Florida lawmakers working on bill to limit support of emotional support animals.
 

bill in florida house to limit use of emotional support dogs. - Bing

What is your view on this subject. Please don't get political.

I think the emotional support dog use needs more stringent approval/recognition.

Just like the approval for use of handicap placards and golf accommodation sleeves is very abused, emotional support animal use is abused as well.

For almost all older dog owners they are emotional support. Should they all be allowed into restaurants and other food stores?

I have no problem with a service dog going where it needs to. But too many are claiming "emotional support animal" just to take a pet with them.

Those who are claiming support status for their favorite pet , without valid reasons are actually thieves. They steal the respect for actual support animals and are creating a backlash that will end up hurting the use and access of "real" support animals.

Saw two chihuahuas coming out of a Villages' movie theater a few weeks ago. They looked to be claimed as support pooches. I do not know more of the story though. On leashes, of course, with a couple who did look they were moving kind of slow.

If the dogs have been very well trained and are good around other people and dogs I do not see what is the big problem.

And even with a law there are going to be those who think that the law does not apply to them.

NO!!!

No!

Agreed and keep their smelly emotional support butts off the chairs and tables that people have to sit on and eat on too. So rude and unsanitary.

An "emotional support" animal is not considered a service animal in the legal sense, and therefore owners of emotional support animals do not enjoy ANY of the additional rights of owners of service animals. They are considered, legally, equal to pets. If a store says no pets, then that means no emotional support animals either.

There is nothing stopping any establishment from ordering someone with an "emotional support animal" to bring that animal outside. They are not a protected class. And so I don't think any new restrictions need to be made or enforced. Business owners need to enforce the rules that already exist. If their policy is "service animals only" then they need to tell folks with "emotional support animals" that they - but not their animal - is welcome into the store. Period.

The law needs to be reworked to require actual proof that a dog is a trained service dog (not emotional support animal). There are too many ways to get around the law right now, because there is no one "certification" process nationally imposed. I believe the groups who train service dogs to help the disabled ought to have to obtain certificates of proof that could not be duplicated easily. These certificates could then be required to be shown when service dogs are entering establishments or traveling by plane or train. It would not break the ADA law, because the dog owner would not be required to state his disability. But that needs to be written into the current law.



The other thing that is needed is more education for the business owners on what constitutes a service dog, what doesn't, and what their responsibilities are under the law. I know some business owners around TV, including a certain large part of TV, who are just plain afraid to confront an owner, and so they go overboard the other way in allowing dogs that they don't have to.


Some airlines have banned emotional support animals from flying. Others are requiring proof of training. They are obviously knowledgeable about the law.

State law can't be changed to require proof of certification, because the federal law expressly forbids it.

This is from the ADA's website. ADA 2010 Revised Requirements: Service Animals Bold/underlined mine, for emphasis:

I wasn't talking about state law; I was talking about federal law, and specifically the part that states businesses are not allowed to ask for documentation of a dog's training. I believe this is a mistake and is leading to fraud on the part of pet owners.

I wish places would enforce this more. Service dogs, yes. Emotional support dogs, no

Ah. I agree then. The thread started as an inquiry about Florida state law, and Antone wanting to introduce a bill that allows restrictions on emotional support animals (at least I think that's what it was, I don't EVER use Bing and would never click on a bing search result link). I google searched the wording in the OP's title and came up with only one article on the first page that was recent, and about the topic of Florida emotional support animal laws.

I feel that there needs to be some kind of tag, that would come with a HUGE penalty if used fraudulently. Worn on the collar of the animal.

I feel the state laws need to enforce the "4 on the floor" restrictions - if it's in a stroller, baby carriage or doggy-buggy, or in the arms of its owner, then it is not "on duty" and is therefore a pet, not a therapy/support/whatever animal at that time.

The leash needs to NOT be retractable - no exceptions. I don't care if it's in the locked position. An ACTUAL therapy/service/support animal would not be on duty, with one of those leashes, and the owner would be trained to never use them.

The animal should not be allowed more than a certain distance from its owner, in public, period.

The owner should not permit anyone to touch their service animal when it's on duty, except in emergencies (like if the dog got injured and needed to be carried to the hospital).

If any of these things are not happening, then it is clearly NOT on duty, regardless of what the owner claims. If it's not on duty, then it is acting as a pet. And should be treated as such by the establishment.