Revisiting the Service/Emotional Support Dog Question
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by Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton, Esq. Mediator
www.hamiltonlawandmediation.com
If you remember, my initial Canine Chronicle article addressed the unseen consequences of using show dogs as emotional support dogs (ESD). It highlighted the fact that some highly campaigned dogs fly cage free from show to show by using documentation that list them as emotional support dogs. One of the consequences of this misuse is that people who need to fly with their ES or Service dogs may be bumped or subject to greater scrutiny because of underlying suspicion in status. This article will address what, if anything, all breed, local or national breed clubs might do to thwart the abuse of ES & Service dog status by their members.
There are two reasons to revisit this hot button issue. First, an important underlying question was raised by a member of my club, The Irish Setter Club of America (ISCA). In general, the dog show fancy becomes aggravated when it sees one of its own using show dogs as emotional support/service dogs. This ISCA member, who is also an attorney, asked the board to discuss, address and issue a definitive statement about the inappropriate use of emotional support dog status by a member. The request was made with a view toward asking the club to find a way to ‘make’ a member offender, (someone who lists their dog inappropriately as an emotional support dog) live with integrity and have the club mete out punishment if they did not. I use the word ‘make and punishment‘ tongue in cheek. Unfortunately, there is nothing a club can do legally to police or punish members who use/misuse the emotional/service status.
The second reason I’m writing this additional commentary is because my husband, Jim, a devout non-dog show person, was flying to California in February 2015 on business. He called me from the plane to tell me a dog, who must have been at the WKC show, was sitting in first class. He asked me how can they do this? I answered that the dog may also be an emotional support or service dog. He said “oh” and commented it must be a show/emotional support/service dog because it was lovely. He then asked me if people commonly used show dogs as emotional support/service dogs. I answered, “funny you should ask, I wrote an article for The Canine Chronicle about this in the fall before the big show series began. Yes they can, provided they have the appropriate documentation from a mental health professional.”
With the advent of Wi-Fi available on airplanes (to my sheer delight I might add) my husband was able to email and text me during the entire 5-6 hour flight to California. Midway through his trip the show/emotional support dog in first class used the middle walkway as an x-pen. My husband and the other first class passengers were furious. My husband, by text, asked me if there wasn’t something that could be done to assure only well-trained dogs were used as emotional support dogs. Couldn’t breed clubs or kennel clubs ban people from showing or fine them if it was found they used their show dog as an emotional support or service dog as a sham? I said I’d check. In April I received the email from my club member/attorney asking our ISCA board to investigate and take action against club members who misuse show dogs as emotional support animals. Clearly, I needed additional investigation into this topic to do a thorough job of speaking to the issue.
There are two different kinds of support animal status –?service and emotional. A service dog is covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and is allowed access to restaurants and public places. The service animal is trained to provide a demonstrable service for its person, helping blind people navigate and disabled people ambulate or retrieve articles they have dropped. An emotional support dog, on the other hand, is used by people suffering with anxiety, depression or PTSD. These dogs need not show any proof of training nor how they provide a service. They are not covered by ADA and so are not allowed in restaurants or some public places. Most people don’t know there is a distinction nor realize the limitations.
The pertinent sections of the Airline Administrations dog policy are reflected below. I re-read the DOT Guidelines Concerning Animal in Air Transportation (http://airconsumer.ost.dot .gov/rules/20030509.pdf). The guidelines for air travel with emotional support dogs reads as follows:
(4.) Require documentation for emotional support animals: With respect to an animal used for emotional support (which need not have specific training for that function), airline personnel may require current documentation (i.e., not more than one year old) on letterhead from a mental health professional stating (1) that the passenger has a mental health-related disability; (2) that having the animal accompany the passenger is necessary to the passenger’s mental health or treatment or to assist the passenger (with his or her disability); and (3) that the individual providing the assessment of the passenger is a licensed mental health professional and the passenger is under his or her professional care. Airline personnel may require this documentation as a condition of permitting the animal to accompany the passenger in the cabin. The purpose of this provision is to prevent abuse by passengers that do not have a medical need for an emotional support animal and to ensure that passengers who have a legitimate need for emotional support animals are permitted to travel with their service animals on the aircraft. Airlines are not permitted to require the documentation to specify the type of mental health disability, e.g., panic attacks.
