All Things Service Animals

MCDONOUGH, Ga. — Princess leads a life of purpose. She’s a German Shepherd outfitted in a camouflage vest, gentle leader leash and enough patches to give local Girl Scouts a run for their money.

She’s a service dog for Wyatt Fox. He has autism and suffers from other medical problems.

His mom, Cory Fox, often starts her day with coffee at the QuikTrip off Interstate 75 exit 216. But this week, she was interrupted while filling up. When a QT manager approached, she knew it was probably about the dog, and she’s used to answering questions.

“I said ‘it’s a service dog’, and he said ‘we have food in here and you can’t be in here’,” Fox said. “The dog is clearly marked by vests and five patches.”

But she said the manager didn’t understand, and continued harassing them.

“As the door was shutting, he was still hollering at us, but he never followed us out of the store,” she said.

When 11Alive told QT corporate about the incident, they sent us this statement:

If QT made a mistake, we apologize.
We recognize all service dogs in our stores.
Our training manuals reflect this.
If we must, we may go back and retrain the employee so he understands our procedure.

“I’m very open to educating people as long as they approach me the right way. I will tell you what the dog does freely. I will tell you about service dogs, but he just continued to berate us and tell us we weren’t welcome,” Fox said.

KILL DEVIL HILLS — Regina Randlett and her family paid a visit to the Outer Banks recently. It was a quick trip from their home outside Charlotte, one that had been going well until Sunday morning when they decided to grab breakfast at Burger King on South Croatan Highway.

They never had that breakfast.

“Puts her hands up: ‘No! No dog!,’” recalled Randlett of the restaurant worker who, a moment earlier, was welcoming the family.

The dog was Kaleigh, a service dog that detects seizures in Randlett’s 7-year-old daughter, Jordana.

When Jordana was 2, a dog attacked her, tearing off part of her head. She had reconstructive surgery to repair the damage, but the situation left her to experience panic attacks and seizures which she still has.

She and Kaleigh have been together for a couple years now.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires a business to allow someone with a service animal into any area of the business where customers normally are allowed.

Randlett told 13News she attempted to explain that to the worker, trying to show her Kaleigh’s card which identifies the dog as a service animal and contains the law, but the worker did not believe. Randlett said the worker yelled at the family, effectively chasing them from the restaurant.

“My 7-year-old is shaking, and she’s freaking out. She’s crying: ‘Why won’t they let me eat? Why won’t they let my dog — they don’t like my dog. What’s wrong with my Kaleigh? My Kaleigh, they won’t let my Kaleigh in,’ said Randlett. “Kaleigh is her lifeline. This is her protector. This is her second mother, and for someone to reject her because she suffers from a disability, I mean, that’s like telling someone that, you know, ‘Because you’re blind, you can’t shop at my store.’”

13News contacted the restaurant which is a franchised location and not owned by Burger King. Neither a manager nor the owner returned the phone call or acknowledged the message left with one of the workers there.

“I feel like there’s a total lack of respect for the rules and regulations and for people with disabilities,” Randlett said. “If we could get anything from Burger King or their company, it would be promise the people of America with disabilities that you will train your people better.”

This one has a nice video.

http://www.760kfmb.com/story/21255087/group-pairs-shelter-dogs-with-service-members

Warning. Cute photos ahead. *smile*

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/future-service-dogs-get-more-room-to-romp-1.208377

Colorado veteran fights service dog’s death sentence

Published February 28, 2013

Associated Press

MONTROSE, Colo. – A Montrose veteran is challenging a judge’s decision to euthanize his service dog for repeatedly biting a woman.
The Montrose Daily Press reported Wednesday that Jeremiah Aguilar has filed an appeal.

He was ordered to turn the dog, Dutch, over to animal control officials on Feb. 14 but never did. Aguilar maintains that his dog was provoked but the woman denies that.

She says she broke up a fight between Dutch and her dog and that Dutch attacked her once she took him home to clean him up. She raised Dutch before giving him to Aguilar.

Aguilar has been ordered to appear in court in April to show why he shouldn’t be held in contempt of court for not turning the dog over.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/02/28/colorado-veteran-fights-service-dog-death-sentence/#ixzz2MDUPh8US

Note from Sussie: I only have one thing to say about this. If you are stupid enough to put your hand in a dog fight, you deserve to get bit!

Sussie and the Friendly Five.
Gunny, Rainy, Lucy, Squeaky, Trina and Hildee.

TUALATIN, Ore. – After she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Anika Bjornson, a 5th grader from Tualatin, had enough to worry about.

Irritability, dangerous complications from low blood sugar, even comas were all concerns.

But now Bjornson must also switch schools in order to bring her trained service dog to class with her.

Bjornson, who suffers from Type I diabetes, takes her 9-month-old lab, Bassie, with her everywhere she goes. Bassie is professionally trained to detect changes in blood sugar using scent and “paws” the 10 year old when her sugar is too high or too low.

That’s how Bjornson knows to prick her finger and conduct a more detailed blood test.

“I would feel really hot and shaky, like I couldn’t really balance myself,” Bjornson said.

She and her mom, Debbie, recently asked her school permission to bring the service animal to class with her, thinking they were covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

But the school, Horizon Christian Elementary, said no.

Bjornson says school administrators worried other kids might suffer from pet allergies, classmates would be too distracted by the dog, or Bassie would simply make a mess in the school building.

Bassie seems to fit the legal definition of a qualified service dog under the Americans With Disabilities Act, since he is “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

And the Justice Department also says that schools can’t deny service animals access simply because some kids might be allergic.

But KATU News found that Horizon Christian School is completely within its right to keep Bassie out.

Since the school is a religious organization, the rules laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act don’t apply in this case.

Speaking off camera, a school representative said the school is sorry, but they are doing what’s best for other students.

Bjornson is now transferring to public school, where the service animal must be allowed.

“The teacher requested me,” she said. “He wanted me in his class because he loves animals.”

NOTE FROM SUSSIE: I only have one thing to say about this…the school representative stated that they were only doing what was best for the other students by not allowing the dog. So their idea of “doing whats best for the other students” is to teach the other students that it’s OK to discriminate against the disabled?