What Is A Service Animal? New Arizona Law Clarifies The Question

PHOENIX, AZ – No more service pigs. No more service miniature horses. No more service snakes. A new Arizona makes it illegal to just throw a vest saying, "service animal" on your hamster so that you can bring it into a store that doesn't allow pets.

The law makes it illegal for a pet owner to "fraudulently misrepresent an animal as a service animal" to business owners. People who break the law could be fined $250.

Arizona joins 19 states and the federal government in having laws prohibiting people from claiming untrained pets are trained service animals.

In most cases, they make it clear that by "trained," the animal has to be able to do more than sit and lie down. (Get Phoenix Patch's daily newsletter and real-time news alerts. Or, find your local Patch here and subscribe).

The other states are California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

Before the law passed, there was somewhat contentious debate in the legislature over whether people with disabilities who need service animals will be unfairly targeted.

State Senator John Kavanagh, who introduced the bill, told Patch that his goal was not to "stop people from having service animals. I just want to make sure that a service animal does provide a service and that people who pass off a pet as a service animal can be punished

"People need to know that just because you go on the internet, buy a vest that says 'service animal' and put it on your parrot doesn't make it a service animal."

Kavanagh said that the goal was to draw the line between service animals that perform specific, necessary tasks and therapy and dogs and other animals that people just want to have around with them for emotional support and comfort.

"It's really a health issue," Kavanagh says. "People are bringing all sorts of animals into places they have no business being. Restaurants, airplanes, buses should be open to real service animals.

"But it's being abused and a line has to be drawn."

The American with Disabilities Act says that "if the dog's mere presence provides comfort," it's not enough.

The act defines a service animal as one that performs specific tasks for a person, such detecting low blood sugar or an oncoming seizure.

The definition also includes animals that have been trained to help a person suffering an anxiety attack and someone with post-traumatic stress disorder. Those animals are considered service dogs and Kavanagh is clear that he is not doing anything that would affect those animals.

"This isn't about the people who need help," Kavanagh says. "It's about the people claiming their chihuahuas – even though they're running around nipping and barking – are actually service dogs. People who say having their animal around makes them feel better.

"Those people and their pets make it hard on the people who really need them."
Kavanagh says that the ease of going on the internet and ordering a vest that says "service dog" has made the situation worse. A search on Amazon for "service dog vest" under pet supplies comes up with 6,481 results.

"Animals that are labeled service dogs but aren't can cause serious issues for real service dogs," Kavanagh says. "These animals need to focus on the job at hand.

"Animals that are merely pets will cause disturbances, get into fights with other animals."
There have been cases of people's pets with service dog vests getting into fights and biting other dogs.

It's a problem that American Humane is working on by developing a series of concrete standards that a service dog trained for issues such as PTSD must meet.

American Humane CEO Dr. Robin Ganzert says the organization "was compelled to provide help and healing, and created a nationwide model based on our development of the country's first national training standards to help ensure veterans an adequate quantity as well as quality of lifesaving service dogs."

Kavanagh says that he knows that bill won't necessarily change a lot of behavior.

Under federal law, people confronting someone with a "service dog" are only allowed to ask two questions: is your animal a service animal that's required for your disability and what task or work has your service animal been trained to do?

"I know that federal agents don't have a lot of time to run around checking if service chihuahuas really are service animals," says Kavanagh, who was a detective with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey before retiring, moving to Arizona, and getting elected to the legislature. "I think people are basically law-abiding and want to do the right thing."

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File photo via Tom Bell/AP Photo