The Service Animal Crap Has Got To Stop...

[26 Inf]

This spurred some research of my own. I didn't realize how rare they actually are. At this moment they don't seem like a viable alternative AND I didn't realize how few guide dogs there are either. That's a bummer for those desiring some freedom and wanting a guide animal.

The training required for guide dogs is a two-year process. These folks have placed less than 600 dogs in almost 30 years of operation: http://www.ksds.org/

For those interested here is an brief rundown on the process of training a guide or service dog:

KSDS began as Kansas Specialty Dog Service and was incorporated as a non-profit with assistance from the State of Kansas Department of Rehabilitation Services and additional support from individual donors. KSDS has celebrated over 25 years of service and has placed over 550 assistance teams.

Located in Washington, Kansas, the KSDS campus includes the Administration Building, Canine Housing Unit, East Training Building, West Training Building, Agility Center, and student housing in our six-plex and duplex.

Our many dedicated volunteers and excellent staff provide the heart and soul of KSDS; the graduates are the people that train with their canine partner successfully; the canines are purpose bred dogs. Puppies are initially trained by selected volunteer puppy raisers and subsequently by our professional training staff. Training is completed once the team (individual and canine) partnerships are formed. Most of our dogs are born at KSDS in Washington, Kansas from our ongoing breeding program of Golden and Labrador Retrievers. We are also a member of the International ABC Breeding program that provides breeding stock and puppies with documented successful genetics of guide and service dogs. The puppies selected to be potential breeders are kept in KSDS volunteer puppy raiser homes and are periodically evaluated for inclusion into the breeding program.

Newborn puppies spend their early days isolated from other dogs and the public with their moms and litter mates in the Canine Housing Unit (CHU). They are then moved into the public kennel area in the CHU where they continue to receive loving attention by our staff. During the next six weeks, the pups undergo a scientific program of early puppy socialization and environmental exposures, including handling, crate training, recordings of thunder storms and street noises, and routine health checks, including deworming and vaccines. At six weeks of age, the puppies are weaned and begin socializing with volunteers including adults, children and students from K-State to prepare them for their next step in life.

At eight weeks, the puppies go out into private homes with their puppy raisers. Some puppies are placed into the “Pooches and Pals” program at the women’s correctional facility in Topeka KS (TCF). As a Puppy-In-Training (PIT), the pups learn basic obedience and are exposed to the daily routine of the puppy raiser’s family and their local community. The pups are returned to the KSDS campus at 18 to 20 months of age. Before advanced training begins, the pups are evaluated for temperament and then transported to the Veterinary Health Center at Kansas State University (VHC at KSU) for complete physical examinations including OFA radiographs (bone and joint) and CERT’s (eye exams). If the puppy passes all of these rigorous health and temperament checks, they are evaluated for specific intermediate training in the Guide, Service, or Facility Training programs. Some puppies are sent to the TCF to learn intermediate and/or specific working dog skills. The next step in training is matching the temperament and physical attributes of the dog to the specific needs of a person who has submitted an application to KSDS. Further training then continues with the goal of providing the perfect dog for each individual.

In order to graduate from the program, the team (student and dog) must train together on the KSDS campus or in the handler’s home town (commonly for guide teams) for one to three weeks. The estimated cost of each dog placement is in excess of $25,000. However, other than the initial $25.00 application fee, training is provided at no cost to the applicant. The students are housed in totally accessible housing on campus and most meals are provided. Transportation for classes off campus and training materials (special collars, leashes, and harnesses) are also provided. Before graduation from the program, all recipients of a KSDS assistant dog must demonstrate their ability to give effective commands and maintain control of their new partner in public and pass both the KSDS Assistance Dog skills and the Assistance Dogs International (ADI) Public Access Test. They must also be able to provide a safe and loving home environment as well as feed, groom, and clean up after their new canine partner.

After returning home, the KSDS training staff provides on-going training support to all graduate teams including a group Graduate Retreat each year on the KSDS campus, as well as individual help, as needed. KSDS has trained and maintained over 550 teams (guide, service, facility). As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, KSDS operates entirely on donations and no tax dollars are used to support these programs.

[ccosby]

Here is something else to consider: Service animals have to be trained, in public, and vetted before they can be handed over to the person who is in need of their service. Having the law written as it is written now, allows trainers like me to do what we need to do. Legally. I do take these dogs into restraunts, grocery stores, and other crowded places to prepare them for their life of service. I do "tune up" sessions when needed with previously trained dogs as well. Change the law and trainers like me will have more difficulty getting our job done, which could mean an inferior product at the other end for the person in need of help. Service animals "in training" do not have any rights under the ADA and passage to restricted places is at the sole discretion of the management of a given establishment. Much like the general public, some managers are on board and some are not. Some fear the comments or complaints from the customers that just don't like animals and don't want to be around them.

