[Mr. Grampi II]

I have a brother with multiple sclerosis and he has a service dog that he received from an accredited agency- "Paws with a Cause" in Michigan, her name is Cookie . She was trained to help my brother remove his coat. There are pull straps in my brothers home and Cookie open doors, pick up the phone, opens the dryer and takes out clothes and drops them in the laundry basket. When my brother is alone and falls, she is trained to crawl under him and help him up. Without her, he can not maintain the basics functions of life and more importantly keep his dignity.

Cookie is like any other black lab, she is rambunctious and the "life of the party" until she puts on her service vest and then goes to work. It is like kryptonite to her normal personality, she is at attention, almost like a soldier. When she is in "work" mode there is no way you would see her as a regular dog. She goes into restaurants she is pretty much invisible and better behaved than some adults and children.

There is a big easily, recognizable difference between accredited service dogs and self styled, self appointed "comfort dogs", the Yorkie on someones lap because it is comforting to them.

You do not need "money" to accredit a regular dog as a service dog, the internet is full of places that will sell you a vest , tags, paperwork etc.

Here is were I get flamed.... I do not think the self styled comfort dogs belongs inside restaurants, bars, stores, etc.

To me this is no different than the able bodied person driving grandmothers car to the store and parking in a handicapped spot because grandmother (who is not in the car) has a handicapped tag. The real handicapped person that comes along may be denied a parking spot.

I love, love, love to play golf and I find some comfort holding a golf club in my hand. I do not bring it to bed at night.

I think we need a way to identify and weed out those folks trying to beat the system with self styled comfort dogs. We need to reserve these privileges for those the ADA intended them for and truly in need.

BTW: We have dogs and cats and love animals and spend lot of money to take care of them.

Let the flames begin.....