GV0FI4c%3D&tabid=245.