3 ms·

If you're in the US, any license you got was snake oil. There is no licensure for service or emotional support/therapy animals. There are no legal requirements

by kec 9y ago

If you're in the US, any license you got was snake oil. There is no licensure for service or emotional support/therapy animals. There are no legal requirements or standards for either in terms of training either, the only standard is that if the animal is being disruptive they can ask you to remove it, but must then provide reasonable accommodation to the disabled person in the animal's absence.

astura 9y ago
No, they didn't get "snake oil." The particular foster care facility (or government) required a dog visiting their children to be licensed by ${company} before it was allowed into the facility. The GP had their dog go through the requirements ${company} specified and ${company} gave the dog their seal of approval. It's exactly like if a company requires you to get a professional certification from, say, Oracle. It's also pretty reasonable. if they are going to let dogs around their residents that they'd want a third party making sure the dog has a temperament suitable for that and certain amount of training - the facility doesn't know how to tell if a dog would be fit for that purpose. It's like saying getting your video game rated by the ESRB is "snake oil" because "there's no legal requirements or standards for rating video games." Yet if you want to sell your video game at Walmart or Toys R Us you're going to have to get it rated by the ESRB. You're also confused about where the "reasonable accommodations" comes in.
- kec 9y ago
  The difference is that the ADA has standards which do not require licensure. You cannot legally require someone show you a service dog license. Where emotional support animals are protected by law (namely, housing and air transport) you also cannot require a license (though in those cases you can require a letter from a health professional stating the need). Requiring or claiming to provide licensure for animals outside of what the laws state and require is scummy and just confuses the issue as to what is and isn't allowed by law.
mturmon 9y ago
>> ...any license you got was snake oil. ... [In Los Angeles County, USA] This is phrased rudely, but has an element of truth. The facility (it's a county facility) wanted the therapy dog to be "licensed," and we went through the process to do some training, and got a vest, a patch, and a certificate (http://www.tdi-dog.org http://www.tdi-dog.org - I forget what the more rigorous one was). I doubt that we paid anything to TDI beyond a nominal fee, so that association of "snake oil" is off base. But like I said, and as you note, the "therapy dog" process was highly variable, and it's not like there was some kind of national standard. And I would add that we did take unfair advantage of the airline exception for therapy dogs - this was in 2000 or so, before they really came into vogue - and I was uncomfortable with doing that, although I was overruled. ;-)

by kec 9y ago

astura 9y ago

No, they didn't get "snake oil." The particular foster care facility (or government) required a dog visiting their children to be licensed by ${company} before it was allowed into the facility. The GP had their dog go through the requirements ${company} specified and ${company} gave the dog their seal of approval. It's exactly like if a company requires you to get a professional certification from, say, Oracle. It's also pretty reasonable. if they are going to let dogs around their residents that they'd want a third party making sure the dog has a temperament suitable for that and certain amount of training - the facility doesn't know how to tell if a dog would be fit for that purpose. It's like saying getting your video game rated by the ESRB is "snake oil" because "there's no legal requirements or standards for rating video games." Yet if you want to sell your video game at Walmart or Toys R Us you're going to have to get it rated by the ESRB. You're also confused about where the "reasonable accommodations" comes in.

kec 9y ago
The difference is that the ADA has standards which do not require licensure. You cannot legally require someone show you a service dog license. Where emotional support animals are protected by law (namely, housing and air transport) you also cannot require a license (though in those cases you can require a letter from a health professional stating the need). Requiring or claiming to provide licensure for animals outside of what the laws state and require is scummy and just confuses the issue as to what is and isn't allowed by law.

mturmon 9y ago

>> ...any license you got was snake oil. ... [In Los Angeles County, USA] This is phrased rudely, but has an element of truth. The facility (it's a county facility) wanted the therapy dog to be "licensed," and we went through the process to do some training, and got a vest, a patch, and a certificate (http://www.tdi-dog.org http://www.tdi-dog.org - I forget what the more rigorous one was). I doubt that we paid anything to TDI beyond a nominal fee, so that association of "snake oil" is off base. But like I said, and as you note, the "therapy dog" process was highly variable, and it's not like there was some kind of national standard. And I would add that we did take unfair advantage of the airline exception for therapy dogs - this was in 2000 or so, before they really came into vogue - and I was uncomfortable with doing that, although I was overruled. ;-)