Letter (from and to) The Penobscot Theatre Company Regarding Their decision That Service Dogs Who Tried Out for the Part of "Sandy" in the Play "Annie" are Automatically Disqualified

White Lettering

Q- Did they sayon the "Sandy" application that Service Dogs were not allowed to try-out for the part?

A- No, it did not.  It said "All breeds welcome".

One of the chosen "Sandy" dogs and some of the orphans.

----- Original Message -----

From: bari newport

To: bari newport

Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 11:55 AM

Subject: Penobscot Theatre Company - Sandy Auditions

What a wonderful day Saturday was. I hope you and your doggie had a good, low-stress time of it. 

We ended up seeing 15 dogs of all shapes and sizes. Some dogs were super trained and had super skills and other dogs were goofy but well-behaved, family pets. 

Proof once again that dogs are simply THE MOST AMAZING.

I underestimated how difficult the decision would be! In the end, we narrowed our choices down to five dogs. We did this by eliminating service dogs - they were clearly the most versatile in terms of what they are capable of doing - and certainly they are used to noises and lights, children and excitement - but casting them in a play seems counterintuitive to their role in your life, as you have trained them to do very specific tasks just for you - and it is important that their focus remains as such.

And we narrowed the scope further based on what kind of energy and look the dog had. Incredibly tough decisions. 

I thank you most sincerely for sharing your furry family member with us. You were gracious and kind - and I am humbled to be a part of your community. Thank you.

See you at the theatre! 

  

Bari NewportArtistic Director
Penobscot Theatre Company
Bangor Opera House - 131 Main Street
Administrative Offices - 115 Main Street, 4th floor
207. 942.3333 (Box Office)
207.947.6618 (Admin)
207.947.6678 (fax)
www.penobscottheatre.org

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Rosie and a fellow service dog who also tried out for the "Sandy" role.
Here they are in a sit-stay in the middle of the Bangor Mall.

----- Original Message -----

From: Heather Gerquest

To: bari newport

Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 12:52 PM

Subject: Re: Penobscot Theatre Company - Sandy Auditions- re: Service Dogs Not Allowed

To Whom it May Concern;

I guess that means we won't be seeing any of you at the Scenes and Songs  night on the 23rd. 

Who told you that casting a service dog would take the focus off of their handlers?  Don?  Why was Don chosen out of all the other very good trainers in the area?  For example, choosing one who actually works with and trains service dogs (AND pet dogs), some of which do have dual roles being a show dog, agility dog, or a competitive duck retrieving dog (to name a few).  That is not Don's expertise.  He wouldn't be the first trainer I would have chosen for the job (but then of course it wasn't my job).  He's also not the only trainer that gives therapy dog tests in the area.  I am pretty sure Don had said allowing service dogs to take the coveted role of Sandy was not a good idea since he probably uses ADI's therapy dog test. (ADI believes service dogs can't/ shouldn't be therapy dogs because they would be confused about their roles).  Not to mention I really think he knows very little about service dogs in general.  Thousands of service dog handlers all over the US would beg to differ with their opinion.  The organization has also been known to take away certification from service dogs that had previously passed their therapy dog tests, and had been working as therapy dog already. (They have actually done this for other various, unfound reasons with assorted other dogs). After nearly 8 years of training and testing (and note: not with Don) and spending 24 hours a day with my dog, I would know my dog better than Don.

I guess most of all, I feel cheated (for my dog) of a fair chance at the Sandy role.  If I thought we couldn't handle this job together I would not have bothered to come in.  It could be my dog never had a chance, but after the comments from the woman who escorted me out of the theatre and invited me to the event on the 23rd, I thought we had a good shot.

To say the least, I am disappointed.  Not because my dog did not get the role, but that just because she is a service dog, she didn't even have a fair chance.  I had expected disappointment if my dog didn't get the role.  This just brought it to a new level of disappointment.

