International Assistance Dog Week

August 5-August 11 is International Assistance Dog Week.

The term Assistance Dogs is an umbrella for a Guide, Hearing and Service Dogs. The American with Disabilities Act uses the term service animal. This term was redefined the in 2010.

‘‘Service animal’’ as ‘‘any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition. The work or tasks performed by a service animal must be directly related to the handler’s disability.

"Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to,
assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with navigation and
other tasks, alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the
presence of people or sounds, providing non-violent protection or rescue work,
pulling a wheelchair, assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting individuals
to the presence of allergens, retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone,
providing physical support and assistance with balance and stability to individuals
with mobility disabilities, and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological
disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors."

"The crime deterrent effects of an animal’s presence and the provision of emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship do not constitute work or tasks for the purposes of this definition.’’

Person with disabilities may be accompanied into places of public accommodations by trained service dog. This includes, retail stores, restaurants, grocery stores,
hospitals, trains, buses and planes.

Service dogs may be trained by programs, private trainers or the service dog’s owners. In the State of Washington a person accompanied by a service dog in training and puppy raisers have no legal right to access. It is helpful for the dog’s socialization and training when stores chose to all them access.

Service dogs come in all sizes and there is no breed restrictions allowed by law. While many service dogs wear identifying vests or harness the law does not require that a service dog be dressed in any particular gear except for a leash. The law also does not require certification or other identification of a service dog.

A place of public accommodation my ask a person who enters two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or
task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s
disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification
card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its
ability to perform the work or task.

A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the
premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take
effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is
a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer
the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services
without the animal’s presence.

For more information on service dogs I will be a guest on the radio show The Dog
Talk Show (1150AM Alternative Talk) from 2-3PM on Wednesday, August 8th.
The topic of the show is “All things Assistance Dogs” You can also listen to
the pod cast at www.dogradioshow.com/

You can also find a good informational handout on the Federal website:              http://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.pdf

©2012