Any strategy we can think of for the government to change the law and make it more restrictive is going to have unintended consequences that will hurt the very people that we need to be helping. I'd rather tolerate some "abuse" of the current system so that people in need of a service dog can have one, rather than have the government "fix" the abuse problem by mucking up the whole damn thing.

There are ways around that. You could license the dog as in training or something. I guess I've seen major abuses of the ADA and know people who are protected under it that feel its horrible. They have had problems because the threat of them waving the ADA around at an employer is so high its easier to find a "better qualified" person, aka someone with far less liability. The problem is the guy below is right, you manage to kick out an actual service dog and your screwed. I think licensing could be done pretty pretty low key. I mean right now its not hard to get a handicap card at least in my state but most will not go through the extra steps to get one that don't need it.

I run 2 hotels, and I have seen this become an enormous issue. It has become epidemic for people to state they have a service animal, and due to the ADA's strength, we cannot truly ascertain if it is or isn't, so we accept them. We have had so called protected animals defecate in rooms, bark and growl, run around and bother other guests in the restaurant...guests look to us to do something, but as soon as we question the behavior we get threatened with a lawsuit. They need to be certified and licensed, and we should be allowed to see the license.

Agree. Its to the point it looks like 23 states have laws on the books for people using fake service dogs, a license would go a long way to enforcing that.

I have to say personally I see far more fake service animals around than real ones based on how well trained the dogs are. People with service dog vests on the animals that are playing with them and letting people pet them.

[AKDoug]

The training required for guide dogs is a two-year process. These folks have placed less than 600 dogs in almost 30 years of operation: http://www.ksds.org/

For those interested here is an brief rundown on the process of training a guide or service dog:

KSDS began as Kansas Specialty Dog Service and was incorporated as a non-profit with assistance from the State of Kansas Department of Rehabilitation Services and additional support from individual donors. KSDS has celebrated over 25 years of service and has placed over 550 assistance teams.

Located in Washington, Kansas, the KSDS campus includes the Administration Building, Canine Housing Unit, East Training Building, West Training Building, Agility Center, and student housing in our six-plex and duplex.

Our many dedicated volunteers and excellent staff provide the heart and soul of KSDS; the graduates are the people that train with their canine partner successfully; the canines are purpose bred dogs. Puppies are initially trained by selected volunteer puppy raisers and subsequently by our professional training staff. Training is completed once the team (individual and canine) partnerships are formed. Most of our dogs are born at KSDS in Washington, Kansas from our ongoing breeding program of Golden and Labrador Retrievers. We are also a member of the International ABC Breeding program that provides breeding stock and puppies with documented successful genetics of guide and service dogs. The puppies selected to be potential breeders are kept in KSDS volunteer puppy raiser homes and are periodically evaluated for inclusion into the breeding program.

Newborn puppies spend their early days isolated from other dogs and the public with their moms and litter mates in the Canine Housing Unit (CHU). They are then moved into the public kennel area in the CHU where they continue to receive loving attention by our staff. During the next six weeks, the pups undergo a scientific program of early puppy socialization and environmental exposures, including handling, crate training, recordings of thunder storms and street noises, and routine health checks, including deworming and vaccines. At six weeks of age, the puppies are weaned and begin socializing with volunteers including adults, children and students from K-State to prepare them for their next step in life.

At eight weeks, the puppies go out into private homes with their puppy raisers. Some puppies are placed into the “Pooches and Pals” program at the women’s correctional facility in Topeka KS (TCF). As a Puppy-In-Training (PIT), the pups learn basic obedience and are exposed to the daily routine of the puppy raiser’s family and their local community. The pups are returned to the KSDS campus at 18 to 20 months of age. Before advanced training begins, the pups are evaluated for temperament and then transported to the Veterinary Health Center at Kansas State University (VHC at KSU) for complete physical examinations including OFA radiographs (bone and joint) and CERT’s (eye exams). If the puppy passes all of these rigorous health and temperament checks, they are evaluated for specific intermediate training in the Guide, Service, or Facility Training programs. Some puppies are sent to the TCF to learn intermediate and/or specific working dog skills. The next step in training is matching the temperament and physical attributes of the dog to the specific needs of a person who has submitted an application to KSDS. Further training then continues with the goal of providing the perfect dog for each individual.

