Centralized training and registration for Service Dogs
Dessie Marek
UMUC

Abstract
In today’s evolving society, there is more mobility that ever for people with disabilities. One of the things that allows this to happen is the use of service animals. Problems however arise when people try to cheat the system. Attempts to pass off pets as service animals, improperly trained animals, and businesses with lack of knowledge on laws all contribute to ongoing frustrations. The need for a centralized training standard as well as government registration and regulation of service animals is clear and immediate. If standards can be established within breeding clubs for “Good Citizen” training, then it can be done for service dogs. Then, once they are trained to standard, there is no reason an official registration system cannot be implemented. The simple act of giving an official ID to actual service dogs would alleviate the stress from business owners as well as handlers. It really is just common sense.

Centralized training and registration for Service Dogs
Disabilities can be life changing and world altering circumstances. For many people becoming disabled meant living a lesser life, that is until they discovered service dogs. In the united states more and more uses are being found for service dogs every day. This of course leads to frauds and problems. How do they deal with it all? Easy! There needs to be a centralized standard of training and registration system for all service animals in the united states. In order to define training and registration needs first they have to define a service dog. Service dog titles are given out wildly but there is an actual regulation. According to the united states department of Justice there are some key requirements to be a service dog. Firstly, the animal Must be a dog. Seems like common sense but there have actually been cases where people claimed their horse was a service animal that helped with mobility. According to regulation the thing that defines a service dog is that it is “individually trained to do work or perform tasks for a person with a disability”. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011) That is where the specifics stop, however. There is no defined training standard; just the requirement that the dog be somehow trained. Any American with a disability can Train their dog in some way and just bring them out as a service dog. It then goes on to state that service dogs must be allowed to accompany their owners at all times. Businesses are only allowed to make limited inquiries into the validity of a service dog and cannot ask for any kind of proof. The law also provides loopholes to many pet clauses in housing and hotel contracts. This is important as many disabled people live in specialty housing that would otherwise not allow pets. This loophole is also one of the reasons people are more likely to not be fully truthful about their dogs status. The law does state that impersonation of a service dog is a felony. However, since it is next to impossible to prove an animal not to be a service dog under this law, it is very hard to convict someone under the impersonation clause. (U.S. Department of Justice, 2011) The second part of that requirement gets even more tricky Performing tasks for their disabled owner. This is where service dogs get further defined. There are actually two types of support dogs out there; service dogs and assistance dogs. Service dogs go everywhere with you and help you with daily tasks. Service dogs play a vital role in a disabled persons ability to live day to day life in a standard society. Assistance dogs such as emotional support dogs are not trained for tasks or needs of the owner but rather to provide companionship for the owner. The main reason people are offered an emotional support dogs is to help cope with mental or behavioral health issues that do not require assistance outside of the house. Emotional support dogs are often given to victims of domestic violence and children with emotional disorders. The biggest difference between the emotional support dogs and service dogs is that while emotional support dogs are trained to comfort and be there emotionally for their owners at home, they are not needed for daily living support like service dogs are. One of the primary reason that emotional support dogs would need to be identified as such is to take advantage of the loophole provided in the law. (Huss, 2012) So service dogs need training. One of the problems with people who need a service dog is that it is hard to know where to start. Their doctor tells them that they need one and gives them a letter stating so, but then they are on their own. Most people look to service dog organizations. These organizations train the dogs to their own set standard and will try to match them up with the right dog for their needs. This all of course comes at a cost to the disabled person. (who already has many extra costs in life.) The costs can range from five hindered to twenty thousand. One the disabled person has decided that they can afford this route they go through a lengthy application process and then are put on a wait list. The wait list can take two years or more. This route of getting your service dog is long and involved and can be costly not to mention stressful. (Service Dogs For America, 2016) The stress and length of the above process and the uncertainty of what dog you will get is a large part of why most disabled persons choose to go the second route. Train their own. They are perfectly allowed to go out and find a puppy that they love and loves them and have it trained as their service dog. Not only is it cheaper and more immediate. But it allows them to have the service dog more Intune with their needs. The service dog can be trained to their specific needs and their individual quirks. This method of acquiring your service dog also allows for a very important bonding process that has been found to be extremely important in certain types of disabilities.