As the ADA says about people with disabilities in the workplace, if I have the qualifications, and without my disability I would have been hired for the job, but because of my disability, the employer won't even consider hiring me,  that is discrimination. Now my dog is disqualified because she's a service dog and I am her disabled handler.  She may be qualified, but because I am disabled and her job is to assist me, she doesn't have a chance. To me, it just feels like another "access denied". 

What if I decided to try out for a part in a play that you all were putting on?  Would you say no because I have a service dog and she would not be near me if I was in a play?  OR would you say no because I am disabled.  Period.  Think carefully.  If you choose wrong, you could have some legal problems arise.

Next time, maybe you should say right on the form that service dogs are not allowed to audition.  You may get a few angry responses from that, but at least the person could save some energy and not bother with the application and audition process.

Sorry if I sound harsh at all, but feelings were hurt here.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Heather Gerquest

helgerquest@msn.com
----------------------------------------------------------

ADDENDUM----

Since the try-outs for the "Sandy" role, I attended the Paws on Parade fundraising event in Bangor, Maine.  It was there that I heard your dog trainer talking to another person saying he did not know how medical alert dogs work, such as a Diabetic Alert dog or Seizure Alert dog, not even the cancer sniffing dogs.  I thought every trainer knew this, or at least would have wanted to find out years ago when some of these types of service dogs came about.  So this guy is supposed to understand individuals with disabilities, their service dogs and the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA (Newly revised) as well?  Does he even know about the Americans with Disabilities Act is?

And the above photographed chosen dog, a dog training friend of mine said the dog looked anxious when she tried out, that she even ran off the stage.  In this photo it was suggested that the dog was showing some anxiety from turning away from everyone, and I saw an inability to follow any commands.  I also think she was overheated and needed some water, or maybe the panting was another way she was showing her anxiety, but that is not what I am concerned about.

Federal law states only canines now qualify as disabled service animals

Federal law states only canines now qualify as disabled service animals

Federal law states only canines now qualify as disabled service animals

Certification obtained by iguana owner has no backing

Sorry... I couldn't resist this photo for this story.

CHRISTINE CULLEN
Staff Writer

(Aug. 6, 2010) Ocean City resident Wayne Short may have his pet iguana certified as a service animal, but a recent change to a federal law means the certification now holds little meaning.

Short caused a stir in the resort this summer by taking Hillary, a 4-foot-long iguana, out on the Boardwalk. In response, the City Council passed a law banning all nondomestic animals from public places.

To get around that, Short obtained certification for the lizard that says she is a service animal trained to help Short with a disability. Federal Americans With Disabilities Act regulations require public establishments to admit service animals, so Short believed he could continue to take Hillary for her daily walks.

Newly hatched Service Iguanas-to-be:)

Young service Iguanas in training- in obedience class.  This is the "long stay":)

But the federal government adopted changes to the ADA law just two weeks ago, with a focus on the definition of a service animal. Under the new law, which will go into effect six months after the July 23 date it was adopted, only dogs can be qualified as service animals for disabled owners.
Prior to July 23, the ADA law defined a service animal “as any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability.” The new law removes the phrase “or other animal” and adds a requirement that the dog must have training to perform tasks that are directly related to the specific disability of its owner.

“Service animal means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition,” the law now reads.

Don't feed your service iguana in a restaurant.:)

Toni Eames is the president of the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, an advocacy group that represents people who are partnered with service dogs. She said the group worked closely with the government when it was drafting the changes to the ADA law and the leadership is pleased with the new regulations.

“We worked very hard to get these changes,” she said. “A lot of people out there think just because their pet provides comfort to them, that means they can take them anywhere. It’s been a nightmare. We’re glad the law stresses training now.”

Eames is blind and has a seeing-eye dog that helps her with daily tasks. She said many people flaunted the previous law by falsely claiming their pets are service animals and that made it hard for truly disabled people with properly trained animals to be respected.

A leash-trained Service  Iguana?  Seriously?  What does he help you with??

“The iguana situation is the kind of thing we’re so happy this law is now preventing,” Eames said.

The key to the new law is training. Just because a disabled person has a dog, that does not mean the dog is necessarily a qualified service animal. The dog must be trained to do a specific task and that task must be something that directly helps the owner with his or her disability.

