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If you search “service dog registry” or “service dog certification” you’ll get dozens of results for various websites that all seem legitimate. They all present themselves as sources of information and credibility. What they don’t tell you is that the certifications and ID cards they hand out don’t do anything for you legally. Having something from these sites labeling your dog as a service dog does not grant you public access rights or make your dog a legitimate service dog.
These sites are problematic for a number of reasons. For one, these sites give people the excuse to take unsuitable pet dogs into areas that aren’t pet friendly and can present a real danger to the public or service dog handlers. It isn’t uncommon for a “fake” service dog to lunge at a working service dog and end their working career. Holly and her handler, Victor, were attacked by a poodle in a service dog vest in an airport. Jake and his handler, Haylee, were lunged at by a dog labeled as an emotional support animal in a non-pet friendly supermarket. The danger isn’t just to service dogs and their handlers. Pet dogs labeled as service dogs pose a real danger to the public. In January of 2021, a toddler was bitten in the face by a dog in a service dog vest here in Texas. While the other articles never mention that the dogs are registered, the dog that bit the toddler was registered online as a service dog. These are just a couple of examples of how problematic these registries can be.
Every single year service dogs are washed from training or retired early after being attacked by a pet dog in a space pet dogs aren’t allowed. Disabled individuals lose their medical equipment that helps them participate in everyday activities because someone thought it was acceptable to take their pet dog into a “service dog only” space. Handlers are constantly on alert for pet dogs, wary of every sound that even slightly resembles a bark or the jingle of a collar. That’s no way to live.
In the United States you must have a disability to even have a service dog. For a dog to be considered a service dog they must be trained to perform specific tasks that mitigate their handlers disability. The registries or certifications available online do not verify that the individuals using their site are disabled, they don’t verify that the dogs are trained to perform tasks, and sometimes they don’t even verify that the things being registered on their sites are even animals to begin with.
While fake service dogs in public are certainly a problem, they aren’t the biggest problem these registries have created for disabled individuals. The biggest problem these registries have caused is taking away the option to have a service dog as an accommodation for a disability. Medical practices all over the US are adopting policies that prevent their doctors from writing anything recommending a service dog for their patients. The increase in people abusing the system have made doctors reluctant to put themselves in a position where they may be held liable for their patient’s service dog. The same goes for Emotional Support Animals. Unfortunately for the disabled handlers of service dogs, that means that they can’t get accommodations for their service dog to accompany them to work, in rental housing, or anywhere else they would have to request “reasonable accommodations” for their service animal. Without something from their doctor saying that their service animal is medically necessary, it makes it so much harder for disabled individuals to get the accommodations they need.
These registries make no effort to protect disabled individuals and their highly trained medical equipment. Many of these sites even state that certifications and registries are “not recommended” by the ADA, but they put it in the fine print or on some page that no one looks at. These registries have made it incredibly difficult for businesses to feel confident asking unruly dogs to leave and often won’t because they’re scared of being sued. Some businesses grow so accustomed to seeing certifications or registrations that they begin asking for it when they see someone with a dog and then refuse access to legitimate service dogs when they don’t have one.
The reality of these registries and certification sites is that they make life harder for disabled individuals rather than making it easier. They may have had good intentions in the beginning, but now it has turned into a money grab.
To learn more about service dogs, check out my Service Dog Questions Answered page, or the ADA FAQ. If you’d like to discuss anything in this article, please feel free to reach out to me.
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