Dogs in Los Angeles
Keeping A “No Kill” Status: The challenges L.A. Department of Animal Services face in maintaining its save rate for dogs
By Josh DuBose
December 5, 2019
LOS ANGELES – In a glass paned visitation room, at the East Valley Animal Shelter, volunteer Jason Davila sits on the floor with five small, mixed breed dogs. Kahlua, a light brown Chihuahua mix that’s been at the shelter for eight months, is between his legs alternately shivering and playfully nipping at two of his roommates, Toby and Princess, both of whom want similar access to their visitor’s lap. Nearby, Milo and Bacon cuddle on a somewhat ragged yellow blanket in preparation for what looks like the start of a hard earned nap.
A photo of each dog, their names, approximate age, health information and date of arrival at the shelter are on individual notecards taped to the window, along with a bold, red stamp across the front that reads “ready for adoption!”
“I sit in here probably twice a shift if I can,” says Davila, who’s been volunteering at the shelter for about six months. “It always gets people’s attention and I can wave them in here so these guys can get adopted.”
In 2017, the city achieved its “no kill” objective with dogs for the first time since setting the goal in 2012, saving and adopting out more than 92 percent of pets or strays in the care of the Department of Animal Services. The target for “no kill,” according to LAAS’s website, is a 90 percent save and adoption rate for animals that are healthy or have treatable conditions.
With nearly two years of success, the commitment to maintaining the “no kill” status still comes with significant challenges for the city department. Some dogs will have to be euthanized, it costs money to keep dogs healthy and adoptable during lengthy stays and public perception about rescuing shelter animals, says at least one department official, needs to change.
The department’s most recent Woof Stat Report shows the city’s six shelters have taken in nearly 19,000 dogs this year. So far, 1,182 of them have been euthanized. 
“Many of the dogs that come in are so sick or injured they have to be euthanized to relieve their immediate suffering,” says Melissa Webber, assistant general manager at LAAS since April last year. “The next at-risk group is dangerous dogs.”
In each situation, there is a procedure and a paper trail. In medical cases, veterinarians document health reasons that lead to euthanasia. Dogs that are humanely “put down” out of safety concerns first receive a hearing attended by department heads and shelter management to determine what, if any other, course of action might be considered.
“There is an approval process every step of the way for dangerous dogs, because we want to avoid [a death] outcome if at all possible,” says Webber. “Unfortunately, those options are limited and you have to make euthanasia decisions for safety, at times.”
While the vast majority of dogs in the city’s care don’t face that fate, housing so many them is a perpetual and expensive undertaking. To meet these demands, animal services depends on a large network of volunteers and nonprofit partner organizations to provide many of the most important aspects of keeping their canine charges healthy and adoptable.
“As we hold onto the dogs longer and we’re looking for more live outcomes, you have to do a lot of programming to meet those goals,” says Annette Ramirez, the director of operations overseeing lifesaving for LAAS. “Of course, medical has to be on top of their health care, but we need volunteers for things like exercise, mental stimulation, affection and enrichment. Back in the day, when animals weren’t being saved, they didn’t have to worry about keeping a dog enriched during a six month stay.”
Out of their nearly $25 million budget for 2019, the department allocated $10 million for shelter operations and animal care, which covers costs for an estimated 60,000 animals the city serves annually. For community engagement and partnerships, programs like foster care services, adoption fares and public awareness campaigns, the budget is a relatively humble $1.97 million.
Sustaining the “no kill” benchmark for dogs, says Webber, means implementing and launching new programs, which takes more staff and resources. Funding is always an issue, she says, but adds that she appreciates the attention city leaders bring to the department’s rescue and adoption initiatives, especially the efforts of LAAS’s General Manager Brenda Barnette.
“Right now, whether or not people rescue one of our shelter animals or buy the [dog] breed du jour depends on their circle of friends,” said Barnette, who came on in 2010 when the save rate was only 57 percent. “We’re trying to change that narrative so that adopting a dog in need, and not a golden-doodle puppy or something like that, is the better choice to make. We’ve made progress, but there’s still a lot more to do.”
To Soothe and Assist: Developing handler and therapy-dog teams for animal-assisted activities and visits
By Josh DuBose
November 7, 2019
LOS ANGELES – At the Special Olympics Central Division fall games, in South Gate Park, athletes of all ages, family members and guardians crowded into the Pet Partners tent. They wanted to get some downtime with one of three therapy dogs: Bourbon, a 7–year–old pit bull, Daphne, an aging golden retriever, and Sarge, a 4–year–old Irish Wolfhound weighing in at 153 pounds.
