Proposed bill would outlaw fake service dogs

BOSTON — Those in the service-dog business are up in arms over a growing trend of pet owners passing off their pups as service dogs, just to get them into places dogs are otherwise not allowed.

“It's really come to epidemic proportions, I think,” said Cathy Zemaitis.

Zemaitis works for Neads in Sterling, an organization which trains service dogs.

She says loose regulatory language in the Americans with Disabilities Act has unintentionally invited the impostors in.

“And they never in a million years thought that people would try to trip the system and get their pets into public places as service dogs,” she said.

It takes time, effort and money to take a dog from a boisterous puppy to a well-behaved, working service dog. Along with about two years of training, it costs about $42,000 for one dog.

“People don't realize that when they're slapping a fake service dog vest on their dog that what they're really doing is impersonating someone with a disability,” said Zemaitis.

Service dogs are trained to help veterans with PTSD, those with hearing loss, children on the autism spectrum and those with a physical disability. The dogs are trained to behave and navigate in a variety of situations, and can even help open doors for their owners.

Two states have outlawed faking pets as service dogs, and some want Massachusetts to be the third.  A bill on Beacon Hill would impose civil penalties, including fines, on anyone "faking" a service dog.

“People should be attached to their pets but they should also respect the rights of someone with a disability who's working with a service dog as a tool to help them with their disability,” said Zemaitis.

Learn more about what it takes to train a service dog and the role they can play in people's lives on neads.org.

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