17/10/2024
For a few years now the service dog community has been advocating against taking fake service dogs into public spaces.
The horror stories of true service dogs being attacked by fakes and the distrust store associates feel for real service dogs after experiencing a fake service dog eliminating on the floor or destroying merchandise has stuck with all of us.
Except… Now we’ve swung to far toward the other extreme. Now instead of being overly accommodating of all dogs or simply aware of how harmful faking a service dog can be we’ve swung over to the extreme opposite and have become ourselves as a society unwelcoming and even judgmental of any and all service dogs.
Yes, fake service dogs are harmful to those who need a service dog to survive day to day (yes survive, service dogs are life saving medical equipment).
But being questioned by every store associate and numerous customers, harassed by random people and interrogated to the point they have to reveal sensitive personal medical information to prove their service dog is real?
That is even more harmful than encountering a fake service dog or in some cases even going without a service dog.
Doing so can even trigger seizures, heart attack, panic attacks or PTSD episodes for people who need service dogs to mitigate these disabilities.
By trying to determine if a service dog is real or not you could be putting a service dog handler in real medical danger.
So let’s clear up some misconceptions:
1. It’s not your job as a customer of a store or restaurant to vet a service dog, you have no right to ask if it’s real or accuse the handler of faking a service dog.
That’s the store employees job, not yours.
2. If the dog is doing something that put you, someone else or the store employees in danger you can ask to speak to a manager of the store about having the dog removed. But you have no right to approach the team yourself and question them.
3. There ARE NO registries for service dogs, paperwork they are required to carry or a license they must show. A service dog is not even required to wear a service dog vest or be marked as a service dog.
And as a customer or patron of a place of business you don’t have any right to ask for these things.
4. If you are a store or restaurant employee you can ask only two questions to vet a service dog team.
(As a customer you cannot ask them anything)
“Is this a service dog” and “what task is he trained to perform” you can also for clarification on how the service dog performs the task if it’s relevant but the team has the right to decline to answer.
For example if the handler answers “he alerts me to a medical condition” you can ask “how does he alert?” And the handler may answer “by pawing at me, giving one bark, jumping up, nudging me with his nose” etc. this question can be helpful in an environment where something like a bark could be problematic like at a library so that you as an employee can be aware of why the dog is doing that and reassure customers that the dog is doing its job and that everything is under control.
You do not however have the right to refuse the team entry just for a task being a bit disruptive.
5. As a store employee you have the right to ask a service dog to leave your store if it’s being overly disruptive barking, jumping on people, licking passersby’s, eliminating in the store or destroying merchandise etc.
But you do not have the right to ask them to leave for shedding or because you have allergies or because someone is afraid of dogs etc.
As a customer of a store you have no right to approach a service dog team for ANY reason, if the dog is being disruptive you must bring this to the store managers attention and allow them to handle it as they see fit.
6. No one, absolutely no one has the right to speak to a service dog handler or their dog unless it’s to ask them the two questions (if your a store employee) or interact with them in a way you would anyway regardless of the dog.
What do I mean by that?
You should never reach out to pet a service dog, click at it, snap your fingers, speak to it or even comment to its handler about it.
Unless a handler approaches you to speak to you about their dog, you should as an employee (once the dog has been vetted) or a customer just ignore the dog and pretend it is not there.
7. And this is maybe the hardest concept for society to understand. A service dog who is “on duty” is no longer legally considered a dog. They become life saving medical equipment that the handler cannot exist without.
But service dogs are STILL dogs, sometimes they have bad days. Sometimes they are sick or have an upset stomach.
They still experience fear and anxiety.
Just because a service dog has an accident on the floor or barks at another dog does not mean they are a fake. It means they aren’t perfect just like every living creature on earth and it’s not your job as an employee or a customer to blast the service dog team on social media.
The long and short of it?
It’s not your job to police the service dog community. Do your part by not faking a service dog and teaching your friends and family why they shouldn’t either and leave it at that.
If your a store employee on the clock ask the two questions, if they’re appropriately answered then let the team be.
Be aware of things fake service dogs do and ready to ask the dog to leave if it acts up (even a real service dog can be asked to leave if it’s acting up) but if the dogs is behaving well then leave the team alone.
Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Be My Buddy, dog training, Dog trainer, .
