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People faking pets as service animals

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You see them at the airport and on planes; animals wearing official-looking vests that do not behave like trained service animals. The President of the Association of Flight Attendants International, Sara Nelson, said these animals post a safety risk if there is an emergency during a flight.

"We've gotten reports of animals on board, anything from a pig to a rooster to a goose," said Nelson. "Those animals have gotten loose. They have been racing all over the cabin."

People who want to bring their pets on planes without paying can easily buy letters and vests online. A news producer filled out an online survey and paid $149 and got a letter allowing him to travel with an emotional support animal from licensed therapist, Carla Black. The letter states the producer, "is my patient and I am currently treating him for a mental and emotional disability." However, Black never talked to him in person or on the telephone. We also bought a service animal vest online for $49.

"Faking service dogs is one of the worst things anybody can do, " said Karen Shirk, director of 4 Paws for Ability, a nationally recognized training school in Xenia. There, we learned that a real service dog is trained to do a job. Dogs are selected for certain qualities after birth and train for one full year.

"A service dog has to actually be task-trained to mitigate disability," said Karen Shirk, who founded the school 18 years ago. "We're not taking them into the public because we want to be cool or because our dog will be sad if we leave them at home. We're taking them in public because we need them in order to access the community."

Jesse Burns, age 6, got his service dog recently from Karen's school. Squirt, a Lab-Golden Retriever mix, is trained to help Jesse become more independent. He will open doors for him and pick up things that he drops. But, the dog is also trained for another important job.

"He's already alerted us to three seizures, once each say," said Jesse's mother, Elizabeth Burns of Beavercreek. Burns admits that people faking a service dog are making it more difficult to take Jesse and Squirt out in public places. She said restaurant and store owners are becoming suspicious.

"They were questioning us and here was a dog that was really trained and they were giving us a horrible time and I'm like, 'he's in a wheelchair, give us a little bit of the benefit of the doubt here that we're not faking it,'" said Burns.

Under the Americans With Disabilities Act, you can only ask two questions about a service animal; is the recipient disabled and does the animal perform a behavior related to the disability? The flight attendants union is asking for clear rules that allow passengers who need the animals to have them, while keeping untrained animals off flights.

"We have concern about passengers who have the ability to claim that these are emotional support or service animals," said Nelson. "Anyone who isn't playing by the rules should be held accountable."

Last month, a U.S. Department of Transportation committee votes to end talks with the union about service animals, but said it is working to write new rules. Several states are cracking down. Florida passed a law in 2015 that allows only dogs and miniature horses to serve as service animals. Violators face a $500 fine and up to sixty days in jail.

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