Quote Originally Posted by mike001
WOOLFSOUL--I don't make the laws , I just obey them. I know your feelings of frustration about comfort dogs not being recognized but for now, that' s the way it is.
A true service dog must be able to prove that it can do mitigating tasks for the person using it.
A dog that brings comfort, licks tears, brings love is not acknowledged as a SD by the department of Justice which enforces ADA. These are essentially known as Emotional Support dogs and are not granted access priviledges, not to say that you cannot use your dog in your home or outside if you want. Unfortunately, people don't always understand the difference and put a cape on the dog and call it a service dog. This is what is interfering with access rights.
If you do need a SD the cost is not prohibitive as you will be covered for the cost of the training and receive the dog for whatever you can donate by many organizations. We have in our town a young girl with cerebral palsy who just received a dog from an organization free of charge. So the excuse of cost is not a worry to you if you need a dog. BUT, you do need to be assessed and found to be in that need.
Witht he things you keep posting it is very obvious that in your mind you do make the laws. I am soooo glad I live in Canada and not this weird world you keep posting about. PSD's do provide physical tasks that mitigate a persons disability and it is not just licking th eTears away as you say. Here are just a few of a long list of tasks these dogs do: Wake-up handler, Remind to take medication, Help to find keys or telephone, Assist with daily routines in the home, Alert to incipient manic episode, Lead handler to a safe place, Brace or lean against the handler. Those are just a few of the many listed. The cuddle and kiss and so forth are very important but are not usually the trained public tasks to allow for public access. Those are just some of the tasks used to help center and ground a person or to help refocus. All of these tasks plus many many others make it so a PSD is a Service Dog and not an Emotional Support Dog. PLease get it right.

As for getting a dog from a facility, THANK GOD we live in a free country where we have a right to get one from a facility, use a trainer or train one ourselves if we have the knowledge. I know I was not wanting to wait the 5yrs and raise 8,000 in donations to get a facility trained dog. Not when I have the help of a trainer and the knowledge of dog training that I have to do it myself.
Nicole