A seeing-eye dog that guides a blind person when walking on the street is a service animal, because the trained task is directly related to the disability. A dog that can bark to alert a blind owner to a ringing telephone is not a service animal, according to the new rules, because the blind person can hear the phone.

“Needing an animal and having it actually trained to help you are two different things,” Eames said.

Another important change is that animals that provide emotional support or comfort to their owners are no longer considered service animals under the law.

All this means that Hillary the iguana, regardless of any training or certification, is not a service animal because only dogs now qualify under the law. She likely never qualified in the first place, according to multiple service dog organizations that expressed outrage over Hillary’s socalled “certification.”

According to both the new and old ADA laws, there is no certification required for service animals. While some states do require certification at that level, Maryland is not one of them and there is no federal listing of service animals.

There are organizations which, for a fee, will send a certificate and identification card stating your pet is a service animal, such as the National Service Animal Registry that certified Hillary. These groups are not affiliated with the government and the certificates they provide do not give the animals any rights under the law.

So regardless of Hillary’s ID card, the law now says she is not a service animal and can legally be banned from public places.

There are creatures other than dogs that can be trained to do specific tasks for disabled people. The nonprofit group Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled has been training Capuchin monkeys to assist quadriplegic citizens for 30 years.

“The monkeys can help get something to eat or drink, help put in a DVD or CD, help a person use the computer, turn the lights on and off, scratch an itch or reposition a leg or arm after a muscle spasm. They’re simple everyday tasks we take for granted,” said, Megan Talbert, executive director of the Boston-based organization.

Talbert said the small monkeys, weighing between 6 and 8 pounds as adults, are perfect to train as assistance animals for people who have been paralyzed because they can do those types of small tasks quite easily. It takes Helping Hands two or three years to fully train each monkey and they offer the helpers to disabled people at no cost.

The changes to the ADA law mean the trained monkeys no longer qualify as service animals because they are not dogs. Talbert said that will have little effect on how Helping Hands operates because the organization only trains its monkeys for in-home use. Talbert said they are not suited to go out in public anyway.

“Our policy is that our monkeys are not supposed to be doing tasks in restaurants or grocery stores or anywhere in public. They do best in environments where there is stability, and they are going to be frightened by a lot of activity or people they don’t know around them,” she said.

She said the new law could affect the organization in a few ways. The volunteers take the monkeys on airplanes when they are ready to be placed with an owner, so their travel could be affected. Also, some states where the monkeys are placed require pet owners to register or get permits for exotic pets, so she said it might be harder to get the monkeys recognized since they no longer fall under the definition of a service animal.
The new ADA law does recognize one species of animal other than dogs: miniature horses. The law makes an exception for specially trained miniature guide horses, saying they must be given the same rights as service dogs if it is possible for the establishment to reasonably accommodate the horse.

Representatives from The Guide Horse Foundation in North Carolina that trains and places miniature guide horses did not return e-mails and phone calls seeking comment.

Service Dogs Only (in most cases)

Manor of Mixed Blessings- Service Dog Etiquette for Dog Lovers

If you have ever wondered why you can't pet my service dog (or any other) please read the post at the blog link listed below:


http://manorofmixedblessings.com/2011/03/14/service-dog-etiquette-for-dog-lovers/

14 March, 2011

Service Dog Etiquette for Dog Lovers

A friend of mine asked after my rant about adults trying to pet Siddy while he’s in his vest, “Is there ever an appropriate time to pet a working dog in a vest or harness? Like when you’re just hanging around?” And I immediately started kicking myself, because in my rant I didn’t really mention what people SHOULD do if they’d like to pet the dog, just ranted a lot about what they should not do. Bad trainer, me.



Unfortunately there’s no way for me to let people down gently because the only safe answer is “No, there is never an appropriate time to ask to pet a working dog.” There’s a lot of reasons for this, and I’ll detail them below from my own experience using Beowulf (in dog-accessible places since his Public Access Skills aren’t up to snuff for things like restaurants and grocery stores and other REALLY HIGH-DISTRACTION areas) and Sid’s training outing.



