Service Dog

Many of you may have noticed already that we have a new “Listen” icon just below the title of our blog entries. Click this handy little icon and a pleasant voice reads the blog entry to you.

We decided to add this feature for our readers who are visually challenged. However, it’s also kinda fun for anyone to try.

Have any of our readers used this option yet? What do you think of it? We would like to know.

Sussie and Gunny

I get phone calls and emails almost every day from people who have suddenly ran into a problem with a landlord.

I find it interesting how landlords and HOA, despite being told of the laws regarding assistance dogs, will still act as though the laws do not pertain to them. In truth, it pertains to all. New landlords and old landlords.

Today I actually stumbled across a really nice site that covers many laws pertaining to animals. Including a very well written page which describes housing accommodation and assistance dogs.

This is one I will be passing on to people time and time again.

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/ovusfaqhousingand%20pets.htm

Sussie and Gunny
http://thegunnyfund.chipin.com/the-gunny-fund

http://www.nbc11news.com/home/headlines/Service_dog_denied_at_IRS_116282394.html

RAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) – It’s video you’ll only see on 11 News. Our cameras were rolling when the Grand Junction IRS office blocked a handicapped man and his service dog from entering the building on 25 Road.

John Wright tried twice Tuesday to pick up forms from the IRS with his service dog. The American Disabilities Act requires businesses to allow easy access to handicapped customers, and their dogs. No special identification is necessary.

“She just started yelling, ‘Get that dog out of here,’” says Wright. Wright says he’s been using a service dog since 2002 under doctor’s orders for seizures and other symptoms. “She (his dog) alerts me for symptoms of post concussive syndrome which is dizziness, disorientation, extreme headaches and loss of sight.”

The IRS says they would’ve allowed Wright and his dog in that morning on his first arrival. However, officials say he wouldn’t clearly divulge whether the dog was for medical use.
Wright returned that afternoon.

11 News footage shows Wright showing a dog vest reading “service dog” to the security guard and IRS employees standing nearby, who still wouldn’t let him in. By law, the dog doesn’t have to be marked, even though Wright had already disclosed the K9 vest.

Wright was forced to wait until police showed in order to be allowed through. “They think they can stomp all over disabled people’s rights… but they expect everybody to follow all of their laws and regulations,” says Wright.

The IRS wouldn’t comment on Wright’s second visit, when he showed the service dog’s identifiable vest. The police on the scene say they’ve had dealings with Wright and his dog in the past.

BY WAYNE K. ROUSTAN
Sun Sentinel
Monday, May 9, 2011

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Owners and trainers of service dogs are increasingly angry at pet owners who pass their animals off as service dogs by using phony credentials.

The impostors go to the Internet to buy vests, ID cards and certificates for their dogs. The deception allows their pets to live in restricted housing, accompany them inside restaurants and hotels or fly for free in airplane cabins rather than in cargo holds.

“I don’t want to say it’s a scam, but it is a scam,” said Nick Kutsukos, 72, who runs Elite K9 Academy in Jupiter, Fla., and has trained service dogs for 40 years.

People who fake a disability and/or pretend their pet is a service animal risk at least a fine or, in extreme cases, federal fraud charges.

Getting certification is as easy as filling out a form online, sending in your money and a photograph of your dog.

You can pay from $20 to $300. An owner gets a specially marked dog vest or collar, dog identification tags or ID cards, a certificate, training DVDs, information CDs and other official-looking items. But none of it is required by law.

One website recommends annual certification, while another offers increasingly expensive bronze, silver, gold and platinum packages.

“There is no certification required, so there’s no such thing as a legitimate (document),” said Toni Eames, president of the Michigan-based International Association of Assistance Dog Partners.

“Anyone who sells you a certification is a scammer,” said Eames, who also is blind and has her own guide dog.

Given the time and money invested in training service dogs, disabled users and trainers are angered by those who buy or sell worthless service-dog items online for imposter pets.

Kutsukos, whose service dog helps with his seizures, said the fake certifications “make it difficult for people with legitimate service dogs to do things.”

A restaurant manager, for example, might think twice about allowing a legitimate service dog inside because of a bad experience with a fake service dog that barked or misbehaved.

The best way to tell if a service dog is legitimate is to observe its behavior, authorities say. Service dogs won’t appear restless or jump or bark. They will obey the disabled owner’s commands, perform tasks and lie down passively where instructed.

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, protects the rights of the disabled, including their use of service animals. But there was confusion when monkeys, cats, ferrets and other critters were utilized to help people with special needs function in public places such as restaurants and hotels.

