Quote Originally Posted by Dr.Goodnow
Again I will reiterate,
No animal here is required to wear vest, collar Id tag, or identification of its Service, it is ENCOURAGED that the owners do so and if owner trained to have it certified, as traveling with a Service animal is easier and less time consuming. It is NOT necessary.

There are several bills being looked into to change and tighten up the law a bit, and maybe they will pass, maybe not.

Point is Nicole is correct and gave a few other websites I would have also given. After nearly 16 years in training and working with several types of Service animals, I must say I couldn't have explained it better myself.

Point of the original OP was that the dog was discriminated against the breed. That may be true but Wal-mart was still within their legal rights, the transaction was allowed to conclude.

The owner of the animal; we will presume was aware of responsibilities as a Service dog user. I say presume as she seems aware, if a bit misinformed of her "legal rights". None of which were infringed upon , unless there is a law that cutting a shopping trip short is now illegal.

On that note she could have also removed the animal shopped until she dropped and no harm done. She chose to try to make it about the breed and the breed only, and that is simple grandstanding.

Just my thoughts ,
kym

Dr Goodnow, you live in the outer portion of the universe...lol...Unfortunately most of us have to live in the inner portion. But I agree with the US. not having to dress their dogs in some states. Where we are from, we are asked to have proper ID and certification for our SD's. The reason things are getting so strict is because of impersonations of SD's. We don"t have to have a full vest in the heat of summer but the tag is mandatory in our city. I don't really know why the woman was pushing the issue of her service dog, maybe it was to grandstand. Most people fear pitts and Wal-mart would be responsible for any accident, but it seems the matter was settled without too much trouble. This is the whole point of ID and certification, no one can argue with you. Around here we have no access problems because of stricter laws I guess. I was just sent a link from a breeder about people being able to purchase service dog equipment on the internet, I wish I would have saved it.
How reputable is that of a company to offer something like this? I consider it totally innapropriate. You get your tag and vest from your training facility when you graduate.