One athlete, a member of the Long Beach volleyball delegation, came to a quick stop when she noticed the pit bull stretched out in a patch of morning sunlight along the edge of the tent. Concerned, she looked to her mother. Jocelyn Higa, the dog’s handler, immediately picked up on the hesitation and started petting Bourbon. In Spanish, the girl’s mother asked Higa if the dog was friendly.
“Yes, yes, clearly,” Higa responded in Spanish. “Sit down next to her. She loves to be pet!”
As if she knew exactly how to put them at ease, Bourbon rolled onto her back as the mother and daughter knelt down and extended a few timid pets before smiles spread across their faces. When they left, the daughter said her goodbye to the pit bull therapy dog with a gentle hug.
“These are my favorite kinds of events to do,” says Higa, who’s been volunteering for the last two years. “There’s lots of people talking and laughing, asking questions about the dogs, talking about their dogs or pets they used to have, and everyone leaves this kind of thing feeling good.”
Unlike service-animals trained to perform tasks specifically related to a person’s disability, therapy dogs are generally only trained in basic obedience and have a sociable, non-aggressive disposition. While there are no laws regulating therapy animals, an organization like Pet Partners, established in the ’70s, has developed strict guidelines that handlers and their pets must meet before the nonprofit will register them as a therapy-animal team and allow participation in sponsored events.
At a recent evaluation for therapy-animal hopefuls in Canyon Lake, Tedd Rosenfeld, a program manager for the nonprofit’s Southern California chapter, scored dogs’ reactions and behavior in scenarios created to simulate situations at sites like hospitals, retirement communities, schools or other locations that handlers and their pet are likely to visit.
“There are three scores,” Rosenfeld explained. “Dogs either fail and are allowed to test again in a year, receive a ‘predictable’ rating, meaning they’re fine in some settings, but not others or they get a ‘complex’ score. ‘Complex’ means the dog is reliable in any type of location we send therapy dogs to.”
The most important thing is disposition, says Rosenfeld. If a dog has ever shown aggression to people or other animals, it’s automatically disqualified. Most of the pets that apply, but fail to become therapy dogs lack basic obedience training or are “just too young and rowdy and can’t keep all four paws on the ground.” For that reason, Pet Partners only considers and registers therapy dogs that are more than a year old.
Rosenfeld added that handler and therapy-dog teams must be reevaluated every two years.
Before potential volunteers can even get to the evaluation stage, though, they must attend a weekend long handler’s workshop. Shellie Yaseen, a veteran handler of 20 years, teaches many of the workshops in the Southern California region. Handlers, she says, learn things like patient privacy regulations and infection control for hospital visits, along with best practices in different situations.
“You don’t want handlers going into a cancer patient’s room and saying things like, ‘How are you feeling today?’ or leaving and saying, ‘Get well soon,'” Yaseen says. “You have to learn how to stay neutral and keep the focus on the dog. What I’m talking a lot about in workshops is handler-awareness and sensitivity to the people they’re interacting with.”
Robin Cayetano, Daphne’s handler at the Special Olympic Games, has been volunteering with Pet Partners for more than five years, primarily at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. Only handlers and therapy-dog teams with a “complex” score are allowed to visit health care facilities and Pet Partners pairs them with a more experienced handler for the first several visits.
“That was important,” says Cayetano. “You need someone who’s done it to show you around because you don’t really know, or I didn’t, what you’re getting into in a hospital. Now, I’m comfortable and the staff all know me and Daphne.”
Higa, on the other hand, prefers not to visit places like hospitals, hospices or nursing homes. She says that her therapy dog is fine in those settings, but she personally finds the visits too emotional, even after they’re over. Instead, she tends to focus on other types of events, like stress-reduction visits to universities or local businesses, as well as educational events at schools or other sites.
At Club 21, a reading and education program in Pasadena for kids with Down syndrome, Victoria Rocha, president of the San Gabriel Valley New Gen Rotary Club, helps organize the day’s schedule and recruit volunteer readers.
“While the kids are being read to, their parents are in classrooms learning about support resources available to families with Down syndrome children,” says Rocha. “Having the therapy dogs here always makes it better. The kids just sit around petting the dogs, listening to stories like ‘Giggle, Giggle Quack’ and aren’t too worried about their parents not being right here.”
