by Heather Alexander, Houston Chronicle | February 24, 2014
Service dog owners and training organizations are calling for new rules to stop the sale of fake service dog vests and badges after two war veterans were refused entry into Houston restaurants in as many weeks.
Yancy Baer said he has "never felt so humiliated" as when he and his service dog, Verbena, were refused entry into a Memorial-area Starbucks with an employee calling out to the store, "You're not blind."
Baer lost his leg to bone cancer, which developed after an injury he sustained in the Iraq War. Verbena was trained to help him by Canine Companions for Independence.
CCI is petitioning the Department of Justice saying the sale of fake service dog vests should be stopped so real dogs can be clearly identified.
Jeanine Konopelski, national marketing director for CCI, said fake dogs are causing big problems.
"In many cases the dog is not highly trained, might be eating food off the floor in a restaurant, barking or being distruptive. That is causing a prejudice against the real dogs," said Konopelski.
Baer goes further and says that there should be a national agency where service dogs are certified, something that doesn't exist now.
"Businesses' hands are tied right now. Owners don't need a special vest or any papers, the only thing businesses have are the two questions they can ask," Baer said.
Under the American Disabilities Act, business owners are not allowed to ask someone what their disability is, and there is no centralized system for certifying dogs so there is no universal ID card.
The only questions a worker can ask are, "Is this dog a service dog?" and "What does the dog do for you?"
Managers can, however, ask dogs to leave if they are misbehaving. The law states that if the dog barks, bites, snarls or goes to the bathroom in a public place, it can be asked to leave.
Just a week after Baer's refusal at Starbucks, Gulf War veteran Don Brown and his service dog Truman were refused entry into River Side Inn Marina in Channelview with the manager also questioning his disability.
"He came out saying, 'Who needs a service dog?'" said Brown. "When I said I did, he said, 'Can you see?'"
Brown's dog is a rescued doberman, trained to help him ease symptoms for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by Train a Dog, Save a Warrior. He agrees something needs to change.
"I put a lot of effort into getting him (Truman) trained, there needs to be some sort of licensing agency," said Brown.
Right now, anyone can train a service dog and there is no standardized testing. At Train a Dog, Save a Warrior, dogs are put through what's known as a Public Access Test, which ensures dogs are well behaved in the face of a wide variety of situations.
Program director Bart Sherwood said current rules are adequate and what's needed is more education and harsher penalties for offending busniess owners. The currect fine is around $300 for service dog refusal. Sherwood said a fine of $1,000 would motivate owners to find out the rules.
"More ID's and vests is not the issue. If you go that way, you might as well put badges on people saying 'I'm disabled,'" said Sherwood. "This wouldn't be any kind of problem if you ask the right questions."
Sherwood also said there is limited knowledge of the different kinds of service dogs, from hearing dogs to PTSD dogs to those that alert their handlers to an oncoming seizure.
Sherwood argues a real service dog is obvious because of its excellent behavior.
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Humiliating-Houston-incidents-highlight-problem-5262853.php
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