[nagdu] PUBLIC ACCESS ISUES

[The Pawpower Pack]

Kathy,

What exactly do you mean by "certified guide dog?"

If you are talking about the identification cards passed out by most  
guide programs, or those which can be obtained over the internet, they  
are as valuable as the paper they are printed on.  There is no  
"national certification" for assistance dogs.

My dog is not "certified."  This is by choice.  I am an owner trainer  
and while I could pay some company to make an ID for me, or even go  
down to Kinkos and make one up myself I choose not to because there is  
no certification standard for assistance dogs.

My dog goes to work with me daily.  I have held this same job for six  
years and I have always had a dog.  There has never been an issue.  My  
dogs have behaved like assistance dogs should.  They lay quietly and  
do not disrupt the goings on around me.  They perform tasks to  
mitigate my disabilities when cued to do so.

It is not a card or certificate that makes a dog an assistance dog; it  
is training.  If your dog is well trained, performs tasks which  
mitigate your disability/s, then that is all that is required.

Best of luck.

Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
"Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you  
earn it and win it in every generation."
-- Coretta Scott King
pawpower4me at gmail.com

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