Text Description of Fake Service Dogs Video
Breaking the law to take your pets places where other pets can't go.


Dozens of local folks "fake" owning a service dog and as Liza Vander found that's hurting people with real disabilities.

[4 Paws for Ability training class]. These parents of children with various disabilities are just about to complete an intense two-week long training boot camp
learning to work with their new service dogs. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act


These service dogs are allowed to accompany their disabled owner in restaurants and schools even go onto an airplane without an additional fee.

[Karen Shirk, CEO 4 Paws for Ability] You know, we have a right to bring our service dogs in public.


But the public has a right to not have our service dogs interfere with them while they're in public as well.


So the dogs have to have impeccable manners.


But there's a problem due to lax government regulations. A lot of  people fake owning a service dog.


Well, I've heard that people want to fake having a service dog so that they can take their dog anywhere they want to.


There are numerous websites out there where you can buy a service dog vest and ID for just a couple of bucks


And you don't even need to show proof that your dog went through any kind of training at all. 


In fact I even registered my dog with one of these sites


with just a few clicks of a mouse.


It's like faking a disability by being in a wheel chair. Like, you don't do it.

People are disabled, they can't help it. Like if they need to have a dog, don't fake that you have to have it.

[Karen Shirk, 4 Paws CEO] We were stuck on a bus with a fake service dog that was growling the entire time we were on the bus.
I was terrified.


In reality there are no specific requirements for service dog licensing. certification or training.


Service dogs don't actually have to wear a special leash or vest either.


The ADA also makes it unlawful to require proof of a disability

All rules that were supposed to protect people with disabilities but many times it doesn't.


Shirk says that because there are so many untrained fake service dogs walking around, 

some business owners tend to give the real ones [service dog teams] a hard time making basic tasks like shopping more difficult for a service dog owner with an actual disability.

Liza Vander, Fox 45 News.

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