Fake Service Dogs: Causes and Concerns
- As an owner of a dog small enough to fit as a carry-on, there doesn't really seem to be any benefit to following the airline rules.
- "That's the thing, the rules don't even matter," Molly Carta, a woman living with cerebral palsy who has a service dog named Slate, tells Vox.
- Carta explained to me that she travels two to three times per year, and has seen the number of service dogs boom in the past decade, with the...
This past month I, like many Americans, flew back home for the holidays. On the first leg of that trip, from New York to Los Angeles, a dog in a “service dog” vest barked at me at the gate.The dog (not its given name), looked to be a stout French bulldog, paced back and forth, and yapped at a couple of other travelers.
On the way back from LAX, I noticed more dogs in service vests – a dachshund, another (different) Frenchie, a few mixed breeds – in line with their humans, waiting for desk agents. It all made me realize how many dogs traveling these days are designated service dogs, so many that there’s no way each one was a thoroughly-trained working canine. Some of these pooches had to be impostors.
More and more Americans are claiming service dogs on flights, and many are using that designation – a necessity for some people living with disabilities – as a loophole to just fly with their dogs.
The problem is that untrained service dogs can be a nuisance to fellow travelers, but also could possibly inhibit actual service dogs from doing the crucial tasks (i.e., untrained dogs can distract service dogs).
Because there’s a lack of regulation, there are a lot of people abusing the system - but it’s tough to enact stricter rules while making sure it’s not inhibiting people living with disabilities.
Granted, because so many people fly during the holidays it was probably easier to spot them; but I’m obviously not the only one noticing.”I think a lot of people started to take advantage of the fact that we really want our dogs to be with us,” says Jessica Reiss, the program director at Canine Companions, an organization that trains and places service dogs with people living with disabilities.
At Canine Companions, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, and labrador-golden crosses (goldens and Labradors are two of the “fab four” breeds that experts say excel at becoming service dogs) undergo a six-month training program that includes responding to roughly 45 or so tasks that include opening and closing doors, responding to alarms and alerts, pulling wheelchairs, and item identification. Service dog recipients complete an intensive program as well.”In order to place a dog with a person, that person comes in and stays with us for two weeks. They are literally living, breathing, everything with the dog 24 hours a day – [they’re taught] dog behavior, dog body language, how to deal with fear reactivity as the typical dog owner,” Reiss says, listing off just a few things that a person learns in those 14 days.
Who fake service dogs actually hurt
As an owner of a dog small enough to fit as a carry-on, there doesn’t really seem to be any benefit to following the airline rules. Following all the air cabin regulations for dogs costs more (service animals fly for free) and makes flying more claustrophobic (being zipped up in a carrier versus service animals who lay on the cabin floor or on a lap).If the “right” way to get a dog onboard is so arbitrary and unappealing, and the faux way is relatively easier and free, what’s the point in following the rules?
“That’s the thing, the rules don’t even matter,” Molly Carta, a woman living with cerebral palsy who has a service dog named Slate, tells Vox. “I feel that way half the time too. I’m like, why did I pay $50 for this vet visit to get this form filled out? This person over here is just going to walk on with their dog.”
Carta explained to me that she travels two to three times per year, and has seen the number of service dogs boom in the past decade, with the largest increase coming over the past three to five years. (By law, there is no official registry of service dogs.) Slate, whom she matched with through Canine Companions, is her second service dog, and recently they traveled from Connecticut to Wisconsin and made a connection in Chicago through O’Hare.
“There were so many other dogs in that airport that it was such a nightmare to even just get from our gate to the next gate,” she tells me, noting that multiple dogs tried to interact with, bark at, and approach Slate. While Slate is trained to maintain focus, stay put, and stay calm during flights, distractions make his job in assisting Carta harder – possibly inhibiting his ability to help her during an emergency. Carta, who uses a scooter and a walker, explains that this also puts an ample amount of unnecessary stress on Slate.
That said, it’s even more complex, because no one wants to be a person who treats someone with a disability with suspicion or doubt. How do you distinguish real service dogs from those sneaking in via the loophole without making someone feel attacked or dehumanized?
While the rules around emotional support animals have stiffened, there are many people finding loopholes in what constitutes a service dog.
Jeffrey Greenberg/Global Images Group via Getty Images
For a long time, Carta believed that educating people about how service dogs are a medical need was the answer. But the more and more time that passes, the more she’s realized that more public awareness doesn’t work if people aren’t willing to listen. And while Carta hopes for legislation, untangling the knot of service animals without doing more damage to the people who need them is tricky too, now that so many people have abused the loophole.
“I don’t no what that legislation would look like, but maybe something that dissuades people from taking away from those of us that really need service dogs,” Carta says. “It’s about recognizing that they are a medical need.”