interesting article on service animals in the NY Times Magazine
01-06-2009, 09:24 AM
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interesting article on service animals in the NY Times Magazine
A service animal is defined by the Americans With Disabilities Act as: "any guide dog, signal dog or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability..."
But apparently it is illegal to inquire about the nature of the person's disability, or ask for a demonstration of the animal's tasks. And there is no certification process for service animals.
The Department of Transportation has a separate policy for service animals, which states the only thing required for a pet to fly with its owner instead of riding as cargo was documentation (like a letter from a doctor) saying the person needed emotional support from an animal.<ul><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04Creatures-t.html?pagewanted=1">article</a></li></ul>
But apparently it is illegal to inquire about the nature of the person's disability, or ask for a demonstration of the animal's tasks. And there is no certification process for service animals.
The Department of Transportation has a separate policy for service animals, which states the only thing required for a pet to fly with its owner instead of riding as cargo was documentation (like a letter from a doctor) saying the person needed emotional support from an animal.<ul><li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/magazine/04Creatures-t.html?pagewanted=1">article</a></li></ul>
01-06-2009, 10:36 AM
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And we all know the poster boy...... (see link)
<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/nynj/msgs/228184.phtml">https://forums.audiworld.com/nynj/msgs/228184.phtml</a</li></ul>
01-06-2009, 07:44 PM
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You and your article are 100% correct, Shon. Details inside..... (edit)
And forbidding a service dog is a crime in all 50 states and is punishable by jail and large fines, in many. Unless the dog shows a sign of violence or causes a large commotion, they cannot be exempted.
And against what has been written on here before, no race track we have ever attended in North America prevents dogs, bar Mid Ohio. We have hit 41 tracks with Otto and all but the above mentioned allow EVERY dog, of any and all types, to attend.
For those who frequent the Midwest tracks, Road America, Autobahn, GingerMan, Grattan, Putnam, Brainerd, Mid America, Blackhawk and all the rest allow anyone to bring their dog.
Mid Ohio is an "invitation only" situation for dogs, meaning, as with all private property, they can choose to change, amend or not to inforce any of their rules for any person or group. Owner Michelle Truman, who I've known since 1990, can often be seen at Mid O with any of her seven dogs (none of htem service animals).
The allowance we have at Mid Ohio is exactly the case with Otto, our weimaraner. Regardless of his being as service dog, Mid Ohio allows him due to our 10 year plus relationship as vendors with the track. The track does ask us to keep his vest on him when outside the trailer/truck to prevent others (who have nothing better to do but worry about other peoples business) from hopefully asking why he is allowed and their dog isn't or prying into ours or the tracks business tha in no way involves them. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. Ok, once it hasn't worked.
Additionally, service dogs actually involve dogs other than those for sight/hearing impaired, seizures, etc. Service dogs can be for avalanche work, search and rescue, bomb/explosive detection, drug detection, currency detection, cancer detection, agriculture (food) detection, security, etc. Essentially dogs that perform a service.
These dogs need to be trained in all areas and environments they might EVER encounter, to be comfortable in all settings. Hotels, restaurants, airplanes, cars, buses, on snowmobiles, atvs, on ski lifts, in stadiums, in large buildings (casinos are the best test buildings - so many distractions), on people movers, on elevators, on escalators, etc.
They have to ignore sounds and smells that would distract most dogs. Learn to ignore loud sounds, rain, snow, other dogs and to work in the worst of weather. They don't get or stay that way through a single exposure when young.
These dogs live with their owners and become part of the family. Like our dog, they are not left behind really at any time that's feasible, especially at places like race tracks, where all dogs are allowed.
You don't train a service dog in all of the above odd places when they are young (4 months to 3 years) and then stop taking them there, hoping they will be fine when re-exposed to a distracting environment when they suddenly have to do their duty. Many service dogs are trained to run off lead for their service and the in all but two states (Delaware and Maine) exempt service dogs under voice control or working from leash laws. Forcing a search and rescue dog, for example, to practice or actually search on lead ruins the search.
I trained our dog at Grand Targhee in WY with their lead ski patrol leader, Dave McConnell, back in 2003 and 2004. Otto spent weeks training with all the avalanche dogs, rode the ski lifts with the patrollers, ran down the mountain chasing all of us and completed all his training successfully. Our dog is also often still trained by/with our neighbor, who's daughter Ashley (now a cop) used to work in our trailer. Paul is a Highland Park K9 officer and a lead trainer at Tops Academy in Grayslake, IL.