1) You can’t tell by looking at someone what that person’s disability may be. Sure, it may look like the dog is just lying down hanging out while its handler waits for the waiter to bring her coffee and spinach quiche, but the dog may be a diabetic or seizure alert dog, or a hearing dog. These dogs need to have their attention focused on their handlers, which they can easily do while lying down next to a chair.



2) While to you it may just look like I’m hanging around, in fact I might have just gotten that hazelnut coffee I’ve wanted all day and settled into this comfy chair at Panera with my coffee and a spinach quiche, and I’m looking forward to some quiet people-watching time. You can’t tell by looking at me whether or not I want to talk to a stranger, or particularly whether I want to talk to the 800th stranger that day who wants to pet my dog. And what looks to you like we’re taking a break and my dog just nudged me so I’d pet him may in fact be my dog alerting me when I fogged out as he was trained to do, and I’m not really in a state to be coherent with a stranger yet.



3) If I let you pet my dog in public, I’ve just taught you and everyone watching that it’s OK to pester service dog handlers about petting their dogs. For all I know, you’re the big dork who is going to ask the next service dog handler you see, and when you’re told “no” you will whip out the “But other people let me do it!” line and then I’m the annoying service dog handler teaching people bad habits.



4) If I let you pet my dog while he’s in harness, I am blurring the line for him between “Working, must concentrate on my person” and “not working, I can be sociable with strangers.” Because I am using my dog to help me stay upright, I can’t take the chance that he may learn that it’s OK to schmooze people while he’s working and veer towards the next clueless person to make a smoochy noise at him. Letting you pet him while he’s working, even if we’re both taking a break, may lead directly to a situation that seriously endangers my safety.



5) I’m probably really, really, really tired at that point of people approaching me and asking about the dog, trying to distract the dog, expecting me to stop what I’m doing and educate them about the dog and about disability, asking me to reveal my medical problems to them because of the dog, or generally treating me like I’m invisible or have the dog with me for a conversation piece or I’m an evil gatekeeper to the dog just out to stop them from having an innocent good time fondling him. I’m just trying to get the things I need to do accomplished, to live my life, and people who will ignore the dog and treat a handler like a dogless human being are few and far between. By asking to pet the dog, you are putting yourself firmly in the camp of “people who don’t treat me like a real human being because of the dog.”



Let me try to tell you what using a service dog part-time has been like for me, using as an analogy something most everybody uses: shoes. You have a pair of shoes. They are the first shoes you have ever found that fit like they were made just for your feet and are really nice-looking shoes. In these shoes, you can go about your whole day and your feet and back and legs feel great and never get tired. In these shoes, you can conquer the whole damn world.



There’s just one problem with the shoes. They attract attention. The first couple of times people smiled at you and said “Nice shoes” it was pretty flattering, but then things started getting a little out of hand. People would stare at your shoes, wherever you went, in a way that made you feel like you were nothing but a way of displaying your wonderful shoes. People would approach you while you’re just trying to buy some milk at the store and get out and go home and expect you to tell them where you got the shoes, how the shoes are working out for you, and then listen to them tell you all about their favorite shoes. Disturbingly, some people will ask to touch your shoes. Sometimes they are still standing when they ask, but other times they are asking as they kneel down and reach out for your shoes. REALLY disturbingly, some people just lunge for your shoes without even asking. Once or twice, you’ve nearly tripped and fallen because someone was grabbing for your shoes. When you act alarmed that these people are trying to take your shoes away while you’re walking in them, people respond by being defensive and angry. Why would you be wearing such wonderful shoes, after all, if you didn’t want to let people touch them or you didn’t want to talk about them? Can’t you see how much they want to touch your fabulous shoes? Why are you being so mean by denying them something they want so much?



