Bet You Have No Idea Just How Low The Bar Is To Say Your Dog Is A Service Dog

Posted on | July 26, 2010 | No Comments

I used to say “You can slap a cape on any dog and call it a service dog.”, but that’s not really true – you don’t even need the cape.

You know, I honestly didn’t write this today because it’s the 20th anniversary of the ADA with all the associated attention, or because the revisions to the existing part of the regulation covering service animals were just signed by the Attorney General Friday, although both those things make it a great time to bring this up.

My guess is most people are clueless about just how low the bar is for saying your dog is a service dog. All you have to do is be able to answer these two questions the right way:

Is your dog required because of a disability?

What does your dog do for you?

If you answer “Yes” to the first one and say something like “He picks up things for me.” in answer to the second, that’s it – you’re in. Assuming, of course, the dog is not a threat to anyone’s safety or out of control, in which case you can be asked to remove it.

Note what’s NOT there. You can’t ask what the person’s disability is, or make them have the dog demonstrate whatever function it is they’ve said that it does, or ask them to show proof (e.g., a card or ID) that it’s a service dog (since, in spite all those registry places you read about, there’s no such thing). No specific standards for how well the dog has to do its job. No cape requirement.

I know what you’re thinking – can’t be that simple. With all the court cases and legal hoopla you read about all the time, how can that be?

Well, here’s the pertinent section right out of the latest version of the regulation that the Attorney General signed Friday and will take effect later:

(6) Inquiries. A public accommodation shall not ask about the nature or extent of a person´s disability, but may make two inquiries to determine whether an animal qualifies as a service animal. A public accommodation may ask if the animal is required because of a disability and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform. A public accommodation shall not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal. Generally, a public accommodation may not make these inquiries about a service animal when it is readily apparent that an animal is trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability (e.g., the dog is observed guiding an individual who is blind or has low vision, pulling a person´s wheelchair, or providing assistance with stability or balance to an individual with an observable mobility disability).
28 CFR Part 36 Subpart C 36.302 (6)

http://www.ada.gov/regs2010/titleIII_2010/reg3_2010.html

We could talk about this one for days, but here’s the lesson I want you to take from this: the law is not gonna get us where we wanna go here. Never will.