In general people understand the concept of a service dog. If you’re only ever heard of service dogs, you probably imagine a dog, most likely a Golden Retriever or German Shepherd Dog, wearing a vest and guide handle, guiding a blind man through busy intersections in New York City. While this image is most likely applicable to some service dog handlers, it certainly is not a depiction of all handlers.
Service dogs and their handlers come in a variety of shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and disabilities. This is why ILRDB is proud to present Ten Things People Believe About Service Dogs (That Simply Are Not True).
1) Service dogs are legally required to be registered in the United States
Possibly the most common misconception about service dogs is that registration or licensing is required by law. There are a number of registration companies that provide a place for handlers to pay to register their dogs. These companies are for-profit and registering with them is both optional and strongly discouraged by many service dog handlers.
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, while it is not illegal to provide documentation, it is illegal for businesses to request documentation for a handler to gain access to a facility. “Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.” (ADA)
The important distinction here is that a handler may provide documentation if they choose to do so, but businesses are not supposed to expect it. Therefore the registries that provide documentation for a nominal fee to service dog handlers are not technically breaking the law. However, they are making things more difficult for other service dog handlers.
If Handler A walks into a business with his service dog and presents identification in the form of a certificate from a for-profit registry, the business might expect the same behavior from Handler B when she visits with her service dog. The event that inevitably follows is what handlers call an “access challenge”. This is when a business breaks the law and refuses access to a handler because they are using a service dog. Under the ADA, federal law, this is discrimination. As service dog handlers are well aware, however, there are many businesses that remain ignorant of the law. While we do our best to educate those businesses, trying to explain why the first handler they saw presented registration while we do not have registration is a long stressful process that could have been prevented.
It is important to mention that there are proponents of requiring identification or registration. This is discrimination. If able-bodied persons are permitted to gain access to a facility without identifying themselves, disabled handlers should be afforded the same privilege.
2) Service dogs are required to wear a vest
Octane (vested) on the job! Photo by his handler, Brittany Love
Similar to the registration, service dogs are not required to wear a vest while they are working. The only requirement is that they are harnessed, leashed, or tethered unless any of those devices prevents the dog from performing its task.
“Under the ADA, service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other effective controls.” (ADA)
It is important to note that handlers who choose to work their dog without a vest may have a very good reason for doing so. The vest could interfere with the dog’s task, it might be too hot out for the dog to wear a vest, or the handler may have lost or forgotten the vest.
Since it is the dog, and not the vest, that performs the task to mitigate the handler’s disability, the vest is simply considered a courtesy to inform the general public that a dog is a service dog. Therefore a business cannot ask a handler to leave because they have failed to mark their dog as a service dog.
So the next logical question is, what can a business do to make sure the dog in their store is a service dog? The ADA addresses this as well.
“When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions:
(1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and
(2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.”
The two questions signify a verbal agreement between the business owner and the handler that the dog is, in fact, a service dog. Furthermore, if a dog is being disruptive and its handler makes little to no attempt to bring their dog under control, the ADA states that the business may ask that person to leave the facility.
3) All service dogs are trained and sold by a specialized training program.
Another common misconception about service dogs is that anyone with a service dog is training it for a program. The general public might arrive at this conclusion if a handler is not obviously disabled.
The ADA makes absolutely no stipulations about who trains a service dog. The concept of owner training is growing in popularity as more people realize the benefit of having a service dog. Because a service dog from a program can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000, many handlers turn to private trainers and dog training books to produce their own service dog.
When you see a service dog in public, even if the handler looks healthy, this does not necessarily mean the dog is being trained for a program. Many handlers prefer to mark dogs that are in training as such. If it is not obvious, don’t assume that the dog is not assisting the handler. Remember that some disabilities are invisible!
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