You were wrong "and" right! A person with a disability as decribed by the ADA may train their own dog. BUT it must have a TRAINED task that will help with the persons' disability. There are dogs that are trained for people with mental disabilities, but there is a fine line between what a "pet" can offer and what a trained task is. That is the big question. It has caused many an argument in the service dog world. A person who uses a SD "is" responsible for any destruction and "is" liable for everything the dog does, but the dog "should" be extremely well trained, have a stable temperament and should cause no attention towards itself. The ADA does not require certification, but really frowns on fraud!! And people with SD's know a fraud when they see it. I personally like my SD to be 'dressed', as in a harness and do not pet cape. Others do not. One thing is for certain--THERAPY DOGS ARE NOT SERVICE DOGS!! I'm not yelling, I'm emphazising extremely well! I am aquanted with Pets and People and feel they are an up and up organization. There there are a few fraudulent organizations, one in which the vice-pres. diagnoses disabilities on line. It is more or less based in the Seattle area, but the veep travels all over supposedly helping people with SD 's in accessability issues. He flaunts a Ph.D he does not have and the state of Florida has forbidden him from using it. He doesn't--in florida, but if he can get away with it elsewhere he will.
Anyway, it was a good question to ask! Glad you did! take care, Dana and ? [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "River Wolfe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "quad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 9:00 AM Subject: [QUAD-L] dog training > I have a question for all of you who have service dogs. Recently I > encountered a person on another list (freecycle a place where you give > away and ask for unwanted items) who asked for a service dog vest, as > she was training her own dog for service. > > I ignorantly replied that there were special requirements for dog to > earn their vests and that she couldn't train her dog on her own, as she > would be liable for any damages incurred by the dog etc... > > Now I know differently and was throughly chewed out by her. So I'm > asking you all who may know much more about this than I do. How can > this be? It appears that from this website: > http://www.petsandpeople.org/resource.htm Than anyone who "trains" > their dog as a ehlper can buy a tag, vest or whatever and then go out > in public with that dog. I see that some states have certification > guidelines, which I think is a GOOD thing. > > Am I out of line to be concerned that dogs may not be "trained" well > and my misbehave in public and thus give "throughly trained" dogs a bad > name? Or am I over-reacting here? > > This particular person has PTSD and agoraphobia, I assume she is using > the dog to ease her inability to cope with public places etc... > > Thanks for the input. > > River > >