When you’re out and about, nobody talks to you about anything but your shoes. You might be in a class you’re really excited to take, because you want to meet other people who are interested in the subject matter, but the other students and the instructor just want to talk to you about your shoes. Even worse, they assume that your shoes are all you know about and act totally surprised when you speak up about things that are not shoe-related. When you ask for help in a shop, the person you’re talking to addresses your shoes rather than you. People say “good morning” to your shoes. People assume that you won’t be able to do things because you won’t want to get your shoes dirty, or you can’t do them because your shoes are not their idea of appropriate footwear for the activity, and they inform you of these exclusions as if you’re supposed to be grateful.



What you’re actually grateful for is the one or two people every day who treat you just like your shoes are nothing remarkable. You come to cherish the people who act as if they don’t even see your shoes. And despite the fact that you love your wonderful shoes, you begin to deeply, deeply wish you could find another pair of shoes that did not attract all this attention that worked for you, but no matter how many pairs you try on, you never can. You find some shoes that are kinda workable and sometimes you wear those just to avoid all the problems with your favorite shoes, even though you know that by the end of the day your feet and legs and back will be aching. After enough painful days, you start feeling pretty bitter towards all the people who make your life so much harder when you’re wearing your favorite shoes, because if they’d just be polite, it would make such a huge difference to you.



So what should you do when you see wonderful shoesa service dog and its handler? The answer is easy: ignore the dog. No matter how much you want to talk about the dog, touch the dog, ask the dog’s handler questions about the dog, tell the dog’s handler about your own dog — don’t. Treat the handler exactly like you are busy treating all the people in the world who do not have dogs with them. If you have a customer service job, or you actually need (not just want) to approach the dog handler, speak to the person, not the dog. Ignore the dog, no matter how hard it is for you. A service dog is not “just” a dog, to its handler it’s a trusted partner and a vital part of what its handler needs to get through the world. Remember too that service dog handlers deserve privacy about their medical issues just as much as everyone else, and asking “Why do you have the dog?” or “what does the dog do for you?” is exactly like asking “So, will you tell me about all your medical problems?” (i.e. none of your business).



The people I am going to happily let pet my service dog are the ones who see me and the dog when the dog is off-duty. In other words, my friends and family, people who might come to my house and hang out, or at whose house I might hang out long enough to ask if I could let my dog be off work, as it were. These are people I know pretty well, obviously. If you’re not one of those people, if you only see me and my dog in public situations, then I’m sorry but no. You can’t pet my dog, and you need to be OK with that.



Comments (64)
Dog Training, Life at the Manor — Tags: disability 101, i like to pontificate, maudlin philosophizing, service dog, sid — Andrea @ 0400

--I couldn't have said it any better than that!

Delta Society Definitions (Edited by Me): Service Dog, Therapy Dog, Emotional Support Dog

DELTA SOCIETY- (with some editing from me)

The Difference Between:
Service, Therapy, Companion and Emotional Support Animals

This service dog assists her handler by opening a door for her.

Service Dogs (and on occasion, miniature horses) are legally defined (Americans With Disabilities Act- ADA) and are trained to do work or perform tasks to meet the disability-related needs of their disabled individuals/handlers. Federal laws protect the rights of individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by their service dogs in public places to all places the general public is allowed with few exceptions. Service dogs are not considered 'pets'.  They are actually considered 'adaptive equipment'.  Examples of such animals include: Guide dogs for people with visual  impairments, hearing dogs for people with hearing impairments, medical alert dogs for people with diabetes, seizures, PTSD (and other psych disabilities), and also can be trained to assist people with mobility problems.  (They can be trained to pull wheelchairs, provide balance assistance, and brace to assist a person get up after a fall.)

This dog is a therapy dog that helps with a literacy program at a library.
(More information about "Tail Waggin Tutors" http://www.tdi-dog.org/)

Therapy Animals are not legally defined by federal law, but some states have laws defining therapy animals. They provide people with contact to animals, but are not limited to working with people who have disabilities. They are commonly found visiting hospitals, nursing and rehab facilities, retirement homes, and there are some programs where they provide a listening ear to children practicing their reading skills (in library programs). They are typically the personal pets of their handlers, and work with their handlers to provide services to others. Federal laws have no provisions for people to be accompanied by therapy animals in places of public accommodation that have "no pets" policies. Therapy animals frequently only have access to the places they visit only when they are scheduled to work. Therapy animals are not service animals, but service animals can be therapy animals.

