- By CATHERINE MCLAUGHLIN, THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
Former LCpl. Aaron Anderson and his service dog, Arvin. (Catherine McLaughlin/The Laconia Daily Sun photo)
Former LCpl. Aaron Anderson rarely runs into issues taking his service dog, a 2-year-old German shepherd named Arvin, with him everywhere. But he keeps a folder full of screenshots on his phone — of text from the Americans with Disabilities Act, of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, of state law, and of websites of national service animal organizations — just in case.
When he is challenged about Arvin, whose service duties require him to be off-leash, Anderson, who lives in Farmington, uses the screenshots to try to educate those questioning him. But such interactions can be intense: Anderson acknowledges that he is fiercely protective of his family, which includes his dogs, and receiving pushback on legal protections he keeps memorized can be a trigger for his anxiety.
The ADA defines service dogs as those trained to perform specific tasks related to a person's disability. This is different from emotional support dogs and other animals, which provide general comfort simply through their presence and are not protected under the ADA.
Service dogs can be trained for an array of tasks to assist people with many types of disabilities. They may guide someone with sight or hearing impairment, grab objects for those with limited mobility, alert people with epilepsy to an oncoming seizure and keep them safe during one, screen food and other products for someone with severe allergies and warn someone with diabetes that their blood sugar is low, to name a few. Many of the disabilities that service dogs support, including Anderson's, are invisible, and those handlers are often most likely to face discrimination or be pressured about their protections.
While attending a class about emotional self-regulation at the Manchester VA Medical Center last week, several staff members confronted Anderson, telling him that the building's policy required service dogs to be leashed. Anderson, a U.S. Marine Corps. veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is disabled by post traumatic stress disorder and has anxiety and depression. Among other things, Arvin is trained to enter rooms ahead of him to ensure safe entry. Anderson refused to leash his dog, citing both federal law and the national VA website. When he left his class an hour later, a VA police officer was waiting for him.
The officer was understanding and respectful, Anderson said. But confrontations with other employees, even after he had leashed Arvin as a placating effort, triggered a panic attack.
The experience "was the straw that broke the camel's back," Anderson said. "I just broke down."
"Why is this happening to me now? Why is this happening to me here?" he recalled thinking during the encounter. "I'm at the VA with a service dog. They're supposed to be the most understanding people, right?"
While Anderson said he is confident the facility will take necessary steps to make it right, realizing he could face pushback and discriminatory policies anywhere, even as a disabled veteran at the VA, compelled him to speak out broadly for better public awareness about service dogs.
Service dogs are permitted in any public space their handlers are: they may enter a restaurant, for example, but not its kitchen. They are not required to wear any kind of identification such as tags or vests, though many handlers opt to use them, and they are not required to get any specific certification or training — there is no national standard licensure or registry of service dogs.
Though refusing to accommodate a service dog violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, and often relevant state laws as well, it is common for handlers and their animals to be met with hostility. David Tatel, senior judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., who is blind and uses a guide dog, was refused service and berated by a Lyft driver, the Washington Post reported late last week. Lyft and Uber both settled lawsuits six years ago, agreeing to stop working with drivers who refuse to accommodate service dogs, though that agreement has since expired, the Post reported.
Federal law limits the questions business owners and employees are allowed to ask a person accompanied by a service dog. They may ask if the dog is a service animal required because of a disability, and they may ask what work the dog has been trained to perform. They may not ask for details about the owner's disability, for the dog to perform its service tasks or for documentation of service dog training.
Even if such a request were allowed, "there is no Federal registry nor a government-issued certificate or card proving that the animal is a service animal," Louise R. McBride, research and information specialist for the Governor's Commission on Disability, wrote in an article for the New Hampshire Municipal Association. "A service dog, remember, is defined by its training." McBride was not available for an interview.
Even if a handler presents documentation, "there are organizations that sell service animal certification or registration documents online. These documents do not convey any rights under the ADA, and the U.S. Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that a dog is a service animal," notes the New Hampshire Secretary of State's office in advice to business owners.
Not having a required certification or training helps increase access to service dogs, said Brendan Madden, chair and founder of the New Hampshire Coalition for the Support of Service Dogs. NHCSSD, in addition to advocacy and educational efforts, helps support service dogs and their handlers throughout the animal's life, including through financial support for veterinary services.
Many owners opt to train their service dogs themselves, both in general obedience and for their service-specific tasks. "There are dogs that are certified with paperwork, but it's very costly," Madden said. Because of the costs, and often also the wait times, for both professional training and certification programs, many owners opt to owner-train, including Anderson.
Anderson adopted Arvin through 1 Soldier 1 Dog 1 Team, an organization that aims to provide veterans with service dogs on a shorter timeline than other organizations. Anderson, whose family bred and trained German shepherds during his childhood, opted to owner-train. Once he felt Arvin was ready, Anderson had him evaluated for three obedience certifications: the American Kennel Club's Urban Canine Good Citizen, Community Canine Good Citizen and Canine Good Citizen, and registered him with a national service dog organization. Such paperwork is not required, Anderson emphasized: "It's more about perception."
Anderson dons Arvin in a camouflage service dog vest as well as a tag identifying him to make his status clear. He acknowledged that many businesses face attempts from people trying to bring in pets, which can put staff on the defensive.
It is illegal in New Hampshire to misrepresent an animal as a service animal. But it is also illegal to interfere with the work of a service animal, and Anderson stressed the importance of businesses and other public-facing employees knowing the law and how it limits them.
At the Manchester VA, for example, a facility policy requiring service dogs to be "on a short leash" violates federal law, Anderson claimed, citing Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act — one of the screenshots he keeps in his phone. The VA's national website, he continued, only requires that a service dog be "under the control of its owner or another handler at all times."
Anderson was referred by Manchester VA staff and the facility's website to speak with Jacqui Dion, VIST coordinator and service dog champion. VIST is the visual impairment services team. He said he had been unable to reach her as of Wednesday.
