Airline passengers might soon have to leave their emotional support animals at home.On a related note, I was very pleased to see the following sign in the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno last summer:
A new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation would permit airlines to stop accepting emotional support animals on planes, allowing only service dogs that are professionally trained to perform tasks or assist passengers with disabilities, including psychiatric disorders...
The agency’s proposed rule, which would be open for public comment for 60 days, would also allow airlines to impose additional restrictions on service animals. Such limits could include requiring passengers traveling with a service animal to arrive at the airport an hour earlier than others to verify their animal’s credentials, capping the number of service animals a single passenger can travel with and requiring a service animal be leashed and harnessed.
click to enlarge
Too many people are treating pets as accessories. When did it become OK to bring your pet into the grocery store, or a restaurant, or a casino, or a bank?
Note: that picture is hard to read even after clicking on it. The four categories in the white strip are:
Comparison, Service Dogs, Therapy Dogs, Emotional Support Dogs
The six "comparisons" are:
- ADA covered rights to bring animals into public establishments, including food establishments
- Needs to tolerate a wide variety of environments and people
- Specifically trained to assist just one person
- Primary Function to provide emotional support through companionship
- Provides support and comfort to many people
- Allowed to ride in shopping carts or sit on tables and chairs
1 comment:
The "professionally trained" part might trip them up, since that goes beyond the ADA guidelines. Can the DOT contradict the ADA?
ADA only requires that dogs (and the occasional horse--and no other animal) are trained to perform a specific function. There is no "professional" training component.
For example, I have a friend with panic attack issues. Turned out that her dog could sense them coming on in advance and his behavior would change in response. She never trained him to do that, but once she realized he was doing it, she could take action to prevent her attacks. That would qualify under the ADA even though the dog never had any kind of training, and in fact essentially trained himself. But that would not be in compliance with the proposed DOT rule.
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