Public Access and Service Dogs

by The K9 Guy, 02-02-17

Over this past week I came across 2 interesting YouTube videos. The reason for sharing is to bring up a point rarely discussed regarding service dogs. Every day you can find stories about service dogs that weren't allowed somewhere, a handicapped person that isn't allowed in a business or establishment because of their service dog, etc. While many of these stories make good headlines, and while some handicapped persons can benefit from service animals, there are some aspects of the law that must be followed. One is that he dog (or animal) must perform some service for the handicapped person. The second is that the dog cannot be disruptive in a public setting.

To further complicate the matter, many public places and some transit companies (airlines in particular) allow ESAs (Emotional Support Animals) public access. ESAs DO NOT have any rights to public spaces under Federal Law. So for places or businesses granting access, this is a courtesy, not a requirement. That can change if the animal ALSO provides some form of assistance (other than emotional support) for a person. Crystal clear - right?

But back to my original point. Rarely do you find detailed discussions about how a service dog behaves in public. By law, if a service dog is disruptive (barking, lunging, eliminating, bothersome, etc,) in a public space - the dog and it's handler CAN BE MADE to leave. This is the reason that dog trainers specializing in handicap assistance training start with temperament screening. A large portion of dogs, even when bred for future work, will not have the needed temperament to perform reliably and properly in a public setting. And for those who do, the next step is training the dog to be calm, focused, and well behaved in a variety of public settings. This takes hundreds of hours of work, and will easily cost $10K or more. And then the dog will still need further training for whatever assistance skills need to be learned.

The videos below show 2 service dogs. The first has completed it's public access training and is being evaluated. It's a rather long video, but worth watching. This is how well trained service dogs behave in public. The second video is (I believe) from the UK. While there may be differences in their laws pertaining to service animals, this dog can't even sit quietly for 5 mins during a television interview. While the dog may be able to perform some service for it's handler, the dog is not ready to be in public spaces IMO.

So when you see service animals in public, don't forget that public behavior is just as important as any task it provides.