[nagdu] Debate rages over whether dog is service animal or pet

Sun Aug 29 20:25:11 UTC 2010

Jewel et Al,
    The HOA doesn't seem to have a very good lawyer and neither does this 
woman. Neither seem to have a clue about the Fair Housing Act. Under the 
FHA, landlords are required to modify policies, practices, and procedures to 
allow aemotional support animals. They don't need to be service animals, per 
se. All she needs to do is get a letter from her doctor that the animal 
provides some sort of support or comfort that mitigates her medical 
condition! It becomes confusing when such stories use the term "service 
animal" to describe such an animal and it causes confusion for the public!

Fraternally yours,
Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jewel S." <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 12:35 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Debate rages over whether dog is service animal or pet


>I don't see how this dog could possibly be considered a service
> animal. Emotional support, yes. Therapy, yes. But service animal?
> Nope...it has no special training, by her own admission. I know what
> it is like to hurt and feel depressed when I can't get out of bed. My
> cat is right there by my side at these times, purring in my ear,
> rubbing and licking my face, sleeping against me...but I paid for the
> right to have her here. I found a pet-friendly apartment and paid the
> pet deposit. We also pay a $15 pet rent for the priveledge of having
> two pets, my cat and my boyfriend's dog (his best buddy that he raised
> from a pup and has had for ten years). This dog is a pet unless she
> can show that he does someting to improve her condition.  If you want
> to get technical, Mike and I could both claim our pets as service
> animals. The dog, Rusty, has an inate ability to recognize when Mike
> has fallen asleep without his C-PAP (he has sleep apnea) and will
> start barking as soon as he stops breathing the first time, telling me
> that Mike fell asleep without his mask and I'll come help wake him up
> and enforce the mask-only sleep. My cat, when I am not feeling well,
> has this amazing tendency to knead the side of my thighs, where I
> always hurt the worst, going back and forth from hip to knee, quite
> literally massaging my leg. When I turn over, she'll go to the other
> leg. No, she's not trained to do this...she just likes to knead at me
> when I'm not well, since I think she senses that it helps a little
> (human massage is too harsh for me, but my cat does it so lightly, I
> can allow it most of the time). Maggie also runs back and forth
> between my room and the living room when I go into a really bad tremor
> fit. So...we really could claim them as service animals for our
> disabilities, full documentation and all, but I feel that they both do
> it just because they love us, and not because of some job they feel
> they should be performing. This woman's dog doesn't even do little
> things like I describe to help wit hher conditions, so how is he a
> service animal? She needs to find a pet-friendly apartment and pay the
> pet deposit like the rest of us.
>
> My two cents,
> Jewel
>
> On 8/29/10, Ginger Kutsch <gingerKutsch at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> Little dog stuck in big fight
>> Debate rages over whether dog is a service animal or a pet
>> By JOSHUA STEWART, Staff Writer
>> By JOSHUA STEWART, Staff Writer
>> Published 08/29/10
>> http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/top/2010/08/29-39/Little-do
>> g-stuck-in-big-fight.htm
>>
>> People don't see Kay Tunney's disability. It's nearly invisible.
>> It's Mulligan Sue, the little white dog she takes everywhere,
>> that makes her noticeable.
>>
>>  By Joshua Stewart - The Capital Mulligan Sue sits next to her
>> owner, Kay Tunney, on Wednesday as members of the city's Human
>> Relations Commission hear her case about whether the dog can live
>> with Tunney in a condominium complex as an emotional support
>> animal. AP VIDEO more>>
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------------
>> The dog is at the center of a dispute about what exceptions an
>> Annapolis condominium complex with a no-pets rule must allow for
>> those who use "emotional support animals" to help them overcome
>> pain and psychological anguish.
>>
>> Tunney said her dog is a type of service animal, and
>> anti-discrimination laws give her the right to keep it wherever
>> she lives.
>>
>> But the lawyer representing the board of Severn House, the condo
>> complex where Tunney once planned to live, argues that Tunney
>> hasn't shown that her dog is anything more than a pet, and the
>> condo association can't justify making an exception to the rules.
>>
>> Mulligan Sue is a 12-year-old schnauzer-West Highland terrier
>> mix. She weighs around 20 pounds and stands about 14 inches tall
>> at the shoulder. Tunney got her about 10 years ago, and they've
>> been nearly inseparable ever since, she said. The dog doesn't
>> have any special training beyond housebreaking, sociability and
>> other abilities most dogs have, she added.
>>
>> At a hearing before the city Human Relations Commission on
>> Wednesday night, Mulligan Sue passed the time either curled up on
>> Tunney's lap or lying on the floor under a table in Council
>> Chambers in City Hall, her head on her paws, tethered to her
>> owner by a purple leash. She was silent except for when she fell
>> asleep and started to snore quietly.
>>
>> "She's a sweet thing that I've known for quite awhile," said
>> Gerard Uehlinger, Tunney's attorney.
>>
>> The question at hand is whether Tunney can keep Mulligan Sue, or
>> "Mullie" as she's called, in a condo she planned to rent at
