Service animals such as seeing eye dogs, mobility assistance dogs or animals trained to perform any number of vital services for people with disabilities are allowed to go almost anywhere with their human handlers or companions. The federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Colorado Rights of Persons with Assistance Dogs law impose substantial penalties on business owners and government agencies that donít provide access to the people or the animals.ìA true access dog that is trained for a specific purpose can go anywhere the person can go,î said Karen Woon, spokeswoman for Guide Dogs for the Blind. ìBecause theyíre trained for that specific purpose, they have rights under the law to enjoy their business the same as anyone else. They should be welcomed and treated with the same respect as any other customer.îSince federal law overrules state and county laws in matters such as food service regulation, the ADAís law that service dogs be allowed into places like restaurants and grocery stores and onto buses and planes trumps local regulations, said Jake Koch, who graduated from the Guide Dogs for the Blind program with his seeing eye dog, Angelina. The pair have traveled throughout the country, and have not seen much difference among the states in how the law is administered. Coloradoís state law specifically prohibits counties from citing businesses if a service dog is present during an inspection. ìThe mere presence of an assistance dog in a place of public accommodation shall not be grounds for any violation of a sanitary standard, rule or regulation,î according to the law passed in 1995.ìI donít notice a significant difference state-to-state as much as organization-to-organization,î Koch said. ìAt a corporate level, management tends to have a wider experience and their people tend to be better trained. But itís not like I have noticed a difference with mom and pop stores. Some large places are clueless, too.îSuri Ridge Coffeehouse in Falcon faced a social media backlash when a local family posted on the storeís Facebook page that their daughter was asked to take her service dog outside. Suri Ridge owner Tami Donaldson told The New Falcon Herald that the incident was a misunderstanding, and that she called the county right away for clarification. However, the damage was already done, and her business sales never recovered after the social media complaints and word-of-mouth discussion of the incident. ìThe mom said she would see my business closed because of this, and sure enough she did,î Donaldson said. The family did not respond to messages for comment.The federal and state laws do not distinguish between ìseeing eye dogsî and other dogs trained for a specific purpose to help a disabled person as defined by the ADA. Guide dogs, hearing dogs, mobility dogs and other assistance dogs are all protected under the ADA.ADA service animal regulations passed under the original act in 1991 did not specifically limit service animals to dogs, which resulted in people requesting access for service pigs, cats and parrots. New regulations implemented in 2011 limited federal protection for service animals to only dogs and ñ- in rare cases ñ- miniature horses. Service animal monkeys used for helping people with spinal cord injuries are currently not protected at the federal level, according to Helping Hands Monkey Helpers, which trains primates to help the paralyzed.Some people try to abuse the law through fraudulent service dogs. ìPersonal testimonies from many of our clients demonstrate that fraudulent service dogs pose a variety of challenges for people with disabilities who travel with properly trained service dogs,î Woon said. ìIt can erode the positive image of a formally trained service dog in the eyes of business owners and the public.îBusiness owners do not like questioning a suspicious service dog owner because of a possible lawsuit or backlash. They can still protect themselves and their customers by asking two specific questions of the individual representing their dog as a service dog, Koch said. ìThe two questions that an owner can ask that are within their rights are íIs this a service dog, and what service does it provide?íî Koch said. ìThis allows them to find out if the dog is specifically trained to provide a service, but itís also designed to protect the privacy of the individual.îTwelve states have laws prohibiting a person from misrepresenting a pet as a service animal, according to Assistance Dog Internationalís ìGuide to Assistance Dog Laws.î Coloradoís law does not address fraudulent service dogs.ìPeople work very hard to help their mobility skills by working with a guide dog, and to be denied those rights for reasons that are unfair can be disheartening,î Woon said.
