The ADA is a federal law and supercedes state laws when the ADA provides
more protection for the person with the disability. On the other hand, if
the state law provides more protection, then the state law would take
precedence. In most cases, the ADA provides more protection.
In the case of identification, not having to put ID on the dog would be more
protection for the person, so ID would not be necessary. The same applies to
whether or not the dog had to come from an "official" program. There are no
"official" programs, from a regulated point of view.
There are also no regulated "certification" requirements for service dog
teams. There are standards that are followed by members of the various
fraternal organizations for service dog programs (e.g., Assistance Dogs
International and the US Council of Dog Guide Schools), but the standards do
not apply to all service dog teams and not all service dog training programs
are members of those organizations. BTW, there are very good programs that
are not members of these organizations and there are very good service dogs
that have been trained by their handlers.
From what I understand, if a person wants to press charges based on a state
law, however, they would have to be in accordance with the state laws that
apply. For example, if the state law requires certain ID, then the person
might have to have that ID.
When in doubt, contact the Department of Justice. It's part of our taxes at
work.
Ellen Shay es...@mindspring.com
Annie Alpert wrote in message <36618341.D4CEA
...@home.com>...
>It's been a while since I worked with hearing dog training, but as I
>remember, the laws from state to state vary, but in most places, to gain
>access to public buildings as a
service dog, the dog must be wearing an
>identifying collar, leash, vest or harness (depending on the state
>guidelines) and the owner must have an ID identifying the team as a
>'certified'
service dog team.
>Ellen Shay wrote:
>> According to the ADA, there are essentially 2 qualifications that must be
>> met for an animal to be considered a service animal (notice that I didn't
>> say "dog" - the law doesn't limit it to dogs). I'm paraphrasing this (the
>> Delta Society web site has the actual wording and much more detailed
>> information - see www.deltasociety.org).
>> 1. The person for whom the animal is working must meet the ADA
>> qualifications for being "disabled."
>> AND
>> 2. The animal must be individually trained to assist the person with
their
>> disability.
>> That's it. The animal doesn't have to be trained by any specific program.
>> There are no set list of tasks all service animals must perform.
>> A service animal is not required to wear any identifying equipment or
tags
>> to be considered a working service animal.
>> I hope this clarifies things.
>> Ellen Shay es...@mindspring.com
>> Annie Alpert wrote in message <36601887.386D5...@home.com>...
>> >Delta Society is the place to go for information about service dogs--but
>> >legally there is a problem with people putting vests and orange leashes
>> >on dog which are not 'certified' as 'service dogs'. The certification
>> >process is a bit uneven and not well documented, but 'pets' are hard to
>> >get certified. By pets, I mean dogs which have been trained by the owner
>> >or by a non-'official' service dog training center.
>> >eshay wrote:
>> >> There's a list of service dog equipment providers on Delta Society's
web
>> >> site (www.deltasociety.org) in the section on service dogs. Several of
>> them
>> >> make vests and harnesses.
>> >> Ellen Shay es...@mindspring.com
>> >> Richard Bogan <diamo...@fgi.net> wrote in article
>> >> <737qkc$v...@supernews.com>...
>> >> > I'm trying find information and/or source for a canine vest that has
>> the
>> >> > working SERVICE DOG on it. Or anything similiar that would let
folks
>> >> know
>> >> > my friends dog is more than a pet. Thanks in advance for the help.
>> >--
>> >Visit Maiasaura Canine Collectibles Website at:
>> >http://members.home.net/maiasaura/maiasaura.htm
>> >NEW! The Holocaust History Project web site!
>> >http://www.holocaust-history.org/
>--
>Visit Maiasaura Canine Collectibles Website at:
>http://members.home.net/maiasaura/maiasaura.htm
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>http://www.holocaust-history.org/
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