This dog works in a therapist's office and provides comfort to the clients if they need it.  (Rest in Peace Daisy.)

A Companion Animal is not legally defined, but is accepted as another term for pet.

This dog is a pet or "companion animal".  He loves his kids, and they love him!

Emotional Support Animals have no legal definition. They are animals who's primary job is that of a pet.  They are allowed in "No Pets" housing to provide comfort to an individual with a disability.  Otherwise they have no public access where as a service dog does.  Emotional Support animals are allowed onto Airplanes as long as the handler has a note from a healthcare provider.  The letter must be shown at the airport.  People may also call these animals Comfort Dogs or Emotional Comfort dogs.

This dog is in training to be a service dog.  she is gently playing fetch with this 2 year old.

Cesar Milan's "Junior" Gets His Service Dog Certification

Cesar with Junior, displaying the USSDR paper and patch

Junior gets his Service Dog certification!

(My comments in Blue- Heather Gerquest and Rowena, SD-c)

Junior recently received his Service Dog certification...  
(USSDR is simply a service dog registry.  It does not certify a dog at all.) 
...from The United States Service Dog Registry (USSDR), an independent registry service that offers self-identification for Service or Assistance Dogs.
(A disabled person who uses a service dog does not have to register or certify their service dog with anyone.)

"I'm so proud of Junior," Cesar said. "He's been an amazing helper to me... 
(which is what a service dog does) 

...and so many dogs, and now he can continue to share his balance with the rest of the world in his service (which is NOT what service dogs do)."

Do you think your dog has what...
 (Maybe you do, but you must be disabled to have/ use a service dog.  It is not the dog that has access, but it is the disabled person that has the public access.)
...takes to be a Service Dog? 

Although not required by law, your dog should be trained to follow both specific and basic obedience commands, as well as display non-aggressive and sociable behavior in order to be considered an effective Service Dog. 
(Some service dog programs make it mandatory to train the dog  to perform at least 3 tasks or specific work that help mitigate your disability which you need to even qualify for a service animal). 
It is recommended that any potential Service Dogs undergo at least 120 hours of professional training to obtain the necessary skills and demeanor. 
(Service Dog trainers and handlers recommend that anyone training a service dog should keep a diary that tracks your dog's progress and training.) 
USSDR suggests that every candidate complete the Public Access Test created by Assistance Dogs International, Inc., 
(There are other public access tests available as well... some more strict than ADI's. Look to the left and click on one of the public access tests links listed in Rosie's Favorite Links.) 
...to fully assess your dog’s ability to function as a Service Dog.

(It is not so much that I don't believe Cesar has a disability that would necessitate the use of a service dog as much as the information the article put out to the public is misleading.  One would initially believe that Cesar had some part in the writing of this article and thus the false information would have been okayed by him.  That is what really got me most.)

____________________________________________________

WHAT?

I'm confused. I didn't know that Cesar was disabled, let alone disabled to the point that he even needed a service dog.

People, this article is very misleading.

The legal definition of a service dog (read the updated definiton on the "What is a Service Dog" page, tab is at the top of this blog page) is any dog that has been trained to do work or tasks that help mitigate a person with a disability. A disability is any medical or physical condition that greatly limits one or more daily life functions. A service dog is allowed by law to go anywhere the general public can go. The disabled handler with a service dog is protected by state service dog laws and also Federal service dog laws which can be found in the ADA or Americans with Disabilities Act. They are NOT considered pets, but are considered adaptive equipment. It is the disabled person who is given the access, not the dog. It is like a person with a wheel chair. You never see a business say "Sorry, we don't allow wheel chairs around here. You'll have to leave it outside". As well, the service dog helps the disabled person to function better and access goods and services in the community that otherwise they would not be able to do so.

