Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Official Training Vest and Badge Received

Eli and I are very excited! We received Eli's official royal blue training vest and service dog in training badge today. 8)
The training vest is lightly padded to be comfortable for Eli to wear, but it's not so cumbersome that he'll overheat.
The badge is a courtesy item, as it is against the Americans with Disabilities laws for anyone to require identification or proof for the animal, nor can the handler's disability be questioned. Presenting the badge is voluntary and is NOT required by Federal Law.
The U.S. Justice Department issued new regulations effective March 15, 2011 limiting the types of animals that qualify as service animals under the ADA and clarifies the definitions and legal entitlements between service dogs and emotional support dogs. Under these new regulations, service dogs' tasks include assisting sight-impaired persons with navigation or other tasks; alerting hearing impaired persons to the presence of people or sounds; providing non-violent protection or rescue work; pulling a wheelchair; assisting an individual during a seizure; alerting an individual to the presence of allergens; retrieving items such as medicine or the telephone; providing physical support/assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility impairments; and helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.
The public is only allowed by law to make two inquiries to determine whether the animal qualifies as a service animal. 1. Is the animal required because of a disability? and 2. What work or task has the animal been trained to perform? However, the public may not require documentation, such as proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal. Nor may a public accommodation require a person with a disability to pay a surcharge for a service animal, even if it applies such a surcharge for pets.
The acceptable identification for a service dog is the wearing of specially marked harnesses. There are also high behavior and training standards for all service dogs, set by the ADA. For more information, go to http://www.things4yourdog.com/faq's-about-service-dogs
(_.~¤*•CrystalLynn•*¤~._)
http://notjustatinydog.blogspot.com
http://suaemoc.blogspot.com
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5 comments:

  1. will eli be at the ceremony? is he in place of a bouquet??? he will need to be with you all day right?

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  2. Yes, he comes everywhere.
    Mei-li will be there, too. ♥

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  3. I hope you know that it takes many months for a dog to become a SDIT that has public access rights.... And emotional support dogs are not legal service dogs, therefore are not permitted in public. However, psychiatric service dogs are. I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but I hope you're not confusing a service dog with a therapy/emotional support dog... If so, you can be in for a great deal of charges. Again, I'm sorry for assuming, but it's just that handlers typically know the difference.

    -owner of a psychiatric service dog

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  4. Eli is a medical alert dog. He is not a therapy/emotional support dog, though he does play that role, too. Eli has been in continuous training since he was 8 weeks old.

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  5. Well, I hope he works out for you... Seems like even with almost a year of training, you can't stop him from being a nipper. Which I find odd that any place would deny you access when you so clearly state he's a service dog. You cannot tell me that if he was really behaved, that he would have any problems entering a store? I would have made a complaint about not being given access, but there's obviously a hidden fear. If walmart denied me access, I'd be contacting them until I was rightfully let in, but there's something wrong if a business won't let him in without a muzzle. So he must have acted out. If he didn't, I would've pressed charges against them since youre so 'hot' on talking about getting frustrated with people. I have no doubt that Eli is trained and helps you out a lot, but if he messes up, it makes us ALL look bad.

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