Wolfie, I have seen a few service animals that I was pretty skeptical about as well. But I also know a deaf woman that has a hearing dog and she always get grief from store/restaurant managers. I wonder if the ADA could be amended to allow a business owner to request to see certification of the animal. As an attorney I have been asked by clients several times about people with service animals. My advice is always to let them in and never challenge unless there are some extreme circumstances, like the animal is aggressive (which would almost never happen with a real, professionally trained service animal). As with most things, the majority of people are reasonable and well meaning, but its the few jerks in the world that make it difficult for everyone.
This was an unfortunate incident all the way around.
I can see both sides of this issue, however the ADA was written to specifically NOT require proof of any kind of certification for a variety of reasons, one of which was to attempt to protect the privacy of the disabled person's health status.
The other reason was this, when certification is required, there needs to be someone that decides which dogs are able to be certified. Who decides that criteria? The danger here is that when someone is in charge of deciding just what dog is certifiable and which is not, soon there is room for EXCLUSION.
This is already out there, there are people in the industry who strongly claim that only their dogs and that breed should be allowed to be service dogs. They are breeding their own dogs, promoting their own personal gains. This is a recipe for disaster.
Sadly though, the more people that have fake service dogs, and the more people that have poorly trained or poorly controlled service dogs, this will change. They are ruining it for everyone.
The way the ADA is written is clear and my advice to anyone who sees a service dog in public is this, the behavior of the dog team will tell you the truth. True service dog teams don't spend 'hours' training. They spend months going in to years and then it's on going from there.
As was mentioned up thread, the business owner, (not the general public) can legally ask the two questions. Beyond that, if the dog is out of control and the disabled person is either unable to control the dog or unwilling, then, yes they can legally be asked to leave.
Here's a photo of a good friend of mine and in the background you can see her service dog. So far? FOUR solid years of training. But in her case it's worth it, because the dog has changed her life and allowed her to lead a life she otherwise might not have.
Hope this helps.
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