Originally Posted by lilfarfa (Post 624090)

You are very far off based.

First, your doctor does not make your dog a service dog. Your disability does not make your dog a service dog, and a companion dog is NOT a service dog!
A companion dog can be a ESA and your doctor and your disability can make your dog an ESA, but they are NOT the same thing and do NOT come with the same legal protection.

The difference between an ESA and a SD is the DOG and their training! ESAs are NOT allowed in public places that are not pet friendly other than non pet friendly housing and on airplanes.

For a dog to be a service dog, 3 things (and ALL 3) MUST be true:

1) You must have a life limiting disability
2) Your dog MUST be individually trained to mitigate your disability. psychdog.org has a long list of example tasks.
3) Your dog must be trained to behave properly in public.

There is an important distinction here...The disabled handler has public access rights with the dog, the dog does not have public access rights. This means, if a once disabled person who used a service dog reaches a level of medical treatment so that they are no longer disabled, then they no longer have public access rights with the dog.

I LOVE my service dog! I love going out with him because without him, I couldn't go anywhere. He loves his job, and he knows its his job. He is at my side 24 hours a day, even in the bathroom. BUT as much as that is true, I would give anything to have a cure. I would gladly retire him to pet status if meant I would be cured.

I am going to appeal to you, as a disabled service dog handler, to stop spreading inaccurate information about service dogs and ESAs. There are people who, not knowing any better, may read your posts and thing their ESAs have public access rights, when in fact, they do not. I understand that you do not agree with the law, and you have every right to post that you disagree with the law, but do you do not have the right to advocate or educate towards breaking the law.