I recently heard a story about someone who registered her pet dog as a service dog so he could fly in the cabin with her for free. That person did not have a disability, nor had the dog been specially trained to perform some task to assist with a disability. I wondered not only how someone could be so unethical, irresponsible, and dishonest, but how they could legally get away with it.
After a few hours of Internet research, I had an answer. Basically, there are no national requirements for service dog certification, licensing, training, or identification. Most states have laws about the rights of people with service dogs to take their dogs into public places and on public transportation. No states require any type of registration, certification, or identification of service dogs. A handful of states (not Maryland) have legal penalties for falsely claiming a dog is a service dog. If someone takes a dog into a pubic establishment and claims it is a service dog, the only questions the owner or employees can legally ask that person is whether or not they have a disability (they may not ask what that disability is), and what service the dog has been trained to provide. A person faking a service dog is only likely to be caught if the dog creates a problem and police or legal actions are involved. In that case the faker may be asked to swear under oath that they have a disability and that the dog has been specially trained to perform a service to assist with that disability.Lying under oath is felony perjury, usually punishable by jail time. If the faker admits to lying, and some type of monetary gain was achieved by lying (like a free ride on a plane for the dog), fraud charges of some type may be brought against them.
Spurred on by the lack of standard certification and identification requirements, and by the glaring legal loopholes, a whole unethical internet industry selling fake service dog credentials has sprung up, supported by an unethical base of customers. Yes, I would love to have my dog ride on trains, planes, and buses with me, and go into stores with me, but I would never lie to achieve that. Doing so might undermine the public perception and acceptance of valid service dogs and the disabled persons who truly need those dogs to assist them.
Many thousands of hours and dollars are spent training real service dogs, to achieve a dog with reliable and impeccable public behavior. Even the best-trained pet dogs are likely to fall far short of service dog behavior standards. People with real service dogs know that there are no identification or registration requirements. If you see someone flaunting a certificate or ID to prove their dog is a service dog, odds are they are faking it. People who lie about their dog being a service dog are worse than non-handicapped people who park in handicapped spots to get a good space and save a few steps.
Laury Hohner says
I was really surprised when I read what you wrote. You said in your headline “Faking a Service Dog – It May Not be Illegal But It is Certainly Unethical” That is untrue. Faking a service dog IS illegal and punishable by up to 6 months in jail, a find of up to $1,000.00 or both. This is the penalty for California and Florida and I’m sure it is about the same for the other states. so it is not only immoral, and unethical, but it is illegal also. I have two pages on Facebook that I started to educate the public on service dogs and to promote small service dogs. I hope you will check them out and “like” them. I often post articles about fake service dogs on them and in my ‘notes’ section on one of them (princessservicedog) I have a note to help people tell the difference between a real service dog and a fake service dog.
https://www.facebook.com/princessservicedog https://www.facebook.com/servicetherapydogs
Shawn Mathiesen says
Thank you for your efforts to educate people about service dogs and for helping to expose fake service dogs.
Actually, Florida and California are two of only a handful of states that have specific laws about faking a service dog, and specific penalties. Neither Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, or other nearby states have any laws similar to Florida and California. I wish there were similar laws here.
Paula Hill says
Please remind your readers that there is a difference between a trained service dog and a trained therapy dog. The training is very different as are the roles these gifted animals play in our society.
Thanks,
Paula Hill
BRENDA LIDDLE says
how can i find out about the laws for service dog in nc
Anita Mercado says
My sister in law has a well trained pet that she fakes as a service dog in IL. She purchased everything online, says she has seizures -lie – and takes the dog everywhere with no regard to a real service dog. Even takes the dog into hospitals and has him lay on the patients bed. No ethics.
