WES2006AG said:
Dogs shouldn't be in public places at all. Just another example of our society going crazy to bend over backwards and allow these crazy dog people in their place of business. The business should be sued as well.
I don't know if the business had much of a choice here. Service animal laws are very strict and easy for people to abuse. If someone has a service animal, you can only ask the owner what service it performs. You cannot legally ask the individual to prove their disability by any means, or that the dog is certified.
Usually people try to call their emotional support animal a service animal but they are not the same. FAA and FHA rules make it super hard to stamp out ESA's going everywhere. They have given them legitimacy when they are nothing more than just your pet that you have paid $20 bucks online to state its an ESA. Luckily, after a pitbull mauled a woman (sound familiar?) on a delta flight last year, the FAA has finally banned ESA's. FHA is going to be way harder to overturn.
What this lady probably did, is that she knows she can't bring her ESA anywhere and has probably been asked to leave her ESA at home. So she just goes out and buys something that says 'service animal' on it and now she is protected from inquiry.
It gets hazier because there is nothing about using a service dog that requires a sign saying its a service animal. My wife has a service animal from the Seeing Eye in NJ. Their harnesses don't say service animal on it and honestly, everyone appreciates it that way. There no need for blind people to have to constantly be vetted by everyone in public for just existing.
Because of all of this, its super easy for people to abuse.
This lady is going to get the book thrown at her by the judge for pretending she has a service animal.
