I have read several reports lately from people complaining about service dogs. They were upset because some people had service animal vests on these dogs but felt clearly that they were not because of their behavior. I just want to point out that just like kids are sometimes even service animals are not always well behaved. I have a friend that has been training one. She has had to send him back twice because he was just not getting it. He is about to be releassed to his forever person. Some people do not always put the vest on their animal even though they should have it. We try to be tolerant of things people do. Please try to be more tolerant of these animals. They need to get used to busy places too. Okay rant over.
Yes, sometimes service animal misbehave, we often forget they are still dogs (or miniature horses can also be service animals) and as such things can happen.
I was with a friend who has a service animal at Hollywood Studios, we were sitting on a bench and her service dog was under the bench as is normal for him in that situation and a squirrel ran across his nose and he reacted. None of us, including the cast member that saw the whole thing blamed him for reacting,
BUT she did correct the behavior immediately. Ultimately that is the key, if the handler immediately corrects the inappropriate behavior, then that is one thing, but if they do nothing to correct the behavior, then they should be asked to remove the dog from the premises.
An example that comes to mind was this same friend was at Haunted Mansion at
Disneyland and this little tiny "service dog" was constantly yapping at her service dog, when he finally had enough, he barked once. She immediately corrected him and the other lady was asking her dog if that big dog barked at it. Yeah, he was telling the small dog to be quiet, but the lady never corrected her dog the whole time.
Then there are times where something might seem like misbehaving, but really isn't, perhaps the service dog is pulling on the leash, but that is their way of getting their person out of a situation that will set them off into a panic attack. Same can go for jumping on the person, that may be the way the dog alerts. Another possibility is that the ground is too hot for the dog to walk on bare footed, sometimes this happens in certain areas even on days when you don't think it would, I have seen this happen with some dogs, they are almost running to the nearest grassy area and you realize when you feel the ground that their feet must literally be burning.
Not for nothing but before anybody discusses service animals and when and where they are allowed one needs to educate themselves. True service animals ( those that are used for helping handicapped persons do things they could not otherwise do for themselves) are trained as you have stated. But more and more we are seeing and being subjected to animals with NO training whatsoever at all that are not true service animals They are called Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs. These are not service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA. These are the animals that create the reports you speak of. Anybody can buy a service animal vest on eBay and put it on their animal.
This can be the case, but also keep in mind that the law does allow for owner training of service dogs, which is absolutely essential as there are many who truly need a service animal that would be unable to afford one if professional training were required. As a result, if professional training were required along with applicable documentation you would just end up with an underground industry that would sell fake paperwork. This is why it is important to not only watch the service animal, but watch the handler and how they deal with any issues of true misbehavior, again you need to account for the other possibilities too.
Emotional Support Animals are definitely not service animals and are not afforded the same benefits as service animals, but hotels are required to allow them to stay for free with no deposits, the same as service animals. But they can't be taken into the parks, shops, restaurants, etc. like services animals can and you can't leave either alone in the rooms, so Emotional Support Animals would have to be put into the kennels, which would mean that you would have to find a way to transport them to the kennels every day. If you try to bring an emotional support animal in the parks or a fake service dog, who ends up misbehaving and you don't correct the behavior, security can ask you to remove the dog from the parks and say that the dog is not welcome back.