Pet Partners operates 191 therapy pet programs with 963 registered therapy animals, most of which are dogs, in Southern California. Even with that many therapy animals, according to Rosenfeld, there’s more demand than they can meet.
“We have to develop more experienced evaluators, especially in Los Angeles,” he says. “There’s 500 dogs on the waitlist for evaluation, but there’s only 34 evaluators in the area. It’s just going to take time because volunteers have to be trained correctly. That’s the most important thing.”
Bark and Hold: How the L.A.P.D. Metro K-9 Unit develops, deploys and manages a squad of highly trained canine officers
By Josh DuBose
October 21, 2019
LOS ANGELES – Headquartered in a low slung, heavily armored metal building near central Los Angeles, LAPD’s Metro Division is made up of seven specialized platoons that, unlike other LAPD divisions, respond to police matters anywhere in the city. These are units like tactical support, SWAT and the department’s working-dog platoon, Metro K-9.
Chief trainer, Sgt. Mike Goosby, a 29-year veteran of the force, is responsible for managing, training and deploying 24 police dogs and 18 officer handlers.
“We’re the only department on the force that has a single purpose: dogs,” Goosby says. “They assist officers in manhunts, perimeter containment and weapons searches. A lot of departments are patrol officers with a dog in the backseat…We’re 100 percent canine all the time.”
Of the 24 working canines, 18 are tactical search dogs trained to track potentially armed suspects. The remaining six are gun dogs, specifically trained to detect the scent of chemicals in smokeless powder, black powder, gun oil, gunmetal, ammunition and other weapons-related substances.
With a nearly $12,500 price tag per dog and a high-failure rate in the first 12 months, Metro K-9 competes with other law enforcement agencies around the country to find the best police dogs and has developed effective training strategies to maintain the longevity of it’s canine force.
The unit’s approach to canine-assisted policing also has to manage the inherent risks of working with dogs.
Based in Riverside County, California, Adlerhorst International has been in the business of training and selling police dogs since the mid-’70s. It’s one of the largest suppliers in the world and where LAPD Metro K-9 gets their dogs. Second generation dog-trainer and co-owner of the family-run company, David Reaver, says there’s always been a need for police dogs, but competition for genetically strong dogs, primarily sporting dogs bred in Europe, spiked in the ’90s.
“Around ’96, [law enforcement] departments got big on detection dogs,” says Reaver, “dogs trained to detect explosives, narcotics, arson-trained dogs and cadaver-detection dogs.”
When he first started working with the K-9 unit, Goosby says the dogs that arrived at Metro were typically three to five years old. Since police dogs have gotten more popular, though, the average age of new canine recruits is 16 to 18 months because breeders and trainers are pushing the dogs out earlier to keep up with demand.
Around 2006, Metro K-9 attempted to establish its own department-funded breeding program as a way to meet the unit’s needs for working canines and avoid competing with other law enforcement agencies.
“It was a fiasco,” Goosby says of the program. “The intention was right. The vision was there, but you spend all that time raising them, coddling them, and then you find out they’re not going to work out, which none of them did. Keep in mind, we have a 50 percent washout rate with straight up police dogs we go out test and select. Add a puppy program to that and it’s a recipe for disaster.”
For police canines that fail the training program or suffer serious health issues in the first year, Metro K-9 can return the dog to Adlerhorst for a credit toward the unit’s next selection. Goosby attributes the high failure rate of new police dogs to a number of factors. All the unit’s dogs work off-leash. Officer-handlers correct their canine partners with remote controlled e-collars that allow them to match the animal’s level of intensity. The collar is dialed up when handlers need their dog to obey at the height of a tense situation, such as calling them off a captured or cornered suspect. While some dogs do really well with that kind of sensory control, a lot are unable to deal with the physical compulsion.
Another issue is simply the difficulty of maintaining focus in high-pressure situations.
“I might have to take a dog down a dark, dirty alley with ten pit bulls hitting the fence on either side of us,” says Goosby. “The dog still has to go through the gauntlet and find the bad guy. Most dogs just can’t handle that.”
The breed of police dogs Metro K-9 employs are Dutch Shepherds and Belgian Malinois, medium size canines, 65 – 70 pounds. A benefit of these particular breeds is their physical build. With straight, flat backs and evenly distributed hind legs, both breeds have fewer musculoskeletal issues as they age and can continue to work with officers, in some cases, for as long as a decade.
What’s more important for handlers, though, is the enthusiasm for this kind of work that Dutch Shepherds and Belgian Malinois consistently display.