In the case of an emotional support animal, all one needs is a letter from a mental health professional stating that this dog provides the owner with some sort of emotional support that enables them to live a better life. No diagnosis is required. Requiring the production of a diagnosis would be a violation of their privacy. The mental health professional simply needs to state that this person has an issue that is corrected by the use of this emotional support animal. As you can see it is difficult for airline personnel to stop someone from taking an animal on a plane, as an emotional support animal if they have the appropriate paperwork.
With respect to service animals, such as seeing eye dogs the following documentation is required:
(3.) Request documentation for service animals other than emotional support animals: The law allows airline personnel to ask for documentation as a means of verifying that the animal is a service animal, but DOT urges carriers not to require documentation as a condition for permitting an individual to travel with his or her service animal in the cabin unless a passenger’s verbal assurance is not credible. In that case, the airline may require documentation as a condition for allowing the animal to travel in the cabin. The purpose of documentation is to substantiate the passenger’s disability-related need for the animal’s accompaniment, which the airline may require as a condition to permit the animal to travel in the cabin. Examples of documentation include a letter from a licensed professional treating the passenger’s condition (e.g., physician, mental health professional, vocational case manager, etc.)
In actuality, there is nothing an all breed/breed club can do if one of their members is misusing the emotional/service status and flying their show dog around the country. If airlines can do nothing to stop the misuse of this status, the best an all breed/breed club might do is to support the recent AKC statement regarding service dogs. The AKC, in their membership code of ethics, has defined the appropriate use of service dog status. The approved AKC Canine Legislative Position Statement on Misuse of Service Dogs reads as follows:
Service dogs are defined as those that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities. The AKC strongly supports public accommodations that allow individuals with disabilities to use service dogs.
The AKC strongly condemns characterizing dogs as service animals when they are not, or attempting to benefit from a dog’s service dog status when the individual using the dog is not a person with a disability.
Interestingly, the AKC does not include emotional support dog status because of the limited availability for inquiry on verification. If the AKC has yet to find appropriate language to address the use of emotional support dogs, neither should an all breed club or breed club. This area of law creates a very sticky wicket because there are so many moving parts and no clear-cut, black-and-white rule of law or certificate that must be issued in order to list a dog as an emotional support dog. The requirements have not yet been created by legislature or law.
I work closely with Gary Norman, a Maryland-based attorney, advocate and himself a disabled American. Gary is blind and navigates his world with the help of his guide dog, Pilot. When I approached him to ask what a breed club could do to punish or eliminate the misuse by their members of the emotional support dogs status he said, “little to nothing.” In fact, he felt if we try to make things more difficult for emotional support dogs, it would trickle down and make things more difficult for service dogs.
What’s the bottom line? We, as exhibitors, need to live in integrity. I think that’s probably why my colleague in Irish Setters is so frustrated. It is about availing yourself of an accommodation you truly need. If you are using the status to fly your dog in the cabin for free, please don’t. Live in integrity. I say to people who ask me how they can obtain an emotional support letter or service dog vest that they should think about whether or not they are acting appropriately. Just because you can get a letter or vest and use it to get your dog on the plane instead of under it, should you? But they say, “I watch Susy do it all the time. What makes her better than me?” Maybe she needs the dog to provide the emotional support or maybe she is less able to comprehend the selfishness of her act toward people who truly need to use this accommodation. How you allow someone else’s choice to impact who you are is a question only you can ask.
People in the dog show world would say, if asked, that their dogs are emotional support dogs. If they aren’t emotional support dogs, maybe we should be having a different conversation! Although they are our beloved companions and support us emotionally, that support does not rise to the level of emotional support required by the Airline Transportation Act listed above. Next time you fly with your dog, and you list them as an emotional support dog to save money or to keep them from flying in the belly of the plane, think about how that reflects on your dog, it’s breed and you. Make sure you exercise your dog and keep it in control at all times. Think about the fact you may be taking the seat of a disabled person with a legitimate service dog. It may not matter to you at the time, however it may be a huge inconvenience to a person who seriously needs their animal to travel.
All we can do as a sport, both on the club level and as members, is to voluntarily agree that all of our dogs are emotional support companions and that this status in our hearts is not the kind of emotional support contemplated by the Air Transportation Act, and act accordingly.
Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=77474
Posted by ralbee
on May 15 2015. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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