I hope he wins!

[ILGHAUS]

Cheryl Hanna, Pet Rescue Examiner
December 28, 2011

Quote:
This morning during a federal court hearing, the judge granted a preliminary injunction ordering Snickers, the service dog to be returned to his family.
City of Aurelia ordered to return disabled man's service dog - National Pet Rescue | Examiner.com

Remember this is temporary and if James Sak can not prove to the court's satisfaction that Snickers is a SD then he will not be exempted from the breed ban under the ADA.


Preliminary Injunction:
A temporary order made by a court at the request of one party that prevents the other party from pursuing a particular course of conduct until the conclusion of a trial on the merits.
Preliminary Injunction legal definition of Preliminary Injunction. Preliminary Injunction synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.

[AbbyK9]

I have been following this case with interest as well.

I think most of it will hinge on whether the handler is able to prove that the dog has been trained to do specific tasks to help him with his disability. If he can explain *and* demonstrate some of the tasks in court, that would be fantastic. If he can show training logs and where he's worked with various trainers, even better.

I think he's seriously hurting his case by having it made public in his interviews that the dog is "certified" with the National Service Animal Registry. I don't see any good coming from that ... except possibly more awareness of these junk registries and that they're best avoided and should probably be put out of business.

[Chicagocanine]

I know people who have legitimate service dogs and have bought an ID card or "certification" online so just because he has one of those does not automatically mean the dog is not really a service dog. Some people also do not know, even SD handlers, that these registries are not legit.

Is there a requirement of more than one task? My understanding is the ADA does not specify a certain amount of tasks a service dog must perform to be considered one. So wouldn't they have to just demonstrate one of the tasks the dog does?

This article says the dog was trained to assist him:

For two years Sak worked with Aileen Eviota, a physical therapist with the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago, to improve his functional capabilities and live more independently through the use of a service dog. “Snickers has been individually trained to assist James with tasks which mitigate his disability, including walking, balance, and retrieving items around the house,” said Eviota in a letter to the Aurelia Town Council dated December 2, 2011.

Link: Town Council in Iowa Forces Disabled Veteran & Retired Police Officer to Relinquish Service Dog : RushPRNews - Newswire & Global Press Release Distribution

[AbbyK9]

I know people who have legitimate service dogs and have bought an ID card or "certification" online so just because he has one of those does not automatically mean the dog is not really a service dog.

Yes, I am aware that people with legitimate Service Dogs often use these organizations that produce ID tags for the dogs to "register" their dogs or to have "official-appearing" ID for their dogs. Sadly, many do it because it is easier for them to "prove" their dog is a Service Dog when they can show an official-looking ID tag when challenged by the overzealous mall cop than it is trying to explain to others that certification is not required. But ... there are also TONS of people that get these IDs who just want to bring Fido wherever they go.

Is there a requirement of more than one task? My understanding is the ADA does not specify a certain amount of tasks a service dog must perform to be considered one. So wouldn't they have to just demonstrate one of the tasks the dog does?

The specific wording in the ADA is "tasks" in the plural. It does not specify how many tasks the dog must be trained to perform, but it does specify that these must be demonstrable, trained tasks. I believe it's through existing case law (prior court cases) that the recommended minimum number of tasks is often cited as being "three or more".

What the physical therapist wrote in the letter is pretty much what the ADA requires. That the dog has been individually trained tasks that mitigate the person's disability, and gives some examples of tasks (brace/balance work and fetching items).

[Chicagocanine]

Originally Posted by AbbyK9

Yes, I am aware that people with legitimate Service Dogs often use these organizations that produce ID tags for the dogs to "register" their dogs or to have "official-appearing" ID for their dogs. Sadly, many do it because it is easier for them to "prove" their dog is a Service Dog when they can show an official-looking ID tag when challenged by the overzealous mall cop than it is trying to explain to others that certification is not required. But ... there are also TONS of people that get these IDs who just want to bring Fido wherever they go.

That's true, and unfortunately the websites for a lot of those seem to be geared towards the pet owners who just want to bring their pet everywhere...
I also know people who will show their dog's "legit" ID card (such as with a dog trained by a school) if they are challenged for access. I know that some people don't like this because it makes people think that they can ask for ID or that real SDs will have an ID card like this and if someone doesn't have them they might try to deny them access. So I can see where that can be a problem too... For example my BIL has an ID card from the guide dog school and it also has the relevant ADA section on the back.