Impostor service animals posing growing problem

[Bearlyhere]

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20131010/US--Pets-Service.Dog.Cheats/

Impostor service animals posing growing problem

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It's an easy law to break, and dog cheats do. By strapping a vest or backpack that says "service animal" to their pet, anyone can go in stores and restaurants where other dogs are banned, creating growing problems for the disabled community and business owners and leading to calls for better identifying the real deal.

Those with disabilities are worried about privacy and the safety of their highly trained service dogs, while business owners are concerned about health violations and damage to merchandise from impostors abusing the system.

 

There is a big difference in the behavior of real service dogs and impostors inside businesses, experts said. A true service dog becomes nearly invisible. Pets might bark, urinate, sniff, scratch and eat off the floor.

Real service dogs can be the victims of unruly fakes, said Wallis Brozman, 27, of Santa Rosa. She has dystonia, a movement disorder that left her unable to walk and barely able to talk. She needs a wheelchair, voice amplifier and her service dog, Caspin, who responds to English and sign language.

"When my dog is attacked by an aggressive dog, he is not sure what to do about it and looks to me. It becomes a safety issue, not only for my dog, the target of the attack, but for me if I am between the dogs," Brozman said.

 

In terms of solving the dilemma, Tuttle doesn't think any kind of legislation will work.

"They can write new laws, but there is no way to enforce them. We don't have enough police to stop murders, much less stop people from hauling around pseudo service dogs," he said.

[MuffyBee]

Landlords and property management companies are facing the same dilemma.

[cw618]

maybe a state issued photo I.D. for the animal, and worn in a visable
area, on the service harnes/pack, ect.most of those IDs have counterfeit
measures built in

[theboyzmom]

As a landlord and restaurant owner, I can tell you this is a big problem. Many of our tenants get "service" animals that we doubt. But due to current law, we are limited what we can ask. Doctors will write scripts for the animals saying they are "comfort" animals and we can do nothing about it. The real service animals we have had in our units are well behaved and no problem The ones we suspect of being pets are unruly and messy and the owners do not clean up after them. Sad that the imposters give the real animals a bad name.