We need to put an end to fake service dogs

I work in a restaurant in Rochester, and today I had a “service dog” come in with its owner. I inquired if the dog was a service dog, and was told yes and then shown a vest the dog was wearing. At this point I assumed it was. After a short time, I noticed the dog was not acting like a service animal. Normally a service dog is much better behaved than this one. Once I brought the party’s food out, I noticed the dog was trying to get at the food. This was not a service animal, as I have been around them a bit over the years. They proceeded to feed the dog using our silverware and off one of our plates. Like I said, not a service dog.

Unfortunately, some pet owners are causing problems for legitimate service animals by passing their pets off as service animals. Even more unfortunately there are no penalties for the pet owners doing this and there should be.

I decided to go online to find out what the laws were regarding this. Imagine my surprise when all these websites popped up saying they would certify anyone’s pet as a service animal so they could take them anywhere they wanted to go. This is just wrong on so many levels. It’s time for our state to pass laws stopping this practice, the sooner the better.

This story was originally published December 18, 2017 at 5:33 PM with the headline "We need to put an end to fake service dogs."