[nagdu] Do you really need to eat out with the dog?

[Ginger Kutsch]

Do you really need to eat out with the dog?

By Jean-Paul Laflamme, Redding, CA  

Record Searchlight 

Posted February 3, 2013 

URL:
http://www.redding.com/news/2013/feb/03/jean-paul-laflamme-do-you-really-nee
d-to-eat-out/

 

I appreciate the incredible training a service dog undergoes and its
incredible affection and protection it provides for its owner. These amazing
animals

have been trained for only one purpose: to provide assistance to those in
need. This emotional bond is a perfect example of the intelligence and
fortitude

these animals have. Never should a service dog be denied the ability to
facilitate a comfortable, safe environment for its owner.

 

Through my experience in our community, I have noticed an increase in people
that "have a need" of a service dog. This includes my outings for
recreation,

shopping and dining out. There are numerous occasions when the service dog
is being held, in a shopping cart, or being pampered in a manner that isn't

part of a service dog's training. I am saddened and irritated by this
development.

 

As of March 15, 2011, the U.S. Justice Department issued a new set of
regulations that define legal entitlements between service dogs and
emotional support

dogs. The regulations make clear that the mere "provision of emotional
support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or
tasks for

purposes of the definition of service animal." For a dog to qualify as a
service animal to an owner with a psychiatric disability under the new
regulations,

the dog must be trained to perform specific work or tasks: i.e., take their
medicine, providing safety checks or room searches for persons with PTSD,
interrupting

self-mutilation, etc.

 

An exception is made for service animals in restaurants and grocery stores,
under reasonable accommodation under the assumption that the risk is
minimal.

A person with a small dog may prefer to keep their dog in their lap, but it
is not an absolute necessity. Reasonable accommodation means that you take

all interests into account when evaluating a specific situation, not just
whether the individual with a disability thinks it is reasonable from their
perspective,

but whether it is reasonable for all. In the case of having the dog close to
the food (in a booth or chair or on a table), the business will lose even

more customers, but for something that is not strictly necessary. This is
unreasonable. It creates an undue (avoidable and excessive) burden for the
business

person.

 

Now let's examine the individual service dog owner's wish to have their
service dog in their lap/purse/carrier.

 

This is not strictly necessary. A small service dog can sit or lie under the
table just the same as a service dog of any other size - and in fact, is
better

built to accomplish the task. Some owners will claim that their dog is not
able to work from the floor. 

 

Since there is no legitimate job a small service dog can do that a larger
one cannot also do, including "alerting," this is a problem of the owner's
own

creation. It is not reasonable to expect a restaurant to compensate for the
handler's lack of foresight or poor choice in dog. There is not a task or
disability

that specifically requires that the dog be tiny or large. A person is free
to make that choice, but they are not free to inflict added burden on others

because of that choice.

 

As a proprietor to a local restaurant, I ask you to please take into account
your fellow patrons. Yes, I understand you love your dog - I own three - but

not everyone sees your miniature four-legged friend as a shopping pal,
dining partner and extreme confidante. Leave the canines and kibbles at
home. The

entire service industry will thank you.