[Nfbf-l] Why does everyone, all-of-a-sudden, have a service dog?

Tue Mar 28 00:27:43 UTC 2017

Why does everyone, all-of-a-sudden, have a service dog?
?March 26, 2017 Bangor, Maine
A  Maine woman was booted from an airline this week allegedly because the 
airline suspected that she might not really have a legitimate service 
animal.  In this case, the passenger happened to be blind and had a seeing 
eye dog.

This  story hit home with me.  No, I'm not blind or disabled.  But I am in 
an industry where people try to pass their pets as emotional support animals 
all the time.
I own several vacation rental properties and, up until last year, have 
always allowed dogs in the rentals.  However, last summer, after my husband 
and I tallied up all of the costs to repair the destruction of our home 
(carpets damaged, pee soaked into grout, door frames chewed, furniture 
ruined), we sadly decided to change our policy to a no-pet one.
Immediately, it seemed, after we made this change in policy, EVERYONE who 
owned a dog suddenly wanted to stay at our properties.  And when we told 
potential guests that we no longer allowed animals, that pet instantly 
became an emotional support animal.
>From the amount of inquiries that I've fielded, it seems like every person 
who owns a 'comfort' animal suddenly wants to take a vacation in Maine.

So, what exactly are the rules about service animals, assistance animals, 
comfort animals and therapy animals?
The rules are extremely confusing.
First of all ...  the animals are not considered pets.  They are animals to 
serve a purpose, to do a job.
According to the ADA National Network, the difference between a service 
animal and other designations is described as:
 "A service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or 
perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including 
a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. 
Tasks performed can include, among other things, pulling a wheelchair, 
retrieving dropped items, alerting a person to a sound, reminding a person 
to take medication, or pressing an elevator button.

Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs are not service 
animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA.
Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, 
are not considered service animals either.
The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to 
the individual's disability. It does not matter if a person has a note from 
a doctor that states that the person has a disability and needs to have the 
animal for emotional support. A doctor's letter does not turn an animal into 
a service animal."

Reading the  maine.gov website, the rules here in Maine seem a little more 
stringent.  According to the maine.gov  website,  the Maine Human Rights Act 
was modified slightly in July 2016.
It has added a category of animal assistance animal.  Under this definition, 
an animal can be an assistance animal if it meets the following criteria:
 list of 2 items
?  An animal that has been determined necessary to mitigate the effects of a 
physical or mental disability by a physician, psychologist, physician 
assistant, nurse practitioner or licensed social worker; or? An animal 
individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an 
individual with a physical or mental disability, including, but not limited 
to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals who are 
deaf or hard of hearing to intruders or sounds, providing reasonable 
protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair or retrieving dropped items.
list end

In Maine, service animals, but not assistance animals, must be allowed 
anywhere the public is allowed.  In addition, both service AND assistance 
animals must be allowed in all housing situations.

Business owners are allowed to ask only two questions about the animal.

list of 2 items
? Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?
? What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?
list end

It's a sticky situation if the animal's purpose is not obvious.

And with those often confusing descriptions, the system is ripe with fraud.

Just in the past few weeks, I've come across several times that the law has 
been misused.  And I can't believe that so many people are okay about 
talking about it in public.  Would they be so forthcoming if they had just 
shoplifted?

I belong to an online Facebook group for people looking for temporary 
housing and a member had posted that it was extremely hard to find housing 
with her dog.  I was floored at the numerous suggestions from other members 
of the group.  Simple fix, they said.  Just go online and get your dog 
certified as an assistance animal and no landlord can refuse you.  Sure, 
there were a few people chiming in, saying it was unethical to do so, but 
the majority of the group seemed to think this was an awesome idea.
Then last week, a colleague of mine was contacted by an upcoming guest 
coming to town for a wedding and was renting her vacation home for a week. 
The guest informed my colleague that she would be bringing her assistance 
dog.  But, she assured my colleague, the dog will never be alone.  The dog 
will be accompanying the guest all week except on the wedding day and the 
day before.  During those two days, the dog will be boarded at a local 
kennel so the guest can attend the pre-wedding and wedding festivities. 
Huh?  (Are you shaking your head, too?)  This woman has a severe enough 
disability that she needs to bring an "assistance animal" with her ... but 
conveniently can make due without him for a few days if it suits her.

Finally, a 'friend of a friend'  on Facebook brags that when she travels, 
she aways brings her dog with her (and this is no small pup).
When asked how she does this, she states (online ... for the world to see) 
that she bought a certificate on-line to have him certified as an emotional 
support animal. ("Wink, wink").  After all, 'Snookums gives me emotional 
support". (But doesn't everyone's pet give them emotional support and 
comfort?)

Lest I get angry emails telling me that I don't know what it's like to have 
a disability and need an animal, I DO get it.  I understand that many people 
legitimately need a service dog and even a comfort animal.  Its the folks 
who actually need the service animals, like the one in the news this week, 
who will suffer from people cheating the system.
I have two children of my own who both have disabilities (and one who brings 
her chicken everywhere she is allowed without her being classified as an 
official assistance chicken).  We travel. We go through the hassles of 
owning pets.  This summer, we were going to take advantage of the early-bird 
rates for the Cat Ferry (check them out if you haven't, by the way) and take 
the Cat from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  I had just about clicked on 
the 'buy now' button, when I remembered that our two pups would be 
accompanying us.  Dogs are allowed on the Cat, but they have to remain 
either in the car or in the kennel in the hold of the ship for the entire 
(approximately six hour) crossing.
I couldn't bear putting our two dogs in a cage for six hours, so now we are 
going to make the trip via car - 24 hours round trip in an automobile with 
two teens and two dogs (vs. 12 hours round trip on a cruise ship).
It would have been easier to get them certified as assistance animals - two 
kids with disabilities, two dogs...  easy.and have them join us on deck.
But what kind of person would do that?  Unfortunately, there seem to be many 
of those kinds of people these days.

So what am I going to do in my rental houses?  I'm pretty laid back - if 
someone says they are bringing a service dog, therapy dog, assistance or 
comfort dog, whatever, I will allow it even if I question it.  But sometimes 
I really wonder how people can sleep at night.  Is it really worth it?
By  Maria Lamb
http://wickedawesomemaine.bangordailynews.com/2017/03/26/home/why-does-everyone-all-of-a-sudden-have-a-service-dog/

Maria Lamb
About Maria Lamb
Maria is the owner of Wicked Awesome Maine Vacation Rentals based in 
beautiful Washington County, Maine.
-- 
The Seeing Eye
Independence with Dignity since 1929

With Best Regards,
God Bless,
Alan
Plantation, Florida
This is our prayer
Holy God, thank you for Jesus, our Savior.
No words are adequate to express our love and devotion to you for such an 
incredible gift!
Through him we give and live our thanks to you.
Amen.