Posted on 08/09/2013 7:19:14 AM PDT by george76
Public confusion, legal loopholes and shady Internet businesses have led to an "epidemic" of fake service-dog certificates, vests and harnesses for use on ordinary pets. And advocates for the disabled say the issue is creating big headaches for those who truly need the canines' assistance.
The problem has gotten so bad that Canine Companions for Independence — the nation's largest breeding and training service-dog program — launched an online petition this week asking the U.S. Department of Justice to take action.
"Unfortunately, people are trading on the fact these harnesses and vests have become distinguishing marks of service dogs, so now you find unscrupulous businesses who sell these things to people who want to take their dogs into the store or restaurant or in the passenger cabin of the plane," said Paul Mundell, national director of canine programs for CCI. "It happens all the time."
On a recent flight to Orlando, where CCI has its regional headquarters, Mundell said he watched a man with a toy breed of dog walk off their flight to the baggage area, remove the dog's "service animal" vest and leave the airport. "It was quite clear that he was simply using the vest to get cabin privileges," Mundell said.
(Excerpt) Read more at southflorida.com ...
I think they have hit home with the fraud. I am with you that there should be standards not connected with a particular company. I know about SARA from a guy got a vest since he claimed he would cry when separated from his dog.
If you worked at Replacements in Greensboro, NC, that is one of the perquisites — bring your animal to work.
Well, a couple of years ago there was a Schnauzer who could detect cancer.
When my beloved (handicapped) friend was traveling with me, she died suddenly of a heart attack. Her Handicapped parking permit was hanging from the rear view mirror of our rented car. Since I am NOT handicapped, I tenderly removed her permit and put it with her personal effects, which I shipped home to her next of kin.
I spent the rest of the two weeks trying to find parking spaces in very crowded Kona, Hawaii. And, of course, the Handicapped Spaces were always empty. As an able-bodied person, I would never use them!
Same thing with my dog, even though she is a great comfort to me, and does provide a lot of emotional support!
I had one of those. When sitting by the table, her eyes were not quite high enough to see what was on the plate, but she always knew the second your plate was empty and would lie down and stop begging with her big brown eyes.
My Dog is so Mentally Handicapped that I am her Service Human.
>”Well, a couple of years ago there was a Schnauzer who could detect cancer”<
How did they teach the Dog to work the MRI Machine?
That dog was a cheapo MRI himself. The patient would lie on the grass with arms outstretched and the dog would walk about the outside of his body. He would alert at any locations where he detected cancer. He was right nearly all of the time. Beats lying in a tube listening to the MRI go thump, thump, thump.
We had a Family acquaintance who had a Dog that could detect when their Daughter would have a Epileptic Seizure. The Dog would literally jump in the girls lap a moment before it happened. Pretty Bizarre stuff.
A woman brought a very limp parrot into a veterinary hospital. As she lay her pet on the table, the vet pulled out his stethoscope and listened to the bird’s chest. After a moment or two, the Vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m so sorry, Polly has passed
away.”
The distressed owner wailed, “Are you sure? I mean, you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something.”
The vet rolled his eyes, shrugged, turned and left the room returning a few moments later with beautiful black Labrador. As the bird’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the dead parrot from top to bottom. He then looked at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.
The vet led the dog out but returned a few moments later with a cat. The cat jumped up and also sniffed delicately at the ex-bird. The cat sat back, shook its head, meowed and ran out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry; but like I said, your parrot is most definitely, 100% certifiably ...dead.”
He then turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill which he handed to the woman. The parrot’s owner, still in shock, took the bill. “$150!” she cried. “$150 just to tell me my bird is dead?!”
The vet shrugged. “If you’d taken my word for it, the bill would only have been $20, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, what did you expect?”
If they would just prosecute people who commit fraud, that would solve the problem.
That clears a lot of things up.
Thanks,
In 2011, the Department of Justice issued revisions to its ADA regulations singling out dogs as the only legally protected assistance animals...The department also clarified the definition of a service dog as one that is "individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability."
When it's not obvious what service an animal provides, workers may ask if the service animal is required because of a disability and what tasks the dog has been trained to perform.
Maybe I’m not crazy. I’ve seen a huge increase in ‘service dogs’ in public places. Many (or most) don’t look able to provide any kind of service.
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If the animal is poised to warn of seizure, how do you tell? Some epilepsies are detected by the dog before then victim knows it is happening......
Perhaps the human is only now able to go out in public BECAUSE of the presence dog.
Perhaps. In fact, I'm only able to respond to you because of my HTML Service Snake.
Whatever did people do without crystal ball dogs.
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They fell down and made everyone near them uncomfortable with their seizure ........ or were injured by Good Samaritans trying to ‘help’.
Some of them just stayed home, rather than subject themselves to that vulnerability. We see many more disabled people than we used to, now that they’re able to go out in public more. I see that as a good thing. I don’t understand people who think they should be confined away from society.
Service horses are miniature horses or small Shetlands and the like. They have been trained but are rare.
Could be. Not likely but could be.
They tend to use smaller dogs for that kind of duty.
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