The thing that gets me is this whole ambiguity. And I see where the system can be abused. (though I think Ana and Lisa are JOKING) I also know of people that have trained their own service animals and those animals were not stable enough for the work. I see respect for the ADA as some shield but when is someone going to get sued for having a service animal snap and bite someone? Not picking on the Pittbull folks at all. I nearly got bit by a sheltie service dog...home trained. This dog was NOT comfortable in public, near kids was jumpy and not obedient much of the time.
And not to pick on home trained either....I knew a guide dog that was placed with a man who really didn't like dogs, didn't give it much for love, care or respect and the dog should have been retired but wasn't even though he was arthritic and incontinent.


This is a quote from the article above.....

>>>But he notes that there is no national program or database of service dog certification and the open-ended language of the ADA makes it difficult for local agencies to determine if a service animal is legitimate under federal law. “We need to see some type of documentation that this is a bona fide service animal,” he says. This would be in the form of a doctor’s letter stating the patient would benefit from a service animal or papers showing that a particular dog was trained specifically to help with their owner’s disability. (In a phone call to Denver animal control separate from Face the State’s interview with Kelley, a staff member explained to this reporter that the division “does not accept letters from doctors saying you need a service animal. We only take documents from certain training agencies.” The staff member was unable to say which agencies, just that “we know them when we see them.&rdquo And if the service dog in question is a pit bull, the issue gets an even closer look from the city attorney’s office to make sure they stay on the right side of the ADA.

But it may be Denver’s policy that needs a closer look. Multiple court rulings have held that businesses or other entities cannot demand proof of an animal’s service training as a stipulation to allowing individuals to keep their animal<<<<<

Here is an explanation of Psychiatric Service Dogs pertaining to PTSD and Panic Disorders.
http://www.iaadp.org/psd_tasks.html

*face palm*

99.9% of the tasks listed there relate not to mitigating the effects of a disability, but of medication.

If someone is taking *that* much medication for PTSD, they've got worse issues than needing a dog. They need a new psychiatrist.

I guess we have become a very needy society, most of these discriptions can be found in our senior population alone!

People are really pushing it! On average, a "true" service dog cost about $25,000 to train. Now it seems everyone is slapping on a vest and calling "any" dog a service dog!

I thought I had posted this already hence the delay. I'm thinking the "at home training" is ok,but only for those dogs who somehow end up being seizure predictors. I do believe the face twitch thing may have been mentioned as a possible way these dogs predict. I've only seen them on Animal Planet. The specials I've seen have been smaller dogs, mixed breeds. I think these people should be able to take their dogs everywhere. I expect if you're prone to frequent seizures you probably need another human as well to help.

I hope they do have a case and win it too. It will be good for the image of pit bulls to become a service dog and prove people wrong.