“The biggest thing is their drive level. It’s through the roof and we need dogs with really high drive levels. They have to be able to stay in a high-state for the whole eight– to 10-hour shift,” Goosby says.
Every dog that trainers from Metro K-9 select already has a certain amount of training and competition experience, some even hold championship titles in the European sporting-world of Schutzhund or some variation. Schutzhund, German for “protection dog,” is a sport where canines compete in areas of tracking, obedience and guarding skills.
Rookie canine-recruits spend three to six months in training with Goosby, his team and their assigned handler before they’re put in the field. As the dogs develop their skills, Metro K-9 instructors are often working on extinction-training as well.
“In Europe, some of the Schutzhund dogs are trained to come off a ‘bark and hold’ or a bite and then move behind the person and walk them back to the handler. That’s fine for the sport world, but in the real world, if I have a 70-pound Malinois at your back, barking and hollering, you’re not going to walk back very calmly to me, which will cause the dog to bite again. We want that training all the way out of the dog,” Goosby says.
The unit has two levels of certifications for dogs. Limited certification means that a dog has proven its ability to search for unarmed suspects in drills and is then allowed to do some work in the field. Once a dog consistently holds up in a real-world environment, Goosby and his team crank up the intensity, testing to see if the dog can work while exposed to tear-gas, a fusillade of gunfire and other high-level distractions.
Fully certified police dogs are cleared to search for armed, felony suspects, as well as assist in SWAT deployments. Metro K-9 also tests and recertifies each dog every month.
To maintain the squad’s skills and drive, one hour at the beginning of each officer’s shift is spent running their canine-partner through training runs. The continued reinforcement is so the dogs stay exercised and focused, even on shifts where they might not ever leave the car for work.
In 2019, Metro K-9 has performed 175 searches and found 127 of those suspects, putting the unit’s “find ratio” at 72.6 percent. The “bite ratio,” which is calculated on what percentage of suspects found were bitten by the dogs, hovers around 25 percent, according to Goosby.
“Our dogs are primarily ‘bark and hold,'” he says. “They are trained to bite on command because we need that tool in the toolbox, but we have to mitigate risk and public perception. Nobody wants to turn on the TV and see a dog jumping in a car and mauling a suspect.”
The presence of police dogs, Goosby agrees, can be intimidating to members of the public, but he says they are never used for that purpose. He does, however, acknowledge that working with dogs has inherent problems.
“LAPD has around 10,000 officers. We train them and put guns on their hips. They can reason, learn from their own experiences and can make decisions accordingly. And they still make mistakes. Dogs can’t do any of that. They are a risk, period, and we always have to be aware of that,” he says.
Once a suspect has been located, the dog’s job is essentially done. Metro K-9 does not send their dogs into a location to bring a suspect out. They are either pulled back to maintain a perimeter or returned to the police vehicle not just to protect the dog, but also for the safety of the person being taken into custody.
Because police dogs are a risk, says Goosby, it’s always the goal to get them out of a situation once they’ve accomplished their task.
Each Metro K-9 officer takes their assigned dog home at the end of the workday, housing them, feeding them and watching out for any healthcare needs they might have. Though there are challenges in being a handler, Goosby says, there are more rewards.
For Officer Joe Dunster, who previously worked at Metro K-9, the best thing about doing police work with dogs is that you can see all the work and effort that’s gone into training. When the dog does well, it’s a reflection of the officer’s commitment and diligence, though the reverse is also true, he adds. When the dog screws up, your boss isn’t blaming the dog. They’re looking at you.
On Goosby’s desk, a framed photo of a Dutch Shepherd named Thunder, his first canine-partner, sits in the corner.
“He was probably, honestly, one of the best dogs in this unit. His nose was phenomenal,” Goosby says, pointing to the photo. “He died of cancer and when he did, it just crushed me. It broke my heart. I keep a distance with them now. I’ve just had to learn that these dogs are tools and they help us get home at the end of every shift.”
Emotional Support Animals: Form, function and fraud in the process of getting ESA documentation
By Josh DuBose
October 1, 2019
LOS ANGELES – Emotional support animals, usually dogs or cats, but sometimes the odd rodent or the more exotic peacock, have been in the news for the last several years and not necessarily for “feel good,” Instagram-like moments. Airlines, which are required by the Air Carrier Service Act to accommodate ESA’s, have received much of the media attention because they’ve been on the front lines of transporting these kinds of untrained assistance animals along with their human passengers.