The U.S. Department of Justice last month amended guidelines to narrow the definition of service animals to dogs that are trained to perform specific tasks related to the owner’s proven disability.

Guide dogs are the most recognizable of service animals, having assisted the blind and visually impaired for more than 50 years, according to Jose Lopez of Lighthouse of Broward, which serves the sight impaired. He has had a guide dog for five years and is a consultant for guide-dog training schools.

“It’s a heavy gray area,” Lopez said. “Basically, everybody can print (certifications) from the Internet and say, ‘That’s my assisting dog.’ ”

Legitimate service dogs, of almost any size and breed, can be taught a variety of tasks that include alerting a deaf person to sirens or alarms, retrieving medication, warning of impending seizures and stopping autistic children from wandering off.

Under the new federal rules, dogs that provide emotional comfort are not considered service animals, yet dogs, monkeys, ferrets and other support animals still are allowed in airplane cabins under the Air Carrier Access Act, and in homes under the Fair Housing Act, Eames said, with appropriate proof from the owner’s doctor.

Because occasionally dogs will be dogs, even well trained service dogs, what is the more embarrassing thing that your service dog ever did in public or in the company of others?

What is the funniest thing your dog ever did?

The only embarrassing thing that comes to mind for Gunny is the cat incident. Gunny gets along with cats. For the most part he ignores them, but if one comes up and says “Hi” he will say “Hi” back.

We were at a clients house, and I felt comfortable there, so I released Gunny from service dog capacity so he could wander around and explore. The client’s cat came into the room not long after. At first my client was a little concerned but I reassured her, stating that Gunny loved cats, to which she replied that her cat was dog friendly. We continued to discuss things and then, after a bit, she looked past me and said “Um…you were not kidding when you said your dog loved cats”. I turned to look and Gunny had the cat on the floor trying to be romantic with it. Without saying a word, I quickly scooped him up, carried him out to my truck, put him away and came back in the house. My client and I sat there and looked at each other for a couple seconds and then burst into laughter.

The funniest thing that ever happened was at the Doctor’s office. My husband uses a walker and is on oxygen. As we were chatting with the Doctor in the examination room, Jorgen became a little distressed. Gunny, being in tune with him as he is with me, went over to make sure my husband was OK. When he felt everything was alright, he turned to return to me and got his back half tangled in my husband’s oxygen line. Gunny knows that the oxygen line is very important so rather than trying to pull himself out of it, he carefully picks up one leg and tries to step over the line, and then tries the other leg. Not quite able to step over the line each time, he is alternating between the two legs trying to step over the line. First one leg…then the other…back and forth. In the mean time I see Dr. Beck’s face getting redder and redder and it suddenly dawns on me that she was trying not to burst out laughing. As I went over to help Gunny out, I said “It’s OK if you laugh Doc. Even I have to admit, there really isn’t anything much funnier than a high centered weiner”

Sussie and Gunny

I have a friend that runs a publishing company. She is always trying to come up with new ideas for a new magazine.

Which leads me to ask the readers.

If a magazine geared towards Service Dogs and ESA’s and their owners, would you subscribe to it? Would you submit stories to it? If you were a trainer or sold Service Dog goods, would you advertize in it?

Sussie and Gunny

Just recently I had a reader ask me how she could allow her dog to relieve itself while on a 30 hour non stop train ride cross country. I suggested that she train the dog to use a potty pad and make sure the dog is consistent before even attempting the trip.

But this led me to a question for the readers. Would you take your dog on that long of a non stop trip?

Yesterday I received yet another call from someone distraught. It was over the fact that they had sent money in to a Service Dog registry and received nothing in return. I really feel sorry for people that get “roped” into that situation. I am also angered by the so called “registries” that dupe people of their money like that.

ADA does not require a Service Dog to be registered. ADA does not require that a dog be trained by a professional. ADA’s only requirement is that the dog is well behaved in public, be identified in some way (either by vest or tags) that it is a Service Dog, and be on a leash unless the service that the animal performs requires it to be off leash.

Other things to keep in mind.

ADA rules override all state and local laws (In other words, if a city passed a rule stating that no animals were allowed in a certain area. ADA laws override that for service dogs). Business owners cannot post a sign stating “Guide Dogs Only”. Though it is not illegal for them to have the sign, they must allow ALL Service Dogs entry into their establishment.

