It's in the book "Second Chances: More Tales of Found Dogs"
by Elise Lufkin, Diana Walker (Photographer), Jamie Lee Curtis (Foreword),

Book Description
Every year, millions of dogs are abandoned-at animal shelters, racetracks, or on the side of the road. Many of these animals end their days without ever knowing a caring human hand, but some are fortunate enough to be found and given a second chance. And these dogs, often rescued from death's door, seem to have even more than the usual canine capacity for love and loyalty. Second Chances, is full of wonderful photos and words by people who have adopted dogs in myriad ways. Celebrities from Julio Iglesias, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Donna Shalala, and Oscar de la Renta to everyday heroes who have found dogs--from sleek greyhounds to scruffy mix-breeds--that have become service dogs, protectors, and friends, offering solace, aid, companionship and inspiration.

What amuses me about service dog laws is that they're not legally allowed to deny access to a service dog - nor are they allowed to insist on identification or certification - on top of that, it's not required for a dog to be certified to be a service dog. Therefore, I could get my dog perfect on obedience, slap a service vest on him, tell people I have god knows what, and take my dog into the movie theaters so I don't have to crate him when I go out <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> The only way they can kick me out is if my dog becomes disruptive.

If I'm wrong please correct me, but from what I've read, that seems to be the case. There was an instance where a ladies canine was denied entry into a bank because the guard didn't believe she needed a service dog and she had no documentation on her - this caused a major uproar because they're not allowed to deny access, documentation or not.

I've stumbled accross forums on the internet dedicated to people to discuss their service animals, there's quite a few people complaining about the misuse of the service dog laws.

However - it is also legal for you to slap a service dog "in training" vest on your dog, and take them into the same places that active service dogs are permitted under the pretense that you are accustoming the dog to different surroundings as part of its service training.

As I see it, it'd be very difficult for these laws to be enforced if it were abused, since you can't be detained. Worse comes to worst, you run away.

How about a vest with the patch.."I Bite" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Or "Do not pet, OWNER Bites "

If a dog can keep some bi-polar guy from running his car into me, then more power to him. (Though I have translated my dog's barking into "Go Faster!, Go Faster!")

I personally don't care if uses like this are legit or not. If the guy has a well trained dog, then he can sit next to me in a restaurant any day. Better than some misbehaving kid. Perhaps states should simply issue licenses to anyone who wants to take their dog in public. Create a strict behavior test that any real service dog would need to pass anyway, and let anyone who's willing to train their dog get a license. Maybe then we'd have a lot more trained dogs around.

Then if we made the parents get a license to bring their kids in public, we'd be set.

I agree, Jeff. I just don't like it when a previously good concept is now perverted by BS and political correctness and allows basically scam crap to go on.

Gee, I get irrate around unruly, screaming children - guess I'll slap on a "service" dog vest on Fetz because I feel calmer with him by my side. < rolls eyes >

Kate,
Could you be thinking of a seizure alert dog? The use of seizure alert dogs has been well documented. Dogs have the ability to detect behavioral or scent changes in people who have epilepsy far enough in advance of a seizure that they have time to take anti seizure meds or get to a safe place.

For people who suffer from disorders like bipolar disorder or depression, these are just as real as a person who has high blood pressure, diabetes, epilepsy, or any other medical condition. The stigma of psychiatric disorders as character weakness rather than an actual medical condition is really unfortunate. I think that if dogs can be of assistance to people with mental health problems, then that's wonderful. There are so many nice dogs put to death every day in shelters it seems a shame to know that there are real people with real medical conditions that could be helped while giving an unwanted dog a second chance. "Cuddle and kiss" might seem laughable to some, but I can see how that would be an invaluable service to some people with real medical problems such as depression.

The trouble with the seizure alert dogs is that they miss by *40%* - that's four out of ten times. Anything else in the medical profession that missed by that level would be lawsuit bait.....

A little off topic, but I wonder what's the rate of a cancer sniffing dog? Was that a trend or is it being put to use still?

A trend but it was an inexpensive screening method - it was just darn hard to document it's effectiveness. And to be truthful, if cancer is suspected, they're going to look *hard* to find it, if only from the "prevent a lawsuit" basis. No MD is going to risk a majot lawsuit with the excuse that "but...the dog didn't indicate that he had cancer!"
Just won't work in a court of law....

Here's an article about one of the studies. I understand they will be doing more work on it next year.
Pine Street Cancer study