So Now our disabled person has a prescription and has a puppy and they Just need training. This is where the Giant problem comes in. There is no standard as to what training a service dog needs. One of the organizations attempting to implement some standard of training is the Assistance Dogs International Association (ADI). This group is recognized widely in Europe and has the respect of many companies and organizations. So much to the point that you are often asked in European countries by hotels or airlines if your service dog has completed an ADI Public Access test. This is a test that has been developed by the trainers associated with ADI. The test details standard behaviors and actions that a service dog should be able to maneuver prior to being granted special access to public areas. They also have set standards of tasks or behaviors that a service dog should be able to complete for a person with a set disability. Such as training for the service dog on how to deal with a panic attack, how to help its handler upstairs. Or what to do when their handler has a seizure. (ADI, 1987)
The International Association of Assistance Dog Partners (IAADP) is the main organization in the United States that is pushing to have a standard for training. The IAADP has requirements for both what a dog must be trained to do and what they must not be trained to do. They draw from the standards set by the ADI and goes a step further. They have added requirements including that a dog not be allowed any bite or protection training. This seems silly to some people but there is a great reason. If your service dog is trained to protect their owner and bite to save them the service dog cannot help them. If the handler was hurt or in distress and needed emergency medical treatment the dog’s protection training could take over and they would not allow paramedics or passersby to help them. Actually the service dog would probably attack them to protect their owner as trained, thereby actually causing them harm. (IAADP, 2016)
IAADP also requires that the potential service dog pass testing on the required tasks for the handler’s disabilities. This is the perfect extension to the ADI standards while the public access test ensures the service dog will be well behaved while out in public, this further requirement will ensure that they are actually helpful to their handler. The IAAPD training is quickly gaining respect and notoriety. As it stands, if you want your service dog to accompany you to any Veterans' Administration building, they will refer you to an IAADP trainer to have your dog trained and tested. (IAADP, 2016)
There are many options but none are required and there is no national standard. There are people who would argue that it is not possible to have a national standard in service dog training. They are wrong though. The united states already have established national dog training standards. In 1989, The American Kennel Club, a widely respected breeding club in the United States, developed a training system named the good citizen program. This training and testing program lists out and tests for what most would consider good manners for a dog in public; basic obedience like healing, sit, stay, and ignoring distractions. If a dog passes their good citizen test, then they are placed in an AKC database as having done so. The good citizen program in its 27 years has gained respect and notoriety. So much so that in many larger metro areas, dogs can earn a second chance from law enforcement after a biting or such incident by completing this training. So if an organization can set and maintain a training, certification, and registration standard at a national level surely the united states government can. (American Kennel Club, 2016) There is a very real reason why centralized standards of training and registration are necessary. Unfortunately, it is a sad one. A growing problem all over the world is people passing off their pets as service dogs. There are plenty of online resources for service dog supplies. As a pet owner who wants to take their dog around with them, all you would have to do is a quick search for a service dog vest. This is making it increasingly hard for disabled people to use their actual service dogs. Business owners are getting burnt out on fake dogs who come in and cause problems. This makes them overly skeptical of all the service animals, real or fake. If they are a person with a disorder such as PTSD their disability is not visible. Many business owners will now hassle them about the validity of their service dog. This harassment will often cause people with these disabilities to have further problems and will negate the effectiveness of the service dog. In many cases their service dog and its trained tasks are the only thing that allows them to go out and face the world. (MANNING, 2014) If the united states had a system as simple as a special badge or tag to identify service dogs this would eliminate the problem. It is definitely a problem and owners of service dogs are looking for a solution. Many businesses, and service dog handlers, with less than desirable information on their rights, have been taken advantage of by organizations promising them just that. There are organizations out there like The United States Service Dog Registry. Sounds official and like something you can rely on and will help you out. But it’s not! The United States Service Dog Registry is an organization where you can register your dog as a service dog. They do not require any proof of training or need of a service dog. All you have to do is check yes that you have trained your dog. Then you can choose to purchase a registration pack with a certificate and ID badge for your dog. (The United States Service Dog Registry, 2016)This is both evidence of the problem and proof of the solution. It is obviously very easy to create a database and ID standard for service dogs. Also anyone could go on this website and register a dog that doesn't exist as their service dog. that is a giant issue. But it is not illegal and cannot be shut down in any way because there is no actual registry. This is just one example there are hundreds of these websites out there. And they are all willing to sell you a registration package for fifty to five hundred dollars. But all you are buying is lies. If national organizations can set training standards and uphold them for decades, and hundreds of private organizations can set up databases and create a standard identification for service dogs. Then the united states government can do it and they must do it. Not only to stop fake dogs from being out there. But to actually support and help the people this concept was intended to help. The next time a doctor tells his patient they need a service dog, or would highly benefit from one. They also need to hand them information on the standards for training a service dog and how to register them on the national database then Disabled patients would have a place to start and could resume their lives. Anyone once faced with these facts would have to agree. There needs to be a centralized standard of training and registration system for all service animals in the united states!
References
ADI. (1987). Assistance Dogs International. Retrieved from http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org: http://www.assistancedogsinternational.org/standards/
American Kennel Club. (2016). AKC.ORG. Retrieved from American Kennel Club: http://www.akc.org/dog-owners/training/canine-good-citizen/what-is-canine-good-citizen/
Huss, R. J. (2012). Federal laws: service animal versus assistance animal. Missouri Law Review, 420-425.
IAADP. (2016). International Association of Assistance Dog Partners. Retrieved from www.iaadp.org: http://www.iaadp.org/iaadp-minimum-training-standards-for-public-access.html
MANNING, S. (2014, January 23). Fake Service Dogs A Growing Problem As Pet Owners Flout Disability Rules. The Huffington Post.
Service Dogs For America. (2016). Service Dogs For America. Retrieved from http://www.servicedogsforamerica.org/
The United States Service Dog Registry. (2016). The United States Service Dog Registry. Retrieved from www.usservicedogregistry.org: https://www.usservicedogregistry.org/index.php
U.S. Department of Justice. (2011, July 12). Service Animals. ADA Requirements.