Donna L. Carlaw says
Great article. I have wondered at times about the pets I see being brought into the cabins of airplanes, but usually these animals are small and cause no problems. However, a couple of weeks ago I was flying from Miami to Houston. In the United waiting area, I was lunged at by a very large German Shepherd – not once, but twice. The dog was very menacing, and he and his family were sitting across from me. He was showing his teeth and barking. The people were almost as aggressive as the dog, shouting at me that the dog did not like me, and that was why he was reacting that way. I was a bad person, and the dog was basically a good judge of character. I told United about it, and they did not care, at least so far. The customer service gentleman in Houston did listen to me and took down a report, but I have not heard from the airline, except for two automated emails. Anyway, moral of the story? Watch out for viscious, fraudulent service dogs even in airports. Public, beware. Some of these fake service dogs are actually dangerous.
jennifer Warner says
Editor,
Let me state first off that the writer states, she recently heard’ , so this was hearsay. The person you heard this from how did he or she know if the person was or wasnt disabled? maybe she heard what you heard and on and on. so with that said do you know if the person who started this gossip could actually tell by looking at the individual with the dog that none of the disabilities below actually applied, or did they just assume by appearance that nothing was wrong with the individual. Then started this vicious gossip in turn that hurts disabled people like myself.
I have severe arthritis. When i was first diagnosed and received my dog no one could really tell by looking at me. On one occasion I literally was cussed out in a grocery store by a woman who said “she hated people like me’ ad that I should also move my vehicle out of the handicap spot. When I tried to explain to her she was out of line and incorrect, she got even louder. a cashier woman came over to see what was wrong and the woman was blocking my grocery cart with hers and then yells to the cashier I should move my vehicle and my dog should leave because there was not a thing wrong with me. I thought I may get some help from the cashier, but she jumped on the band wagon with this crazy nut case who was so obviously judgmental, opinionated and foul mouthed. It was humiliating and embarrassing for me to say the least. So before you listen to possible hearsay, please know innocent disabled folks out here are suffering and may now suffer more because of your ‘gossiping” article. Know the facts and maybe defend the issue before you condemn it over hearsay. By the way 6 years has gone by and I have been in a wheelchair for four and I have my trustee companion by my side.
Service Dogs may help people with visible and invisible disabilities
Service and Assistance Dogs can be trained to complete work or tasks that help people with visible and invisible disabilities associated with many diagnoses, including:
Arthritis (severe)
Ataxia (poor balance)
Autism
Blindness or Impaired Vision
Cardio/Pulmonary Disease
Cerebral Palsy
Deafness or Impaired Hearing
Diabetes
Life Threatening Allergies/Anaphylaxis
Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.)
Neurological Disorders
Physical Mobility Issues
Psychiatric Disabilities
Seizure Disorders (Epilepsy)
Severe Allergy Alert
Spina Bifida
Spinal Cord/Head Trauma
Stroke
So b
Bruce Petricca says
Editor
I live in a no pet community in Palm Beach County Florida. In the past 3-4 years we have granted a special accommodation to approx.. 15 dogs whose owners have provided letters from doctor’s, and or have provided us with Service Animal Diplomas and all legal looking credentials, and Service animal credentials. Upon further inspection of these Doctor’s letters and service animal credentials, we have discovered that 90 percent of the Doctor’s letters do not even come close to being legally defensible. IN fact, it is obvious in some of the letters from Doctor’s that the patient “self diagnosed”, grounds for a physician to loose his or her license. The certification credentials for three of the persons were purchased online by one of dozens of scam certification services. We in our no pet community have suffered 9 dog attacks over the past 3 years yet nothing has been done about it to protect our community and the rights of the 514 other persons who purchased in a no pet community who live in fear of being attacked.
Our unit owners no longer even report dog attacks as nothing is being done about it for the past three years……Animal Control gives the offending dog owner a slap on the wrist, and OEO (Office of Equal Opportunity) and Fair Housing does not support our efforts to curtail these tragic events. We tried to designate dog walking areas so dogs would not come in contact with other unit owners, and 5 of our 15 dog owners filed discrimination charges against our Board of Director’s. The attorney for our insurance company “settled” the matter and threw a pile of cash at these dog owners who most of which have committed Federal Fraud, punishable in the State of California with a $1,000.00 fine and up too 5 years jail time. When will this be Federal law for those who commit this type of Federal Fraud?????
What can be done in our state to make these people accountable for abusing a very good law, lying and cheating our no pet community so they can have a pet??? We, in our community, fully respect the legitimate needs of a service and or emotional support animal, but are opposed to those who commit fraud just to have a pet. Is there any assistance out there for our community?