Legitimate service animals can be an incredible game-changer for people with disabilities and a serious issue for landlords, however a recent article from USA Today discusses the growing problem of people using fake service animals to get preferential treatment or some other self-centered desire. According to the report, 19 states (so far) have enacted laws cracking down on people who attempt to pass off their regular pets as service animals.
“People who pass off their dogs as service animals in order to take them into stores, restaurants, libraries, sporting events and offices are a real problem, he said, for the proprietors of those establishments, their customers and disabled people who genuinely rely on the help of their service dogs.”
“And owners of real service dogs don’t carry them in shopping carts or purses. “The rule is four on the floor,” with all four feet on the ground except when a dog is performing a task, said Katelynne Steinke, a paraplegic in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her own yellow lab service dog.”
Click here to read the full story on USAToday.com.
