Service Dogs: Real or Fake? We Don’t Know, and We Can’t Ask.
This is Misha. She loves all the things a normal dog loves: long walks, squeaky toys, and kibble. But Misha isn’t just a “normal dog; someday, she may change someone’s life.
Misha, from the day she was born, has been a part of Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), a non-profit organization that trains dogs to assist people with disabilities. She lives in New Orleans with her trainer Gaelen, who connected with the nonprofit through a program at her college. She lives on campus with her raiser, attends her classes, and accompanies her to her job in the school’s IT department. Misha has completed 8 months of her projected 2 year long training towards becoming a service animal, and has mastered many of the base commands like sit, stand, and speak. After 18 months with Gaelen, she will move on to an advanced training facility to perfect her skills, and allow training professionals to decide whether or not she is cut out for the job.
Service dogs, as defined by the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) are, “dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. Examples of such work or tasks include guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack, or performing other duties. Service animals are working animals, not pets. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the person’s disability.” They hold certain rights under this act, most importantly, that they are allowed to accompany their handler into any setting, except one in which the dog may compromise their safety, like an operating room. The only reasons a property owner can ask for a service dog to leave their premises is if the dog is not being controlled by the handler via leash or alternative means, or if said dog is not housebroken. Additionally, there are only a limited number of questions that people are allowed to ask to those with service dogs without violating the ADA. They may not inquire, under any circumstances, about the nature of the handler’s disability. The two questions that are permitted by the act are, “(1) is this dog required because of a disability, and (2) what work or tasks has this dog been trained to perform.” Some states may have slight variations of their own regulations, but none stricter than the ADA.
In the state of Louisiana, as long as she is on cape, which means she is wearing her official “service dog in training” vest, Misha holds the same rights as a fully trained service animal. She is permitted, under state law, to enter any facility or place of business with Gaelen, as long as they follow the necessary rules outlined in the ADA. Despite her legal protection, Misha is not always wanted in private spaces, like businesses or residential living areas. This is due to the fact that people are generally unaware, or untrusting, of the rights she carries as a service dog. In a recent interview, Gaelen shared a number of stories about being questioned for her dog’s authenticity: “We have been questioned at convenience stores, in Ubers, and the worst was in my school’s dining hall. On one occasion I was asked to leave by three different people, and then after I explained she was not just a pet, they requested official documentation.” She went on to explain another scenario that directly disobeyed the Fair Housing Act, when she was told by a prospective landlord that she would not be allowed to have Misha live with her on his property: “I explained to him that the rules were different because of her status as a service dog in training, but he didn’t listen. I ended up not pursuing the apartment because it seemed like too much of a hassle, but I knew he was wrong.” The Fair Housing Act protects people from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, familial status, and disability when it comes to any housing-related activity. While Gaelen herself does not have a disability that requires the service of a dog, she is still protected due to Misha’s status as a service dog in training.
People’s distrust with service animals comes from the blurred line between service animals and emotional support animals (ESA). Emotional support animals require no special training, and can be certified by a simple note from a doctor. Any animal could be registered, whether it be a dog, pig, or even a turkey. They are not intended to perform any life-saving task or assistance to their handlers, but instead are used for people with psychological illnesses like anxiety or depression. According to The National Institute of Health, “studies have found that animals can reduce loneliness, increase feelings of social support, and boost your mood.” While they may provide a calming effect to their owner, emotional support animals are, ultimately, pets. Those that have emotional support animals do not need them in order to function; for example, they are not specially trained to remind their handler to take prescribed medication. They differ in that way to service dogs. Emotional support animals also have some legal protection in certain circumstances, like being included in the Fair Housing Act.
Within the past decade, emotional support animal registrations have dramatically increased, which has created widespread confusion and inconvenience for those that require service animals. According to a National Service Animal Registry, a company that sells ESA certificates, in 2015 they had registered 65,000 emotional support animals. Between 2015 and 2019, that number tripled. This is due to increased accessibility to certification via the web. With a simple Google search of “emotional support animal certification,” dozens of websites offer free certification and doctors notes in exchange for your email. In a 2019 article released by The Guardian, a woman named Eliza registered her pomeranian-husky mix Buzz via an online emotional support animal certification. She admitted to having no psychological illness that would require the assistance of an emotional support animal. She, instead, claimed that she registered Buzz because she sees her “pet as [her] family member” and wanted to make sure “he has the best quality of life.” Due to the simplicity of obtaining a certificate, Eliza was able to register her dog for all the wrong reasons, completely blind to the harm she will cause for people with legitimate disabilities or psychological illnesses. This accessibility has resulted in thousands of dogs that are untrained, unqualified, and unsocialized to go into public spaces with emotional support animal certification to back them up. This has been an especially relevant issue within the airline industry, as both emotional support animals and service dogs are allowed to accompany their handlers in the main cabin of an airplane, free of charge. Delta Airlines reported that from 2016 to 2018, there was a 84% increase in animal incidents including urination, defecation, and biting, which aligns with the influx of registration. Their misbehavior diminishes the credibility of all assistance animals, whether they be emotional support animals or trained service dogs, especially within the airline and hospitality industries.