I remember the days of teaching Otto to ride escalators, elevators and use people movers. I remember taking him through Ohare for training, through casinos in Vegas, in taxis, etc. It was great to watch him learn. He's now old hat at all of these.
In the end, the training makes the service dog and if the private entity/property you are dealing with (restaurant, hotel, airline, etc) has no issue, nor should anyone else.
Mike S
And against what has been written on here before, no race track we have ever attended in North America prevents dogs, bar Mid Ohio. We have hit 41 tracks with Otto and all but the above mentioned allow EVERY dog, of any and all types, to attend.
For those who frequent the Midwest tracks, Road America, Autobahn, GingerMan, Grattan, Putnam, Brainerd, Mid America, Blackhawk and all the rest allow anyone to bring their dog.
Mid Ohio is an "invitation only" situation for dogs, meaning, as with all private property, they can choose to change, amend or not to inforce any of their rules for any person or group. Owner Michelle Truman, who I've known since 1990, can often be seen at Mid O with any of her seven dogs (none of htem service animals).
The allowance we have at Mid Ohio is exactly the case with Otto, our weimaraner. Regardless of his being as service dog, Mid Ohio allows him due to our 10 year plus relationship as vendors with the track. The track does ask us to keep his vest on him when outside the trailer/truck to prevent others (who have nothing better to do but worry about other peoples business) from hopefully asking why he is allowed and their dog isn't or prying into ours or the tracks business tha in no way involves them. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work. Ok, once it hasn't worked.
Additionally, service dogs actually involve dogs other than those for sight/hearing impaired, seizures, etc. Service dogs can be for avalanche work, search and rescue, bomb/explosive detection, drug detection, currency detection, cancer detection, agriculture (food) detection, security, etc. Essentially dogs that perform a service.
These dogs need to be trained in all areas and environments they might EVER encounter, to be comfortable in all settings. Hotels, restaurants, airplanes, cars, buses, on snowmobiles, atvs, on ski lifts, in stadiums, in large buildings (casinos are the best test buildings - so many distractions), on people movers, on elevators, on escalators, etc.
They have to ignore sounds and smells that would distract most dogs. Learn to ignore loud sounds, rain, snow, other dogs and to work in the worst of weather. They don't get or stay that way through a single exposure when young.
These dogs live with their owners and become part of the family. Like our dog, they are not left behind really at any time that's feasible, especially at places like race tracks, where all dogs are allowed.
You don't train a service dog in all of the above odd places when they are young (4 months to 3 years) and then stop taking them there, hoping they will be fine when re-exposed to a distracting environment when they suddenly have to do their duty. Many service dogs are trained to run off lead for their service and the in all but two states (Delaware and Maine) exempt service dogs under voice control or working from leash laws. Forcing a search and rescue dog, for example, to practice or actually search on lead ruins the search.
I trained our dog at Grand Targhee in WY with their lead ski patrol leader, Dave McConnell, back in 2003 and 2004. Otto spent weeks training with all the avalanche dogs, rode the ski lifts with the patrollers, ran down the mountain chasing all of us and completed all his training successfully. Our dog is also often still trained by/with our neighbor, who's daughter Ashley (now a cop) used to work in our trailer. Paul is a Highland Park K9 officer and a lead trainer at Tops Academy in Grayslake, IL.
I remember the days of teaching Otto to ride escalators, elevators and use people movers. I remember taking him through Ohare for training, through casinos in Vegas, in taxis, etc. It was great to watch him learn. He's now old hat at all of these.
In the end, the training makes the service dog and if the private entity/property you are dealing with (restaurant, hotel, airline, etc) has no issue, nor should anyone else.
Mike S
01-06-2009, 08:03 PM
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Exactly. Our dog has an allergy that I won't even post here , but many (edit)
have seen him puke at a track event or two (mostly a long time ago, before we discovered what the allergy was).
If he is fed a certain food, which he loves, he will be sick as, well, a dog for hours on end. It can get so bad it can be life threatening.
Hence, we keep a pretty close eye on him when he's in the company of strangers so he doesn't ingest this food.\
I can see people trying to be nice, but once told "please don't", I'd be pissed too.
Mike S
If he is fed a certain food, which he loves, he will be sick as, well, a dog for hours on end. It can get so bad it can be life threatening.
Hence, we keep a pretty close eye on him when he's in the company of strangers so he doesn't ingest this food.\
I can see people trying to be nice, but once told "please don't", I'd be pissed too.
Mike S
