If the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the…
No. Allergies and fear of dogs are not valid reasons for denying access or refusing service to people using service animals. When a person who is allergic to dog dander and a person who uses a service animal must spend time in the same room or facility, such as in a school classroom or at…
When it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask whether the dog a service animal required because of a disability and what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification…
Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. In that case, the individual must maintain control of the animal through voice, signal or other effective controls.
Under the ADA, State and local governments, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that serve the public generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in all areas of the facility where the public is normally allowed to go. For example, a New York hospital could not exclude a service animal from patient rooms, clinics,…
No. Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA. However, this definition does not affect or limit the broader definition of “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act or the broader definition of “service animal” under the Air Carrier Access Act. Some State…
Examples of “work or tasks” are guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during an anxiety attack or performing other…
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), “service animals” are defined as dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual or other mental disability.
A retired New York State Police K-9 dog, attacked the plaintiff’s dog. Plaintiff sued the dog’s owner for damages. While the dog received “handler protection” training, where it is trained to react to an aggressive attack on defendant while on duty, it acted in passive role as an explosive detection dog. Plaintiff argued that the…
The Albany County (New York) Legislature established an animal abuser registry, making it the third county in New York (and in the entire entire nation) to pass such a law. In the past year, Suffolk County, New York and Rockland County, New York approved similar legislation. The publicly accessible registries allow communities to track the…
