maybe wrong answer but if dog does not misbehave and change public pereception of service dogs this behavior may be 'dog-love' driven rather than human-selfish scam.
Quote:So..my estranged brother in law, who lives in ( ) has a
Chihuahua. This dog hasn't had any vaccinations to speak of and he has managed to get the vocational rehab with ( ) county to certify it as a service dog. He says it barks for him when the phone rings.
Anyway...his actual goal was to get it certified so he wouldn't have to pay a pet deposit on an apartment and could take it on the bus. He also plans on taking it on a train and did not want to have to pay, so he figured if it were certified, he could take the train back to ( ) with a free dog pass.
My question is, how can I bring this to the attention of those who fell for this and certified this dog? I always thought there were tests an animal had to go through to be certified, but in this case they didn't. it was taken on word and application, and this is a government agency.
First there is not such a thing as an Emotional Service Dog. There are *Emotional Support Animals/Dogs* and *Service Dogs*.First...we live in California......
...
Three weeks later the daughter came by and told me that it was an "Emotional Service Dog". But didn't provide me with anything verifying this.
.....
They have now provided a "prescription" from a nurse at our local clinic....dated for after they were told they couldn't move in with a large dog.
.....
Any suggestions?
Establishing that the support animal is necessary in order to use and enjoy the residence is critical. Courts have consistently held that a tenant requesting an emotional support animal as a reasonable accommodation must demonstrate a relationship between his or her ability to function and the companionship of the animal.
The author of this article speaks of other groups not knowing what a SD is or a ESA(D) but they themself "are incorrect." A psychiatric service dog is in fact a service dog and not the same thing as an ESD. The DOJ states that a dog must be trained a task to be a SD. The ADA/DOJ do not address emotional support animals but the new clarification does state that giving comfort is not a task.Many sources say ESAs are not "service animals (3), unless they have been task-trained, for instance like seeing eye dogs" but these sources are incorrect. Psychiatric service animals perform specific tasks for the benefit of individuals with psychiatric, cognitive, or mental disabilities. The federal Department of Justice (4) lists some examples of tasks done by psychiatric service animals: reminding their handlers to take medication, providing safety checks or room searches, turning on lights for persons with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, interrupting self-mutilation by persons with dissociative identity disorders, keeping disoriented individuals from danger, detecting the onset of psychiatric episodes, and ameliorating their effects.
Really? (I'm not being snarky. I'm asking because I haven't looked it up myself). I thought it was simply the treating mental health professional. Does it HAVE to be a "doctor"?The doctor must write a letter or prescription supporting her request as the first step. A nurse can not write such a letter. It also can not be just any doctor but one who has treated her for her mental illness.
28 States Considering Expanding Duties of Nurse Practitioners - California HealthlineWednesday, April 14, 2010
Twenty-eight states are considering expanding nurse practitioners' duties to help offset the nation’s shortage of primary care physicians, the AP/Baltimore Sun reports. NPs are nurses with advanced degrees.
Currently, laws regulating the scope of responsibilities for NPs vary significantly by state. For example, some states require physicians to manage NPs, while Montana allows NPs to practice without a supervising physician. Most states allow NPs with a doctorate in nursing practice to use the title "doctor."
In Florida, lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow NPs to prescribe controlled substances.
Primary Care Treating More Serious Mental Illness ? Psychiatric NewsA comparison of two nationally representative household surveys that screened for mental disorders 10 years apart found that the use of only general practitioners when seeking mental health treatment was the fastest growing and most popular approach among the survey respondents. The study, published in the July American Journal of Psychiatry, found that respondents treated by only a general physician for any mental illness grew from 2.6 percent in a previous survey to 6.5 percent in the most recent study.
The researchers attributed that finding to the increasing role of general physicians as insurance plan “gatekeepers,” increased access to mental health screening tools, the growing popularity and safety of psychotropic medications, and the increasing use of psychotherapies by general practitioners.
One of the study authors, Harold Pincus, M.D., vice chair of strategic initiatives in the Department of Psychiatry at columbia University, said the most troubling finding was that patients with serious disorders expanded their exclusive use of general practitioners to treat their mental illness.
The increased utilization of mental health care among those with moderate mental illness—such as mild to moderate depression—bodes well for the health of the population, said the authors, because research has found that, overall, psychotherapy and medication have equivalent effectiveness. However, the increased reliance on general physicians for mental health care is more worrisome among patients with more serious illnesses in light of the increasing evidence that such illnesses respond best to combined psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, which general practitioners are unlikely to provide.
I think I addressed most of your concerns in my last post.I do just want to state for someone reading this and not knowling me from my posts that I am not against emotional support animals. I am just answering questions from the property owner's side (well in this case a manager for the property owner).
If the daughter claiming the dog as an emotional support dog posted here asking for advice I would in turn post what in my opinion she should do. For her I would say, don't discuss this issue anymore but put all requests in writing. I would also tell her to get a letter from her doctor or other health care provider who has been treating her for her mental illness. If at that point the daughter said she was not being treated for a mental illness then there would no reason for her to continue. If she was being treated but her doctor did not believe that an animal would be the proper form of treatment for her and would not give her documentation stating that she had a need for the dog then again no reason to continue.
But for both sides I would advise that they know which law if any is appropriate for this situation, that they know what an emotional support animal is and the qualifications that are needed, and that they seek professional legal advice, from someone with experience in this field as not all attorneys are knowledgeable on this, over anything they read from any site on the Internet.
I know you're not being snarky - not your style. And, a very good question with a lot of facts behind it.Really? (I'm not being snarky. I'm asking because I haven't looked it up myself). I thought it was simply the treating mental health professional. Does it HAVE to be a "doctor"?