Howard, I want to make it absolutely clear that I think you guys did a fantastic job handling this. I take my hat off to you for that. Yes, the guy may use the info to continue to abuse the system, but that is what people like that do. He could actually have a legitimate issue needing the dog, and maybe this will help him to be a better dog owner and handler as well. The choice is his, all you can do is hope for the best in this case.
My big concern is the owner of the theatre being jaded because of this, and taking it out (unintentionally) on the next service animal. Every time something like this happens, it seems to pave the way for the legitimate service animals and handlers to be discriminated against. In that situation, everyone loses.
In the case of the dogs wearing a cape, well, sometimes that is not possible. The "uniform" for the dog is something the owner/handler must spring for, and some people just simply don't have the money. There are also places where it is simply too hot for a cheap nylon cape, and that puts someone who may not have the $60+ to buy a harness or lightweight vest/cape in the position of what is best for the animal - thus no cape.
It would be nice if the ADA would use some of their attorney funds to make capes/vests available to legitimate dogs - maybe as an incentive for the dogs to be put through the CGC...
Send us a copy of your CGC evaluation and we will send you, free or for shipping costs only, a cape for your animal to wear.
Since they are not required to have ID on the animal (or even carry it) due to the whole violation of privacy thing, then it makes someone living hand to mouth (or maybe not even doing THAT well...) bump ID for the dog to the bottom of the finantial priority list. If there was a program that supplied it, it would probably help this whole issue out.
Most people that I have seen using a legitimate dog have at least attempted to ID them somehow. One guy I know made a cape, and his wife hand sewed patches on. The problem with this was that it was clearly handmade. They did not have the money to purchase a cape, and when they were repeatedly stopped and questioned because the cape was handmade and not "official enough looking" eventually they stopped putting it on the dog because they still were treated as abusers of the system, even though they did the best they could to make do.
I actually gave them a ruffwear cape that I had (blaze orange) to sew the patches on to help them out. I was so pissed that the local wallmart refused them access because the cape was handmade. I also helped them find the resources through ADA to press charges, but they didn't want to make a big deal of the whole thing, they just wanted to be considered "normal" and not attract mroe attention to themselves. Anytime they have to go to wallmart now, they drive across town so they don't ever have to set foot in the original store again - they were absolutely mortified and embarrassed.
Granted, this is one case. But if it happened to one person, I know that it has happened a lot elsewhere. If it was NOT common, there would be no need for the ADA. The way I look at it, it's a lot like food stamps. Yes there are a lot of people who abuse it. Thousands even. But just because it is abused doesn't take away from the people that truly use it and need it. Some of the laws NEED to be open and loosely governed to protect the people they are there for in the first place. But I fully support throwing any abuser of the system in jail and making them wish they never tried it. I just hope that those people don't put an end to the program or make so impossible to GET a service animal that the people who NEED them and cannot AFFORD one go without and lose that valuable assistance.
When a flower doesn't bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
Re: The Assistance Dog Scam?!!
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