Case in point, stupid person pretending to have a "helper animal" in
order to be allowed to take this untrained animal into public places.
Gives legitimate "helper animals" a bad name.
R
On Aug 27, 2004, at 11:55 PM, Mark Felling wrote:
Actually, in a recent conversation I had with Megan at Helping Hands
(the
only organization in the United States that trains helper monkey's, at
least
that I know of) she mentioned that this incident in New York is a large
misconception. The monkey was not a helper monkey, but rather just a
pet,
that the owner claimed was a helper monkey simply to get around the
ban on
having monkeys as pets. Besides that, it was not even the breed
commonly
used, but rather an "old world monkey" that had not been raised in a
home
environment.
Mark Felling
-----Original Message-----
From: River Wolfe [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 4:32 PM
To: Dana Miller; quad
Subject: Re: [QUAD-L] dog training
I guess I have the animal in mind here. Like the monkey situation, in
which the monkey was never intended to go out, his stupid owner took
him out and the the "monkey" reputation gets scarred. I hate to see
people take advantage of animals like that. I was at a concert once
and there was a couple with a CC service dog and they treated him like
he was a circus act. I wished I could have reported them. It was
awful. You know that is very confusing to the dog and promotes
misbehavior in the future.
I think I need to give it up, as I'm simply an animal lover and not a
SD user.
River
On Aug 27, 2004, at 2:25 PM, Dana Miller wrote:
You were wrong "and" right! A person with a disability as decribed by
the
ADA may train their own dog. BUT it must have a TRAINED task that
will help
with the persons' disability.
There are dogs that are trained for people with mental disabilities,
but
there is a fine line between what a "pet" can offer and what a trained
task
is. That is the big question. It has caused many an argument in the
service dog world.
A person who uses a SD "is" responsible for any destruction and "is"
liable
for everything the dog does, but the dog "should" be extremely well
trained,
have a stable temperament and should cause no attention towards
itself.
The ADA does not require certification, but really frowns on fraud!!
And
people with SD's know a fraud when they see it. I personally like my
SD to
be 'dressed', as in a harness and do not pet cape. Others do not.
One thing is for certain--THERAPY DOGS ARE NOT SERVICE DOGS!!
I'm not yelling, I'm emphazising extremely well!
I am aquanted with Pets and People and feel they are an up and up
organization. There there are a few fraudulent organizations, one in
which
the vice-pres. diagnoses disabilities on line. It is more or less
based in
the Seattle area, but the veep travels all over supposedly helping
people
with SD 's in accessability issues. He flaunts a Ph.D he does not
have and
the state of Florida has forbidden him from using it. He doesn't--in
florida, but if he can get away with it elsewhere he will.
Anyway, it was a good question to ask! Glad you did! take
care,
Dana and ?
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
----- Original Message -----
From: "River Wolfe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "quad" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2004 9:00 AM
Subject: [QUAD-L] dog training
I have a question for all of you who have service dogs. Recently I
encountered a person on another list (freecycle a place where you
give away and ask for unwanted items) who asked for a service dog
vest, as she was training her own dog for service.
I ignorantly replied that there were special requirements for dog to
earn their vests and that she couldn't train her dog on her own, as
she would be liable for any damages incurred by the dog etc...
Now I know differently and was throughly chewed out by her. So I'm
asking you all who may know much more about this than I do. How can
this be? It appears that from this website:
http://www.petsandpeople.org/resource.htm Than anyone who "trains"
their dog as a ehlper can buy a tag, vest or whatever and then go out
in public with that dog. I see that some states have certification
guidelines, which I think is a GOOD thing.
Am I out of line to be concerned that dogs may not be "trained" well
and my misbehave in public and thus give "throughly trained" dogs a
bad name? Or am I over-reacting here?
This particular person has PTSD and agoraphobia, I assume she is
using the dog to ease her inability to cope with public places etc...
Thanks for the input.
River
