I’m sitting at a café enjoying a good book and great tea. I get to an interesting part in my book, when an old lady walks through the door with a growling dog in tow. I see that it has a service dog vest and shrug. But as the old lady walks further into the room the dog jumps on a booth and snatches some random person’s meal and gobbles it up. The person complains to the manager, and he hurries over to the lady─who is already sitting at a booth that is labeled ‘reserved’, tapping her foot impatiently.

The manager informs her that dogs are not allowed, but the old lady scorns him saying, “If you have a problem with my service dog, I will have to sue you. So go get me the morning meal, and some coffee, please!” As the manager hurries off, her dog starts to bark at whoever walks by in the café. She coos to the dog, and tells him, “Food is almost here, Precious, a little longer.”

The manager walks to the lady and delivers her food.

She says, “Where is my coffee,” and the manager hurries off.

While the manager is gone, the lady feeds her dog some bacon. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I left. With a few more customers behind me.

Now I sit in a peaceful Church diner, with my friend and her service dog, who is politely tucked beneath the table and silent, because he knows he is not supposed to eat on duty. She gets up to go get her food at the buffet table, and the service dog looks at her. She says, “It’s okay. I’ll be right back,” and he tucks his head back to the ground.

When we get ready to leave, an old lady walks by and says, “Wow! That’s a good dog. I didn’t even know he was here!” See the difference? Fake service dogs cause stress, loss of money, and disturbance.

Service dogs are extremely expensive, they can get to an average of about 17,000 dollars. It makes sense people would go online and register their own dog for free.

¹I went online to see why so many people would register their beloved, “Precious”, and get him to be a service dog for free. And people can do this, although their dog is not trained. Emotional Support Animals (or ESAs) do not require training, which is not acceptable to the people sitting next to them in a plane.

Training Faith shares similar thoughts, when she states, “Fake service dogs create real problems. The ones that are impacted the most are the true service dog handlers who rely on their dogs every day to help mitigate their disability.” In other words Training Faith believes fake service dogs only cause more problems for themselves and people around them. I agree with her, that people with disabilities who love their dear dogs, need to get an actual trained service dog or bring their own dog somewhere to be trained. Simply said: no fake dogs--no more waste of money, cause of disturbance, stress. Would you like me to continue?

Adam Edelman of NBC News states, “Twenty-one states in recent months have mounted a major crackdown on fake service or support animals.” In other words, Edelman’s research shows that fake service dog handlers are hurting themselves and the people around them, and this needs to stop.

Will you wait until fake service and/or support animals are the primary service animals? Will you let people be sued for the right to speak? Or will you assess the minor─becoming major─ problem of fake fake service animals? Now is the time to act. To stop fake service animal users, and to take down websites that encourage this to happen. All service animals must be trained and REAL, no piece of laminated paper can change that.