“Customers have attempted to fly with comfort turkeys, possums known as sugar gliders, snakes, spiders and more,” according to a 2018 Delta Airlines statement that added the company “has seen an 84 percent increase in animal incidents,” including growling, biting and attacks on passengers, since 2016.
There is evidence, according to a study conducted at the University of California, Davis, that more people are using their pets as emotional support animals, and at least one mental health professional, Dr. Cynthia Chandler, a professor of counseling at the University of North Texas, says the number of ESAs in public has reached epidemic proportions.
“We’ll keep hearing stories about people getting bit by comfort dogs” until the laws related to writing ESA letters for people are changed, says Chandler.
Only licensed mental health clinicians or prescribing physicians are legally allowed to provide letters that document a patient’s potential need for an ESA. Along with air travel, ESA owners have some rights under the Fair Housing Act. Federal legislation requires ESA letters to state that a person is under the care a qualified provider, that the person has a diagnosed disorder and that the their ESA can lessen symptoms associated with the disorder.
The presence of so many emotional support pets not just on flights, but in previously off-limit spaces, like grocery stores, restaurants, libraries, movie theaters and others, has prompted some mental health professionals to doubt the science behind ESAs, question the ethics of fellow therapists and worry about public safety issues related to untrained or aggressive support animals.
Ariel Landrum, a Los Angeles and San Diego County-based family and marriage therapist who’s handled more ESA requests since the devastating 2018 California wildfires says she follows a strict procedure before providing this type of documentation for people.
“For me, it starts with the patient. They come in and I do my assessment, a series of questions for safety and mental health approved by the American Psychological Association. Depending on their score, I ask additional questions to see if there are other symptoms related to severe depression or panic disorder or something like PTSD.”
For patients who suffer from a mental health disorder, Landrum says she refers them to a psychiatrist for medication management. Sometimes, though, her patients don’t want to utilize medications or they already have medications, but are in need of additional forms of treatment. That’s when she’ll consider recommending an emotional support animal.
“If they already have a pet, I can prescribe the ESA,” which allows a person to keep their animal in pet-restricted housing, as well as travel on airplanes with it, says Landrum. “If they don’t, we talk about them maybe going to experience being around animals and if they find that they’re gravitating towards a specific dog or they’re feeling comforted by animals in general, we’ll explore the idea of an ESA over time.”
Not all mental health professionals, however, see the process of writing an ESA letter as clear cut.
In an article published in the journal Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Dr. Jeffery Younggren, a clinical and forensic psychologist, suggests there’s a lack of scientific evidence that ESA’s help regulate the symptoms of their owner’s mental health disorder.
“While some believe a companion animal may produce more positive outcomes, little empirical data exists to support the conclusion that ESAs are effective in mitigating psychological disorders and related problems, and empirical research that does exist is inconsistent, sparse and emerging,” he writes.
Younggren, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story, adds that he believes it’s problematic for mental health professionals to write “letters of support for their patient’s need for an ESA” when there is a scarcity of explicit scientific evidence.
For her part, Dr. Chandler, who authored the book “Animal Assisted Therapy in Counseling,” now in its third edition, is calling attention to potential ethical issues for therapists writing ESA letters. She says too many practitioners are willing to provide documentation to patients who simply want their pet to be an ESA, but don’t legitimately need it. Other therapists, she says, are meeting people one time and writing ESA letters for them.
“Technically, you see somebody once and they’re under your care. That’s the legality of it, but you’re not fulfilling the ethical duty of care if the only reason you see somebody is to give them documentation for an ESA,” says Chandler.
This is also why she believes that websites offering ESA letters are such a big problem.
An internet search on the phrase “emotional support animal” will yield at least a half-dozen online vendors claiming to provide official certification or registration designating a person’s pet an emotional support animal.
Interested pet owners need only fill out a short assessment, maybe speak to one of the vendor’s licensed therapists online or on the phone and pay a fee of around $100. Customers are then able to download a letter or certificate that “registers” their pet as an ESA or wait for their documentation to arrive in the mail.
“There’s no such thing as an ESA certification,” says Dr. Chandler. “Federal legislation clearly states that an ESA does not have to be registered, certified, trained or evaluated. Those are fraudulent websites that just take people’s money, give them a meaningless document and try to sell them some [ESA branded pet] apparel that’s also worthless.”
Express Certify, one of the highest-ranking sites in a Google search for “ESA,” boasts more than 300 certified therapists and “same day ESA letters.” US Support Animals, another online vendor, has “The Official US Service Animal & Support Animal (ESA) Registry” blazoned across its homepage. A third site, esaregistration.org claims to be “The Official ESA Registration of America.” No one from any of the three sites responded to multiple interview requests.