>> Severn House, a 211-unit condominium complex on Back Creek that
>> has a no-pets policy written into its covenants.
>>
>> It's an unusual case and may be the first of its kind in
>> Annapolis, people who participated in the hearing said. Earlier
>> this year, Tunney and her then-boyfriend tried to rent a condo
>> there, and the unit's owner said she had no problem with Mulligan
>> Sue joining them. So Tunney placed a security deposit and asked
>> Severn House's board of directors for an exception to the no-pets
>> rule through her future landlord, Connie Connor.
>>
>> Tunney argued that the dog is an emotional support animal, a type
>> of service animal that helps her deal with the pain of arthritis,
>> chronic depression and a long list of other physical ailments.
>> She needs the assistance like a blind person needs a seeing-eye
>> dog, Tunney said, and as such, civil rights laws allow her to
>> keep the dog there.
>>
>> "Just having her next to me when I have tremendous pain is
>> comforting and calming," she said at the hearing. "I've just
>> jokingly said to people, 'She's my rock. My adorable, portable,
>> 20-pound rock,' as ridiculous as it is to people who aren't pet
>> lovers."
>>
>> But for Severn House board members and the company that manages
>> the complex, the issue is whether Tunney submitted documents that
>> prove Mulligan Sue merits an exception to the rules. The board
>> can only issue an exception to the no-pets policy if the animal
>> ameliorates a disability, said Sara Arthur, the attorney
>> representing Severn House and the management company, Victory
>> Management.
>>
>> Prove it
>> Service animals are welcome at Severn House and it's possible
>> that Mulligan Sue may have been able to live there alongside her
>> owner, Arthur said. However, the documents Tunney provided to the
>> board didn't show a disability or prove that Mulligan Sue, does,
>> in fact, improve Tunney's condition. As such, the board couldn't
>> determine if the dog was a reasonable and necessary accommodation
>> or just a pet, Arthur said.
>>
>> "Based on the documents provided to the board, there was no
>> disclosure to the disability. There was no disclosure to how the
>> dog accommodated that disability. There is a waiver to the policy
>> if the pet is a reasonable and necessary accommodation to the
>> disability; the mere fact that it's a pet is not sufficient," she
>> said.
>>
>> The board gave Tunney the chance to submit additional paperwork
>> that supports her campaign for an exception, but Tunney didn't do
>> so, Arthur said.
>>
>> As a result, this winter the board decided not to allow the dog
>> to stay there and Tunney decided not to move in without Mulligan
>> Sue.
>>
>> In response, Tunney filed a complaint with the city's Human
>> Relations Commission, arguing that she was discriminated against
>> on the basis of her disability. She charged that the Severn House
>> board and Victory Management violated the Americans with
>> Disabilities and the Fair Housing acts. She wants the board and
>> management company fined and sanctioned, and the matter referred
>> to the Department of Justice and other federal authorities.
>>
>> "We contend that we did not discriminate. We contend that we did
>> not have sufficient information about the disability or the
>> correlation between the dog and disability for the exception to
>> the rule banning pets. She was given the opportunity to provide
>> additional information but chose not to do it," Arthur said.
>>
>> Connor, Tunney's landlord, said the board asked her for more
>> details about Tunney's disability, but she thought the board's
>> request was just a way to "stall" before denying the exception
>> anyway. So, she "indicated to Kay that we had failed. I took it
>> as the final word" and she didn't provide any more information,
>> Connor said.
>>
>> In an interview, Tunney said the board never asked for additional
>> information about her disability and that Connor is easily
>> confused.
>>
>> Source of stress
>> The fallout from the case has been stressful for both her and
>> Mulligan Sue, and the possibility of filing a lawsuit over the
>> issue caused the boyfriend she planned to live with to break up
>> with her, Tunney said.
>>
>> "This has been a physically and emotionally devastating
>> experience for me. And it's one that people should not have to go
>> through. It has affected me in many ways - relationships,
>> financially, emotionally. I suffer severe depression and I just
>> feel that nobody should have to go through that. People need to
>> have more awareness that emotional support animals are existent.
>> If anyone wanted to know about my disability they should have
>> addressed that.
>>
>> "The federal government has declared me disabled, the state
>> government, my physicians. The only person who has the right to
>> judge me is God," she said.
>>
>> The outcome of the dispute will be determined by the policies
>> laid out by the Fair Housing and American with Disabilities acts,
>> two federal laws that determine when exceptions must be made to
>> allow people with disabilities to keep emotional support animals.
>>
>> If the commission rules against Severn House or Victory
>> Management, the matter could be referred to the State's
>> Attorney's Office. But after hearing arguments and witness
>> testimony for five hours, the commission decided to wait on
>> making a ruling until it can meet again at a yet-to-be-determined
>> date and time.
>>
>> Meanwhile, Tunney and a Mulligan Sue are living with a friend in
>> Eastport.
>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> ~Jewel
> Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
> Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com
>
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