[nagdu] Local business asks service dog to leave

[Buddy Brannan]

On Mar 4, 2011, at 12:14 AM, Lisa Irving wrote:
Also, the dog owner made mention of feeling safe and, I think, not feeling anxious. That sounds more like an emotional support dog.

By way of playing devil's advocate, how many times have we ourselves said the same things about our dogs? Does that, therefore, make our dogs emotional support dogs? Of course not. The same holds true here. If that is the dog's sole purpose, I would agree, but the article wasn't at all clear on how, or if, the dog's training was extended beyond its innate ability to detect and alert to possibly dangerous changing conditions. For instance, was its natural reaction to bark, but that reaction was then redirected to quietly paw his owner? After the alerting behavior, what does the dog do? Does it press  an alert button that calls emergency services? Does it do something else? Not at all clear. If it does, regardless of its emotional support function (which I would argue we all derive some benefit from, even if we find a dog makes our travel more convenient and, thus, makes us more relaxed), and if such behavior was specifically trained etc. etc., then it's a service dog. 
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Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: (814) 860-3194 or 888-75-BUDDY