Places open to the public (were anyone can just walk in or pay an entrance fee and walk in) cannot ask you what the Service Dog is for. However they can ask if it’s a Service Dog. Private places that are not open to the public or require a membership to enter, can ask you what duties the dog performs for you, but cannot stop you from entering. (The only exception to the rule is Costco, as they were giving special permission by the Courts as to whether they will allow you to enter their store with your Service Dog no matter what type of Service Dog it is, this was stated to me by a Costco rep. This is happened due to the case of Susan Grill vs. Costco in 2004).

Sussie and Gunny
http://thegunnyfund.chipin.com/the-gunny-fund

BIG LAKE, Minn. (AP) — Greg Shartle and his fiancée, Alana Curtis, are trying to get the word out about the work they want to do to help veterans who use service dogs.

They want to make vests for the dogs from the veterans’ camouflage Army Combat Uniforms.

“I want people to be able to go, ‘That’s my uniform, that’s my service dog.’ It puts a lot more pride into it, and veterans deserve that,” Curtis said.

Inspiration to make the vests came from a failed search by Curtis when she wanted to get an Army-styled vest for Shartle’s service dog, Cadence. What she found had no pockets for Shartle’s medicine or his dog’s toys. Now both are stored in a vest made from one of Shartle’s old uniforms. It includes his Army patches and the dog’s medical patches.

“It’s nice especially being able to say, ‘She’s actually wearing a set of my uniform,’” said Shartle, a former U.S. Army sergeant who has had post-traumatic stress disorder since he returned from Iraq in 2005.

“It’s nice to be recognized that he’s a veteran,” Curtis said about Shartle. “It gives him that confidence and merit that he truly deserves.”

The couple also wants to express through the personalized vests how important their service dogs have been to them.

They have not made vests for others, but they want to start. For them, it’s important to show Shartle’s service in the Army and they want to give that opportunity to other veterans. As long as ACU material and patches are provided, they will make the vests at no charge for anyone who is a veteran and has a service dog.

Cadence, an Irish setter mix, can sense when Shartle is about to have one of his violent flashbacks. His body posture and the way he acts triggers her to jump into his lap or get close to him and keep others away so they don’t get hurt.

A touch from Cadence is nonthreatening to Shartle, Curtis said, and helps bring him back to reality faster.

The flashbacks tend to focus on some key events during his time in Iraq. One is the day he had to give a friend emergency medical service.

Shartle was driving the truck behind his friend, a truck he was supposed to be in. The two had similar names and were mixed up when they were assigned to their trucks. An improvised explosive device detonated on the road. Shartle took quick action to save his friend and waited to get him into a helicopter.

It wasn’t until later that he realized the close call he’d had. Other explosives were nearby and could’ve gone off at any moment.

“It was a matter of being in the right spot at the right time, and being lucky that none of the others went off,” Shartle said. “That was the roughest over there, is basically facing reality.”

But Cadence isn’t the only service dog who makes Shartle and Curtis’ lives easier.

Curtis has had epileptic seizures since she was a little girl. Bravo, an all-black German shepherd, can sense when Curtis will have a seizure hours before it happens. He alerts her so she can be as prepared as possible.

“The little things … those two do is more of a help, so everything’s going better now,” Shartle said. Curtis’ seizures dropped to one or two a month from about 15 a day.

The way Shartle and Curtis acquired the two dogs was coincidental. They adopted Bravo because of his breed and realized later that he would alert Curtis when she was about to have a seizure.

“Bravo was pretty much a complete accident,” Shartle said. “To find (a dog) that will actually alert before seizures, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”

They decided to make him into a certified service dog so he could assist her at home, work and in public places.

“Every dog can do it, not every dog knows how to,” Curtis said.

A friend helped with some of the training, but they decided to self-train Bravo to fit Curtis’ specific needs.

Soon after, Curtis got Cadence for Shartle from the Central Minnesota Animal Care and Control center in St. Cloud. They self-trained her to help him with his flashbacks.

After going through almost 18 weeks of training each, the dogs took a final test to become certified service dogs.

Now the dogs go everywhere their humans go, brandishing their specialized service dog vests and making a path through crowds along streets and store aisles.

Curtis is working toward receiving a certification to train service dogs, specifically for seizure alert. She wants to give people with invisible disorders, such as seizures and flashbacks, a chance to get the help that Bravo and Cadence have given them.

As long as you have the patience and are serious about it, we will do everything we can to help you get the right service dog, Curtis said.

Shartle and Curtis plan to marry this May, knowing that going through all this together has brought them closer and they are even more in love.

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Sussie and Gunny
http://thegunnyfund.chipin.com/the-gunny-fund