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Students with Service Dogs ©

Common Legal Objections to Service Dogs by Public Schools

* “Dogs are not allowed in public places.”
Answer: Guide dogs have been accepted in public around the world for over 100 years, and in the United States from the early 1920s. In 1975 Canine Companions For Independence was founded, to make specially trained service dogs available to people with disabilities other than blindness. This was met with resistance and dispute, until the passage of Federal laws that protect the rights of the disabled. The main laws are part of the Americans With Disabilities Act (“ADA“), and this covers the right to use a service dog that is trained to mitigate their disability with one or more tasks. Under the ADA, disabled owners of service dogs have the right to enter all places open to the public-governmental, educational, and business-accompanied by their service dogs. The only places that this law does not cover are private property, such as private homes and religious facilities, and in certain areas of medical facilities.

* “Dogs are not allowed in schools.”
Answer: Not true! Many schools across the country have in-house Therapy Dogs, who spend all day, every day, in public schools, often walking free through the halls. Guide dogs have ‘attended’ schools and universities with their owners for over 50 years, and service dogs for at least 30 years. This is required under Federal and state laws because public schools, colleges and universities are public institutions, funded by tax monies, and any one may make use of these facilities. There is no law, no part of the ADA or other Federal law, including the Individuals With Disabilities Educational Act (“IDEA”) that supports the preventing a service dog team attending any publicly funded school.

* “So anyone can just show up here with a dog, claim it is their service dog, and we are forced to permit this? Are there no safeguards against abuse of this law to protect students from people who just want to send a child’s pet with them to help them feel better?”
Answer: No, not every disabled person can or should use a service dog. And not every animal that wears a harness or vest is a service dog. There are rigid criteria that define exactly what a service dog is and is not, and though less clearly defined, there are also criteria that stipulate who can use a service dog. Unless these are met, the animal is at worst a pet, or it may qualify as an Emotional Support Dog (“EmoSD”), but unless the dog has been trained to perform on command at least one task that mitigates one aspect of the person’s disability, it does not qualify as a service dog under the ADA. And the choosing and training of dogs for this work is rigorous, detailed and takes months or years to complete. The work of training a service dog is long and exhausting for both trainer and dog, involving usually a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) hours of training over a period of no less than six (6) months. To quote from the standards set out by Assistance Dogs International, http://www.adionline.org/Standards/servstand.html ,

“1. A minimum of one hundred twenty (120) hours of training over a period of no
less than six (6) months, must take place under the supervision of a program's
trainer. During that time at least thirty (30) hours of regularly scheduled
training must be devoted to field trips and public exposure.
2. Basic
obedience skills the dogs must master with voice and/or hand signals are: sit,
stay come, down, heel and off leash recall.
3. The dog must show social
behavior skills of no aggression, no inappropriate barking, no biting, no
snapping/growling, no inappropriate jumping on strangers, no begging and no
sniffing of people.
4. The service dog must be trained to perform at least
three physical tasks.
5. The training time with the student prior to
placement must be a minimum of no less than 60 hours. This is both public and
private. All graduates must be given a solid education in appropriate behavior
of the team. The dog should stay as invisible as possible and not interfere with
people.”

As can be clearly seen by this, this is far more training than any pet receives, and when a dog is seen to not meet these standards of behaviour, most likely it is either a pet dressed as a service dog, or perhaps a service dog from a program, whose owner has not kept up the training.

As with any business, a school may ask 1) Are you disabled? 2) Is this a service dog? 3) What does the dog do for you? Under existing Federal laws, to the best of the author’s knowledge, this is legally all that a school may ask. But I believe it is reasonable for the school to ask for further information: for some form of proof of the child’s disability, the tasks the service dog does for the child, why it is necessary that the dog accompany the child to school, who will be the handler of the dog during the school day, what care will the dog need during the time at school, what equipment is necessary and so on. After all, when one applies to a program to obtain a service dog, this info and much more is asked, and is necessary for the trainers of the dog to assure a proper matching of service dog to new owner.

As was previously mentioned, not all who are disabled could or should have a service dog- it is not a universal remedy for all disabilities. Service dogs are considered medical equipment under the law, like canes or wheelchairs, and while those items are relatively common and simple to use by the majority, a dog, as a living being, requires much more care and maintenance. Daily feeding, grooming, exercise, and regular training to maintain the skills and tasks at the necessary level is more work than many disabled are able to cope with, though the performance of this care is in itself of great therapeutic value. Then, too, many may be physically or temperamentally unsuited to handling a service dog, be unable to afford the minimum care and feeding, or any one of many other reasons. This is even more important in the case of children with service dogs. To be permitted to handle a service dog themselves, unaccompanied by a parent, is a great responsibility that not many children are mature enough to take on. It is quite possible, but requires both a child with unusual maturity and sense of responsibility, and a dog that is particularly calm and unlikely to take advantage of the child’s occasional handling mistakes or omissions. The child must be able to absorb a great deal of training in the handling of the dog, its daily care, and proper ettiquete in the handling of a service dog in public. Otherwise, it is necessary for the parent to accompany the child to school daily, to handle the service dog for the child, as it is unreasonable to expect the school to take on this job-the parent is the one who has received the training in the use of the service dog, not the school, and the parent is intimately familiar with the child, and therefore is the only one who is able to do this.

So, it has here been demonstrated that it is easily determined if a dog presented by a parent is actually a service dog, and how to facilitate the admission of children with them. It is also demonstrated that it is completely legal for service dogs to accompany their owners to all public places, including public schools, colleges and universities, provided that the usually accepted service dog etiquette and handling practices are observed.

©P.G.Nichols
November 5,2005
Students With Service Dogs©
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SDs_In_Schools