[nagdu] Article: See Spot support
craig.borne at dot.gov
craig.borne at dot.gov
Mon Mar 16 16:05:24 UTC 2009
See Spot support
Emotional support dogs may draw ridicule but they're catching on
BY COLIN RIGLEY
thumb/slo scene-emo dog0
AT THE HIP
Sachi Bobge, 21, takes her dog Koda everywhere for emotional support.
PHOTO BY STEVE E. MILLER
Koda's drooping jowls flapped and sputtered when he sneezed, sending
spittles of drool and snot into the air.
"Excuse you," his owner Sachi Bobge said before wiping his snout with
her sweater sleeve.
Bobge takes Koda everywhere, including classes at Cuesta College. The
dog, a 2-year-old boxer, is more than a pet to Bobge, though his job is
an unusual
one. Some dogs help the blind. Some dogs help the deaf. Koda's purpose
is less obvious: He is an emotional support dog, which is exactly as it
sounds.
So, what are the requirements of the job?
Basically, any animal can be emotionally supportive. Such unusual
choices as lizards, monkeys, and hamsters are among a broad range of
emotional support
animals. One online forum even referred to a supportive miniature horse.
"I understand where people are coming [from]," Bobge said. "It does
sound kind of silly."
Koda's job isn't silly to Bobge, though. Koda is Bobge's constant
companion, like a seeing-eye dog. Unlike a seeing-eye dog, however, Koda
is doing his
job when he's simply well-behaved in public and occasionally rests a
sympathetic head in Bobge's lap.
It's a relatively new idea in the field of assistance animals. After the
advent of seeing-eye dogs in the 1920s, animals were used to help people
with
such disabilities as paralysis and epilepsy. Dogs and other emotional
support animals became somewhat common about 10 years ago, rising in
popularity over
the past five years.
By court definition, there's a difference between support dogs and
service dogs. A service animal "does work or performs tasks for the
benefit of a person
with a disability." An emotional support animal is "an animal the
presence of which ameliorates the effects of a mental or emotional
disability." In other
words, a service animal helps someone with a physical disability while a
support animal caters to people with less tangible disabilities.
Bobge falls in the latter category. After suffering losses in her
family, coupled with the usual gamut of teenage angst, Bobge started to
slip. She had
trouble graduating from high school and even disappeared, as she
describes it, from home for about three months. She said it was Koda who
pushed her to
move back home. The dog placed his head in her lap and she realized she
had to go back.
Having Koda around relaxes her, she said. His presence helps her
remember daily routines she often forgets. Despite a learning disability
her grades improved,
she said, and she is more social.
"Once I got Koda, he helped me get through everything-all the
hardships-and just power through it," she said as Koda sat in his usual
position, perched
in her lap, as she sat in the grass.
Koda has gone through the early stages of service-dog training. He wears
the same sort of red vest as do more traditional service dogs, and he is
about
to enter a more rigorous program.
But support dogs and other support animals do not have to be formally
trained. Patrick Schwab is a Doctor of Education with the Cuesta College
Disabled
Students Programs & Services. He estimated there are about six people
wandering the campus with emotional support dogs, in addition to those
with other
service dogs.
In fact, the rules for all assistance animals are decidedly
nonrestrictive. Although Koda was introduced to Cuesta with a doctor's
note and county-issued
license, those weren't requirements.
"Kind of as it sits now with our regulations with ADA, we don't have a
way to say that's a good [animal] and that's an inappropriate one,"
Schwab said.
The Americans with Disabilities Act essentially prevents anyone from
questioning whether someone really needs an assistance animal, said Eric
Anderson
of SLO County Animal Services. Although his office uses some discretion
before issuing a state-approved assistance tag, nearly anyone willing to
sign an
affidavit can be approved.
"There really is very little in the way of formal requirements on this,"
Anderson said.
The system is undoubtedly susceptible to abuse. Bobge said there are
even websites that supply the red assistance-dog vests.
But the rules could change. Recent chatter in Washington, D.C., has led
some to believe the ADA standards may become more stringent. According
to a disability-focused
newsletter Schwab provided, there nearly was a change in the definition
of assistance animals. That new language came from an early
interpretation of the
ADA Amendment Act of 2008, but has been delayed, and possibly derailed,
under the Obama Administration.
For his part, Schwab said he believed the proposed rules would be overly
restrictive. And Bobge worried they could make it harder for people
without an
easily identifiable condition to obtain a support animal. Currently a
doctor's note is helpful in getting county approval, but a note is not
mandatory.
Support animals do help, according to Dr. Terri Quinn, a SLO-based
private practice psychologist. Quinn said she has recommended support
animals, usually
dogs, to several of her patients. Generally, support animals are best
suited for people with severe anxiety, depression, or agoraphobia, she
said. Animals
can simply help some people go outside, she said. "They wouldn't
function nearly as well without it."
For people with support animals, the biggest challenge tends to be
perceptions, Bobge said. It's hard to look at Bobge and argue she needs
Koda's constant
companionship. She seems well adjusted, but that's the point, she said.
"I'm not able to live a normal life unless I have my dog with me."
Support Staff Writer Colin Rigley at crigley at newtimesslo.com.
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Craig Borne, Esq.
External Compliance Program Manager
Disability Program Manager
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Office of Civil Rights
1200 New Jersey Avenue, Southeast
Suite W43-321
Washington, DC 20590
Office : (202) 493-0627
Fax: (202) 493-2990
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