The internet has also made it easy to obtain false service dog vests and paperwork, which can be even more detrimental to the reputation of trained service dogs. Again, with a simple Google search of “service dog vest,” a link to a $28.00 fake service dog vest and customizable certification on Amazon pops up. Beneath it are several more sites selling fake service vests, paperwork, and dog tags for similar prices. The ADA issued a statement clarifying that vests and certification purchased online are not valid, and they should not be given the same rights. When asked the questions outlined by the ADA about their “service dog’s” purpose, many will lie, because they are aware that they can not be further questioned under the law. When a dog is misbehaving in a public setting, many business owners are afraid to question a dog’s validity in fear they could be sued for discrimination. While the ADA’s laws protecting disabled individuals gives them certain protections, it also allows for people to get away with breaking the law with only minor questioning.
Emotional support animals and fake service dogs do not only give fully trained assistance animals a bad reputation, sometimes they can even endanger them, and in turn, their handler. Canine Companions for Independence reported that 93% of graduates from CCI have encountered an uncontrolled dog in a public setting that does not otherwise allow pets, 88% of graduates have had a dog interfere with, vocalize at, bite, or growl at them, and 52% of CCI dog owners feel that their quality of life and independence have been impacted by fraudulent service dogs. And they aren’t just one offs: according to a 2016 survey, over a quarter had 10 or more encounters similar to those listed above. A woman named Kim, who has had three different CCI dogs attacked in public settings by fraudulent service dogs, recounted her story to AP News. After a year and a half of having her first dog, it was forced to retire due to an attack by a fake service dog that left it anxious and unable to fulfill its duties. You can only imagine the pain that she must have felt; losing that dog was losing a part of her freedom. Her second and third dogs have similar stories; they have been attacked and chased by both fraudulent service dogs and untrained emotional support animals. Even though those incidents did not result in her dogs’ retirements, the experiences weigh on Kim. Putting service dogs in danger means putting their handlers in danger. For those that have dogs that serve to alert for things like oncoming seizures, those few moments of distraction could be fatal.
As the industry for counterfeit certificates has exploded, some pet owners are realizing the damage their participation in the industry could be doing. Take Nick and his dog Rosie for example; Rosie is a very well-behaved labrador retriever that has accompanied her owner virtually everywhere while on cape. But the problem is, Rosie is not a service dog. While she can open the refrigerator, press the button for automatic doors, and even sports her own “Service Dog” vest that Nick purchased for her online, she does not assist for any kind of disability. For years Nick kept up with the ruse, bringing Rosie on airplane after airplane, into business after business. He made a point to say in his article with The Guardian that “when [he] started flying with Rosie, it wasn’t quite the thing that it is now.” But as the industry of false service dogs erupted, Nick began to see why his choices with Rosie were unethical and enforcing a system that disadvantages disabled people: “Sometimes you could tell the dogs were uncomfortable traveling, that they were scared, they were distracting real service animals, and at that point I didn’t want to be part of it any more.” Rosie lives the life of a normal dog, not traveling or going into public spaces that she is prohibited from.
It is up to dog owners to hold themselves accountable, educate themselves on this issue, and act accordingly. The laws in place now have made regulating the impersonation of a service animal nearly impossible. However, changing the laws to crack down on the issue will add to the discrimination that disabled individuals face in their everyday life. You may think that passing an untrained dog off as a service animal wouldn’t do much damage, you’re just one person, afterall. But when thousands of people start to think that, it becomes a serious issue. People need to understand that it’s not just convenience on the line for disabled people, it’s their ability to get around, seek appropriate medical care, sleep through the night, and live an enjoyable life. So I ask you this; if you have thought about passing off your pet as a service animal for your own convenience, don’t. If you have been passing your pet off as a service animal already, stop. The rights of disabled individuals are in your hands — made the right choice.
If you are looking to make a difference, click this link to sign a petition from Canine Companions for Independence to stand up against service dog fraud: PLEDGE
Works Cited:
- “ADA 2010 Revised Requirements: Service Animals.” ADA.gov, U.S Department of Justice: Civil Rights Division, 24 Feb. 2020, www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm.
- “Grassroots Advocacy.” Canine Companions, 25 May 2022, canine.org/advocacy/. Accessed 27 May 2022.
- “Housing Discrimination Under the Fair Housing Act.” HUD | HUD.gov / U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_act_overview.
- Kovner, Josh. “Fake Service Dogs Are on the Rise, So Connecticut Lawmakers Are Considering Fines.” Hartford Courant, 15 Feb. 2019, www.courant.com/politics/hc-news-trained-service-dogs-penalties-20190215-r35e2by3zvhcvjzbijndtywa54-story.html.
- Matei, Adrienne. “The Number of Fake Emotional Support Dogs is Exploding — Why?” The Guardian, 16 Aug. 2019, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/aug/12/fake-emotional-support-animals-service-dogs.
- Rapaport, Lisa. “Why Therapists Shouldn’t Approve Patients’ Emotional Support Animals.” Reuters, 2 June 2017, www.reuters.com/article/us-health-pets-emotional-support/why-therapists-shouldnt-approve-patients-emotional-support-animals-idUSKBN18T2YT.
- Tilbury, Katrina. “Fake Service Dogs, Real Problems.” AP NEWS, 16 May 2018, apnews.com/article/1a28f8e528424fdca2040ea8139e3014.
