That’s because HI apparently thinks its not part of the US. The state has all kinds of regs that are against the ADA regarding service dogs.

No Actually, that is a big problem for me. Why? Because I am disabled and I have a service dog. If your dog distracted or attacked my dog, then you put me in very real danger. Why? Because without my dog, its not safe for me to leave my house.

“Like I said before, mind your own business! There are much more important things in this world than ranting about whether or not someone is lying about their dog.”

Like I said, it IS my business when what you are doing has the real potential to harm me. It is because of people like YOU that our dogs get attacked, we get more access challenges, and the law could one day get changed so that it becomes more difficult for a disabled person to have a service dog.

“To the rest of you who get ticked off seeing some guy “run into the store, parked in Handicapped”, you’re just ticked off that someone else is “getting away with it.””

NO! I get ticked off because when “some guy” does that, they are taking a parking space away from someone who needs it, someone who has a legitimate disability and can not walk from a regular spot. I get ticked off because in more than one occasion that person has been ME!

Oh, and by the way, its a felony to say your dog is a service dog when they are not in most states. You can go to jail and face heavy fines. On the federal level, you can lose your rights to social security when you would other wise be eligible. And if your dog causes harm to me or my dog, you are liable for the damage.

Yes, I have a service dog and I have a handicapped placard. Why? Because I’m DISABLED! As much as I love my dog, I would retire him to pet status and never take him into a non pet friendly place again if I could also lose this disability. We (the disabled) are members of a club we didn’t join by choice and of a club we have no desire to be in, but we are doing the best with the hand we are dealt.

My daughter and her brother were both given a vaccine (DTP) when they were younger, as most children are. Unfortunately they immediately lost a sizable portion of their hearing bilaterally and my son (now 14) also has a number of autistic type behaviors and functions at about a Kindergarten level academically. My daughter, is a junior in High School and is well on her way to entering university with the intention of going to either veterinary or med school. She wears bright purple hearing aides in both ears and is very reliant upon them for communicating throughout the day. She generally only takes them out for sleep, shower/beach, or ear infections. When at home studying (or whatever) she does not hear doorbells, door knocks, or generally most attention gaining noises that the rest of us normally hear and don’t even give second thought to. This even with her hearing aides in. She generally has to be focused on a speaker or noise in order to hear it. At night she has never heard a smoke alarm go off nor does she wake to an alarm clock.

I have been planning ahead for her upcoming transition to independent adult life when she leaves my house for college. She and I went through the application process for her to have a hearing dog which I had hoped would be provided right about the time she left home for college in Fall 2013. She was turned down with the reason stated that it was too early to tell if she would be able to maintain the level of care/training necessary for a certified hearing dog and to apply again after a year or so in college. Well if that didn’t just defeat the purpose of having a hearing dog I don’t know what does. All along she has been informally training her own dog to be able to meet the standards of a service dog that could work with children in hospitals undergoing long term care.
(Before anyone points out the fact that service dogs are not usually placed in a home with a “pet” I will mention that in the application I indicated that I would be keeping her trained “pet” with me when she left for college)

An additional issue is one of finding a place to rent which allows a dog. A rare occurrence seemingly here where I live. She and I are looking for a house as the one we have been in for the last two years is being sold. The owner graciously had allowed us to have the dog there as it had 4 acres and he was in a financial bind enough that he really needed somebody in the house. We paid huge rent however.
I put an ad on Craigslist for a house last week which stated…”including my daughter’s dog which functions as a sort of service dog”. Not a single landlord responded even though the rental market is wide open. Nobody seems to want to rent to a dog owner.

The only response I received was from a single mom(also looking for a house) with toddler and dog who was interested in a “pooled resources” situation with an offer to show me how to get my daughter’s dog certified. Red flag went off for me. How could any one person just show me how to do it? I did a Google search for “certifying a service dog” and to my amazement plenty of sites came up. Including this blog.

I’m torn. Truly. I have no desire to get a fake certification but I have a true need here which I cannot seem to solve. I don’t want free airline tickets for the dog, nor do we bring the dog into public buildings or other “pet” restricted areas. I do however want to not be out on the street with my straight A honor student by the end of this month. The dog meets almost any of the seeming required skills necessary to be a well behaved dog in almost every circumstance I read about on any of the above blog posts (other than the dog does not like other dogs). My daughter still considers this dog her pet and mainly only takes it with her on hikes or her daily exercise run in the neighborhood…on a leash and under full voice control. The dog has never damaged any property and basically lives for my daughter’s love and attention. The dog is completely mellow with every single human she has ever come across and has never growled at any person. She alerts my daughter while they run in the neighborhood of vehicles, bikes, or other faster runners coming from behind that my daughter cannot hear. She alerts my daughter when a car pulls into the driveway at the house or if an unexpected guest shows at the house…not with a bark but an agitation that is different from any other regular action. My daughter has learned over the years the signals that the dog provides

So…before I secure a “fake” certificate I would enjoy some feedback and possible direction. I don’t have even close to the money it would take to purchase a legitimately trained hearing dog and the application process, even if I found a place to agree to providing a dog, seems to be a few years out from even a possibility.

Anyone??? Ideas???