Americans love their pets. More specifically, they love their dogs. Sorry cat lovers. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, dog ownership tops cat ownership by a wide margin, with other animals distantly trailing both. Dogs provide us with companionship, and can fill gaping emotional voids and love those who need it most. Schools, hospitals, institutions and workplaces often invite therapy dogs to bring comfort and smiles to the environment. Over the past few decades, people have started to bring their dogs to many more public places than just the dog park. Restaurants, stores and markets are typically inviting places for dogs to visit with their owners. But what about those who might not be so comfortable in sharing these spaces with other people’s dogs? Whose rights triumph?
The Americans with Disabilities Act safeguards citizens with a disability who use a service animal from business and state/local government discrimination. Any business or nonprofit entity open to the public must also allow service animals in their spaces. The Air Carrier Access Act requires airlines to allow service animals on U.S. flights. Access is much more limited, at least on paper, to other non-service pets. Emotional support animals and therapy dogs are not afforded the same level of legal entitlement that service dogs have.
Town and Country Magazine recently published an article discussing the complications of bringing animals, specifically dogs, on plane rides. The article’s author describes the dilemma flight attendants face in ensuring that passengers are genuinely accompanied by a trained service animal. Although the U.S. Department of Transportation passed a rule restricting free flights to trained service animals only (other animals are allowed to travel in a carrier if the owner purchases a ticket), the fear of cancel culture dominates as attendants hesitate to question owners about the validity of their dog as a service animal.
The ADA prevents people from asking owners for proof of documentation that a dog is registered and licensed as a service animal. Therein lies a loophole for anyone to fill out an airline form attesting that their pet is a service animal, hop on a plane with a dog that is not guaranteed to be properly trained and potentially expose passengers to disruptive behavior that can be annoying, or worse, threatening. For example, a man who brought a full-sized Great Dane on a plane last year sparked an online debate as people doubted the dog’s status as a service dog. Some users appeared to be fine with the dog’s presence, but many others deemed it disrespectful and ironically “emotionally distressing,” especially when considering potential passengers with dog trauma.
Delta Airline’s website features a service animal request form from the department of transportation. This form asks owners to identify the assumed service animal, confirm that it is up to date with vaccines, has been trained to perform a task to assist with a disability and that the animal can behave in a public setting. Besides asking the owner to provide a name and number for the animal’s training provider, there is little more to the form than what was just outlined. Lying on one of these forms is a federal crime and carries significant fines, but one must wonder if the possibility of facing such a penalty actually deters fraud, especially when there are very few ways to verify whether a dog is trained as a service animal without documentation.
The current vetting process airlines use to distinguish service animals from other types of pets cannot be trusted. The increased abuse and manipulation of rights afforded to service animal owners exposes passengers and crew members to tense flights and possible safety and health concerns, but it also minimizes the importance of allowing passengers with disabilities to be accompanied by service animals thoroughly trained to respond directly to their individual medical needs. Without clear enforcement guidelines, airlines will likely tighten their rules to make the application process all the more difficult for owners of trained and licensed service animals.
This article originally appeared as a column for the Cleveland Jewish News.