[nagdu] One thing to remember about service animals

[Lora and Myrtle]

"problems from the public" refering to what? The public petting your dog
without you asking? Access rights?

On Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 8:28 PM, dmgina <dmgina at qwest.net> wrote:

> I am interested in knowing if anyone felt they needed to send a dog back
> and not deal with all of the problems from the public?
> Does this happen allot?
>
> --Dar
> www.mypowermall.com/biz/home/5779
> Every saint has a past
> every sinner has a future
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenine Stanley" <jeninems at wowway.com>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" <
> nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 03, 2009 5:10 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] One thing to remember about service animals
>
>
>  I'm still not quite sure how I feel about all manner of animals being used
>> as service animals. I see the logic in many of the species being used,
>> with
>> appropriate training.
>>
>> One thing I hear a lot from people is this "fear of untrained or ill
>> behaved
>> animals". It's important to keep in mind that even a well trained service
>> animal earns the right for you to have it work with you through its public
>> behavior as well as its training. The most highly trained guide dog from
>> the
>> oldest, most well established, most progressive, whatever adjective you
>> want, school, can be tossed out of a business if it barks repeatedly,
>> jumps
>> on things or people, growls, eats things repeatedly or bothers people for
>> attention.
>>
>> I've heard many blind people say that our dogs are somehow superior
>> because
>> of their training, yet I see plenty of them, mine included, misbehaving in
>> public from time to time. I just retired a dog whose behavior fell into
>> one
>> of those disruptive categories.
>>
>> If the animal has been trained to perform specific tasks, can do so
>> reliably, is clean and does not pose a proven disease risk, and finally
>> and
>> probably most importantly, is under good control, then why not allow it to
>> be seen as a service animal?
>>
>> Where I'm conflicted though is just when to draw the line in terms of
>> disability. I fear the ADA Restoration Act is going to make this an even
>> murkier dilemma. I'm also a bit skeptical about some of the claims people
>> make about their animals' abilities.
>>
>> In the "Creature Comforts" article Anne shared, it mentions nothing about
>> the parrot's toileting habits that I recall. I don't know a lot about
>> parrots but I'm not sure that many of them can or do have control of their
>> eliminations. A friend had Sun Conyers, along with several other types of
>> parrots. The Sun Conyers were the only ones regularly allowed to hang
>> around
>> the house because they only toileted in their own cages. This was a
>> natural
>> behavior, not a trained one. The other birds came out now and then for
>> short
>> periods, and never without some mess.
>>
>> I was really bothered too in the article when the monkey licked something
>> in
>> a store. OK, our dogs lick things, probably more often than we realize,
>> but
>> as the article did note, primates can carry some diseases dogs do not and
>> those diseases are spread through saliva. Could this woman not get the
>> same
>> benefit from a dog trained to do the same behaviors of calming, etc?
>>
>> I do completely agree with Dr. Freidan and I know I've spelled his last
>> name
>> wrong. Our goal should be to punish those who fraudulently claim to have a
>> disability to gain some benefit. Proving this though is nearly impossible
>> and will be even harder in the future.
>>
>> Then I go to my basest thoughts about the issue which involve backlash.
>> It's
>> hard enough to get access with a large dog, to cabs, airport escorts, some
>> small businesses, but when they realize that anything can be a service
>> animal and anyone can claim a disability and claim his or her animal is
>> trained, regardless of whether the business understands that it is able to
>> take action if there is disruptive behavior, the business owner and/or
>> front
>> line staff are going to just throw up hands and say, "No one comes in!"
>> Then
>> I and others have to fight to prove ourselves. Or, if we so choose, fight
>> to
>> prove the rights of others. It feels at times like a giant Mobius strip.
>>
>> Jenine Stanley
>> jeninems at wowway.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/dmgina%40qwest.net
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
>
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/blindhistory%40gmail.com
>



-- 
Lora and Leader Dog Myrtle