Owners and trainers of service dogs are increasingly angry at pet owners who pass their animals off as service dogs by using phony credentials.
The imposters go to the Internet to buy vests, ID cards and certificates for their dogs. The deception allows their pets to live in restricted housing, accompany them inside restaurants and hotels or fly for free in airplane cabins rather than in cargo holds.
“I don’t want to say it’s a scam, but it is a scam,” said Nick Kutsukos, 72, who runs Elite K9 Academy in Jupiter, Fla., and has trained service dogs for 40 years.
People who fake a disability and/or pretend their pet is a service animal risk at least a fine or, in extreme cases, federal fraud charges.
Getting certification is as easy as filling out a form online, sending in your money and perhaps a photograph of your dog.
You can pay from $20 to $300. An owner gets a specially marked dog vest or collar, dog identification tags or ID cards, a certificate, training DVDs, information CDs and other official-looking items.
But none of it is required by law.
One website recommends annual certification, while another offers increasingly expensive bronze, silver, gold and platinum packages.
“There is no certification required, so there’s no such thing as a legitimate (document),” said Toni Eames, president of the Michigan-based International Association of Assistance Dog Partners.
“Anyone who sells you a certification is a scammer,” said Eames, who also is blind and has her own guide dog.
Given the time and money invested in training service dogs, disabled users and trainers are angered by those who buy or sell worthless service-dog items online for imposter pets.
Kutsukos, whose service dog helps with his seizures, said the fake certifications “make it difficult for people with legitimate service dogs to do things.”
A restaurant manager, for example, might think twice about allowing a legitimate service dog inside because of a bad experience with a fake service dog that barked or misbehaved.
The best way to tell if a service dog is legitimate is to observe its behavior, authorities say. Service dogs won’t appear restless or jump or bark. They will obey the disabled owner’s commands, perform tasks and lie down passively where instructed.
The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, protects the rights of the disabled, including their use of service animals. But there was confusion when monkeys, cats, ferrets and other critters were utilized to help people with special needs function in public places, such as restaurants and hotels.
The U.S. Department of Justice last month amended guidelines to narrow the definition of service animals to dogs that are trained to perform specific tasks related to the owner’s proven disability.
Guide dogs are the most recognizable of service animals, having assisted the blind and visually impaired for more than 50 years, according to Jose Lopez of Lighthouse of Broward, Fla., which serves the sight impaired. He has had a guide dog for five years and is a consultant for guide-dog training schools.
“It’s a heavy gray area,” Lopez said. “Basically, everybody can print (certifications) from the Internet and say, ‘That’s my assisting dog.’ ”
Legitimate service dogs, of almost any size and breed, can be taught a variety of tasks that include alerting a deaf person to sirens or alarms, retrieving medication, warning of impending seizures and stopping autistic children from wandering off.
The dogs can be trained to wake up a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder who’s having a nightmare and help prevent or interrupt destructive or impulsive behavior by someone with a neurological or psychiatric disability, Kutsukos said.
Under the new federal rules, dogs that provide emotional comfort are not considered service animals, yet dogs, monkeys, ferrets and other support animals still are allowed in airplane cabins under the Air Carrier Access Act, and in homes under the Fair Housing Act, Eames said, with appropriate proof from the owner’s doctor.
By law a disabled person can be asked only two questions about his or her service dog: “Is this a service dog for disabilities?” and “What tasks or assistance does the dog provide you with?”
On the federal level, a judge can order a change in business policies to allow access by disabled customers and their service dogs. Fines are rare.
