Alabama Rules for Having Your Service Animal in Public

Under the ADA, a public accommodation can't ask you questions about your disability or demand to see certification or other proof of your animal's training or status. If what your service animal does isn't apparent, the establishment can ask you only two questions:

• Is the animal a service animal?
• What tasks does it perform for you?

Both Alabama law and the ADA prohibit public accommodations from charging a special admission fee or requiring you to pay any other extra cost to have your service animal with you. But you'll likely have to pay for any damage your animal causes.

Under the ADA, your service animal can be excluded from a public place if it poses a direct threat to health and safety. For example, if your dog is aggressively barking and snapping at other customers, the facility can kick the dog out. Your animal can also be excluded if it's not housebroken or it's out of control (and you can't or won't take steps to control it).

Alabama is among the states where falsely claiming your pet is a service animal is a crime (a class C misdemeanor). Learn more about the growing problem of service animal fraud