Whether Cesar has an invisible disability or not is not for me to decide.  It is possible.  However it upsets me that this article was written so poorly.  It makes it hard for me to believe Junior is his service dog.  At some point he is going to have to come clean with the public and come out of the closet and disclose that he does indeed have a disability, and same rules apply, he doesn't have to tell a single soul what that disability is.  Them's the rules!

So as you can see from my intro paragraph, it takes more than a good dog to become a service dog. The person owning or handling the dog must actually have a disability. Some training facilities also want the service dog to learn to perform 3 tasks that assist their handler with his or her individual needs as a disabled person. Examples might be the work of a Guide dog, a medical alert dog (alerting to seizures etc), a "hearing" dog, a dog that works with a child or adult with autism, as well as a dog that helps people with psychiatric disabilities to alert and other priceless tasks. These are not dogs that are well behaved and get a certification to visit people in hospitals and nursing homes. That is called a therapy dog.

Please do not read Cesar's article about his now "certified service dog" and go out and sign Fifi up with USSDR. Also it is merely a registry. It doesn't certify your dog to be anything. There are (federal and often state) laws against people who fake a pet dog as a service dog, and some of the fines are large. And the worst part of it is that it makes it even harder for those of us that really need the use of a service dog. I know my service dog is a life saver and life giver. Without her assisting me on a daily basis I don't know if I'd still be here.

To check out the United States Service Dog Registry, click on this link-
https://www.usservicedogregistry.org/register.php/

http://usservicedogregistryaboutus.blogspot.com/

Read what USSDR's REAL mission is and click the above link.

THIS IS FROM THE USSDR SITE:  Please note: Only individuals who are qualified to use a Service Dog under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are eligible for registration. Therapy Dogs and other  working dogs are not able to be  included.

UPDATE!

The Friends of United States Service Dog Registry on FB  wrote....

"Thanks for posting this! We're very honored to have Cesar and Junior as part of this Registry. Cesar does have ...an invisible disability and it is a private issue. He also knows quite a bit about Service Dogs and the ADA. He's worked with dis...abled individuals and Service Animals on training for tasks and completing Minimum Training Standards and Public Access Tests both privately and publicly. However the writer on his staff has used some incorrect language in this post. We'll contact Cesar's assistant tonight to make sure this is corrected."

THANK GOD THE ARTICLE WAS JUST MISLEADING.  WHEN THE CLARIFICATION ARTICLE IS WRITTEN I WILL POST IT HERE.

Friday, 9/3/2010 USSDR UPDATE Regarding Article about Cesar and Junior:

"... ugh. It's been a busy day here! I've been on the phone with Cesar's assistant and she'd having the writer fix the blog's wording. Thank you for drawing our attention to this. I didn't even know about it until you posted it."

Later on Friday:

"USSDR: It's confirmed. Cesar usually reviews blog posts but was not given the chance to see this one before it went live. We have been promised this will be fixed tonight. Thank goodness!"

-------------------------------------------------
9-12-2010
I have heard that a new article was posted on Cesar's blog and then was pulled.  To my knowledge a new article has not been posted and this issue remains unresolved.  Cesar needs to take this as an opportunity to educate people about what service dogs really are... like you must be disabled.
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7-19-2011
I have waited a very long time now and have not seen any kind of retraction or correction from the article written about Junior becoming a "Registered" or "Certified" service dog.  This is an irresponsible decision on Cesar Milan's part.

Here is what I had to say about that today:
So, to sum it up...  (from Sept 2010) USSDR tells the public that CM is indeed disabled (invisible disability).  However, CM has in no way tried to clarify the mistakes his assistant made in the blog entry that announced Junior becoming "certified" as a service dog with USSDR.  CM can be asked what his service dog does for him and that is not a violation of his rights, yet he has not responded to that either. Instead, whatever articles had been written were pulled.  Whether CM is disabled or not, that is not the issue right now as much as he did not try to responsibly post another entry to correct the misinformation his assistant (or whoever) posted which, at least to me, leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth and still in question as to how honest CM is regarding this whole thing.