In order to graduate from the program, the team (student and dog) must train together on the KSDS campus or in the handler’s home town (commonly for guide teams) for one to three weeks. The estimated cost of each dog placement is in excess of $25,000. However, other than the initial $25.00 application fee, training is provided at no cost to the applicant. The students are housed in totally accessible housing on campus and most meals are provided. Transportation for classes off campus and training materials (special collars, leashes, and harnesses) are also provided. Before graduation from the program, all recipients of a KSDS assistant dog must demonstrate their ability to give effective commands and maintain control of their new partner in public and pass both the KSDS Assistance Dog skills and the Assistance Dogs International (ADI) Public Access Test. They must also be able to provide a safe and loving home environment as well as feed, groom, and clean up after their new canine partner.

After returning home, the KSDS training staff provides on-going training support to all graduate teams including a group Graduate Retreat each year on the KSDS campus, as well as individual help, as needed. KSDS has trained and maintained over 550 teams (guide, service, facility). As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, KSDS operates entirely on donations and no tax dollars are used to support these programs.

One advantage dogs have over the mini-horse is the ease of breeding and number of off-spring. You can make puppies way faster than you can foals. Which gives you more to choose from.

[daddyusmaximus]

I run 2 hotels, and I have seen this become an enormous issue. It has become epidemic for people to state they have a service animal, and due to the ADA's strength, we cannot truly ascertain if it is or isn't, so we accept them. We have had so called protected animals defecate in rooms, bark and growl, run around and bother other guests in the restaurant...guests look to us to do something, but as soon as we question the behavior we get threatened with a lawsuit. They need to be certified and licensed, and we should be allowed to see the license.

Just follow the same ADA rules they threaten you with. You can ask the handler two questions.

(1) Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? You need not know what the disability is, so it's not a matter of privacy. They must answer the question... It's a yes or no question.

(2) What work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Again, you can't make them demonstrate the tasks for you, but they do have to answer the question. Here your knowledge is key. If you study a bit, and learn what kinds of tasks a dog may have to learn to perform, you will know if they are full of it, or not. "I need an emotional support dog." is not a task. "My dog performs deep pressure therapy if I have a panic attack." is an example of a specific task a service dog may learn to perform.

In any case, even if the dog is an actual for real service dog, it still must be well behaved, and under the control of the handler at all times. If at any time the animal is not, you have the legal right to have them leave.

Barking, and bothering people... "get out".

Pooping or peeing on the floor... "GTFO".

Real or not... A service dog can have a bad day, just like a person can. (It can also be a fake)

Don't be so afraid of the (threat of the) lawsuit that you allow the fakers to run all over you. You probably have liability insurance, and if you really think they're fakers... they most likely will just make a scene (as fakers do) then leave (without any legal action) because they know they don't have a leg to stand on in court once you, and your lawyer start in on them. The lawsuit will probably never come. In fact, you may be able to report them as a false service dog team.

Here's how a service dog team should work. The wife, and I are eating at Olive Garden. We get up to leave. I make the kissy sound, and say "Out". Brandy comes out from under the table, and stands for me to hook her back up to the leash. The people at the next table go "Oh, my God. Look at that dog. I didn't even know it was there."

If the dog is not under the control of the handler, and is bothering people, real service dog or not, you may have it leave. It's behavior is supposed to be part of it's training in order for it to be allowed to be there. Read up on the ADA laws. You are covered just as well as we are.

[daddyusmaximus]

Just thought I'd share some shots of the training Brandy and I went through for almost two years every Thursday evening at a place two towns North of us. My class (all disabled vets) had veterans from PFC to LTC in it. Even had a lady come give us a K9 first aid class once, and we all got specialized K9 first aid kits. Starts out with the Canine Good Citizen, then the CGC Advanced, then Urban, and finally the Public access. Then, you start in with your task training. What you do here depends on what your disability is. This whole program was streamlined with only PTSD and TBI guys, so it was rather simple. Only two of us did seizure training.

[scottryan]

Well she said the horse went before they went to the airport and the video shows the horse going upstairs to take a dump in the bathroom. So I guess it just couldnt happen.

I bet her house smells great

[scottryan]

I guess the question is do you agree with the law as it stands?

No. It’s another form of welfare

When we built our office building, we had to build the showers in the bathroom ADA compliant. These showers/bathroom were for ownership use only and were not open to customers or employees to use.

Other bathrooms in the building were for customers/employees.

[ccosby]

No. It’s another form of welfare

When we built our office building, we had to build the showers in the bathroom ADA compliant. These showers/bathroom were for ownership use only and were not open to customers or employees to use.

Other bathrooms in the building were for customers/employees.

Don't get me started with the bullshit around the ADA. My family had a gas station we were looking to renovate that had the bathrooms accessed from the outside of the building. We would have had to move them indoors to make them more accessible which would require a bunch of other work. The ADA compliance would have added over 150k to the project for a station worth 500k. The bathrooms already were wheelchair accessible and had the grab bars in them. We didn't end up doing the renovation due to the added cost of the ADA laws.