Fake Service Dogs: A Problem with Culture, not Courts

I ran across this piece by Sue Manning describing how "dog cheats" outfit their pooches with service dog apparel readily available online, thus allowing them to take their pets into businesses that would otherwise disallow the animals. Manning writes about how current privacy legislation makes detecting and punishing these offenders difficult. She also explores the internal debate within the  assistance-dog-using community. Some want to bring in the Justice Department and focus more resources and attention to the problem in an effort to crack down on counterfeit service dogs and others are concerned this might have some deleterious effect on those who are legitimately using service animals.

I think everyone is completely missing the point here. Business owners keep dogs out of businesses, primarily because American cultural norms have evolved to sanction anyone bringing Princess into Denny's. True, I have noticed some give in the direction of indoor canine tolerance: a Yorkie sat in a fully enclosed stroller at the table next to us the last time we hit the Sunset Station feeding trough and was cooed at by the wait staff rather then evicted. But in America we can't routinely expect that kind of reception, especially with larger breeds.

I propose a shift toward German cultural norms with regard to dogs. Dog ownership is taken seriously. Dog owners are well trained and know how to manage their animals in public. Hence, I can roll into a bierkeller or restaurant and see a Lab, an Alsatian and a terrier relaxing at their owners' feet, unperturbed while plates and glasses clink and lamb and chicken and big, dripping cuts of roast pork fly by. Dog owners know when a retail establishment is too tight or otherwise unsuited to their dog and leash the animal outside, where it relaxes until the owner is ready to move on.

This German (and generally European) approach to dogs in public places does happen in more enlightened parts of America. For example, at the La Boulange, in San Fransico's Cole Valley neighborhood, patrons leave their larger mutts outside without incident and at least one French restaurant has a day a week when they make a place for dogs at the the table. Perhaps this trend will expand and it won't be uncommon to find well-behaved pit bulls relaxing under a table at your local Macaroni Grill.


It certainly would eliminate the fake service dog racket.