Essay On Service Dogs

Words: 597
Pages: 3

Dogs have been known as man’s best friends for many centuries, but now they are becoming known for the medical assistance they provide. These special dogs are known as service dogs. As with most things introduced to society there is a federal law in place to protect service dog, it is part of the ADA. This law states that service dogs must be allowed anywhere the public is allowed (“Service Animals”). As a result, it is becoming a lot more common to see service dogs in public. With this has come an abundance of court cases and arguments about where exactly and even if service dogs should be allowed in public (Randolph). Even though the ADA law seems rather clear there is still a rise in situations where it was unheeded. In some situations, it is due to a lack of knowledge about service dogs and the laws, but that is not always the case. Many times business owners believe the law should exclude certain places. In my …show more content…
The law states that service dogs are not required to have documentation, therefore business owners can’t ask to see documentation (“Service Animals”; Grace). This fact leaves many people confused, because we are so use to needing documentation for everything else. This lack of required documentation has also lead to an abundance of fake service dog, or service dog impersonators (Arnold). Fake service dogs have left many business owners weary of every real service dog who walks into their business and so despite the fact that it is against the law to require documentation many business owners do. Many business owners also feel trapped and at the expense of fake service dogs, if they speak they could be punished if it is a real service dog, but if they stay silent they could be taken advantage of. This raises several questions, such as couldn’t requiring documentation from service dogs fix the problem? Also, why hasn’t anything been done already? Lastly, how could we effectively help both