On the surface, these sites appear to be operating within the law because they use licensed therapists who, according to Chandler, are likely paid for each assessment they review and approve. Where she believes they cross the line into fraud is the “under the provider’s care” stipulation in federal law, as well as using diagnosis assessments that have little or no validity.
Having consulted on a pending lawsuit brought by an airline that’s suing one of these online vendors, Chandler says she’s learned that multiple websites are owned by one individual and thinks that’s doubtless the case with others. She also said that these companies are probably using state mailing lists to recruit certified therapists.
“It’s a huge money-making franchise right now,” says Chandler. “I’m really disappointed in the hundreds and hundreds of therapists thinking, ‘Oh, well, what’s the harm?’ They’re getting paid for it, but they’re not thinking about the long-term impact of increased number of ESA’s and the public safety issue.”
One suggestion Chandler has for lessening the public safety impact of untrained ESAs is that pets should be evaluated for temperament and basic training before a person can decide its their ESA. The problem with that, however, is most therapists are totally unqualified to make that assessment.
Unless new laws are passed that regulate therapists and online ESA vendors, Chandler expects the number of these animals in public places will continue to grow and, as a result, she says, “You and I and everybody else are at risk of getting bit.”
Dogs in Public Spaces: A problem for service animals and their disabled handlers
By Josh DuBose
August 28, 2019
LOS ANGELES – Across the city, it’s become increasingly common to see dogs of all different sizes and breeds happily, or sometimes not, tagging along with their owners to grocery stores, to movie theaters, inside restaurants, on mass transit, at the doctor’s office (the kind for humans), and in any number of other unexpected, not necessarily dog-friendly spaces.
In some instances, these are actual service animals, which are allowed anywhere under state and federal law, but there’s also a growing number of people with emotional support dogs, a type of assistance animal that doesn’t share the same rights and privileges in public spaces that don’t allow dogs.
“I’m definitely seeing more ESA dogs out in the world,” says Dr. Karen Ni, a certified dog trainer and an occupational therapist that specializes in animal assisted therapy. She added that most of the ones she sees in stores and restaurants are not trained well or at all.
The misunderstandings around different types of assistance animals, and the legal rights their handlers have, has some worried that the confusion is negatively impacting people with disabilities who use service animals as a tool to navigate public spaces.
“Lacking professional, centralized guidance for assistance dogs in the U.S. [and] the widespread lack of knowledge people have about assistance dogs creates problems for everyone involved,” is how a study at the University of California, Davis, which noted an increase in the number of registered emotional support animals in the last several years, put the issue.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service animal is any dog trained to perform a specific task related to a person’s disability. This ranges from seeing eye dogs for the blind to dogs trained to detect low blood sugar or an oncoming epileptic seizure. Psychiatric dogs, which are trained to perform a task related to a person’s mental or psychiatric disability, are also considered service dogs under the law.
Emotional support animals, however, are something else.
People with an ESA are supposed to have a diagnosed mental health condition that is eased or improved by the presence of their support animal. There is no stipulation, however, that these animals be trained to perform a specific task or, in fact, be trained at all.
A physician’s or therapist’s note, sometimes referred to as a “prescription,” can designate a person’s dog, cat, hamster, snake, or virtually any other species of pet, an emotional support animal for one year.
While ESA’s can be a significant help to their owners, the ADA does not afford them the same civil rights as people with service animals.
ESA’s are covered under the Air Carrier Service Act and the Fair Housing Act, but airlines and landlords are only required to make reasonable accommodations. In both cases, a person with an emotional support animal can be denied access if they provide documentation that’s more than a year old or in cases where it’s believed the animal poses a safety threat.
By law, hotels have to provide access to customers with a service animal at no charge. That’s not the case with emotional support animals. If a hotel does allow for an ESA, the company is free to include a service fee for the animal.
One challenge for businesses with no-pet policies is that it’s not necessarily easy to distinguish between a service animal, an ESA or just a person toting Fido around on their daily errands.
Service animal handlers are not required to provide any documentation or identification for their dog. There are also no restrictions on the size, weight or breed of service dogs. So, any leashed dog sprawled beneath a restaurant table, being cradled in the checkout line at the library or roaming the aisles of a grocery store with its owner is potentially a service animal.
Businesses, government agencies and non-profits are limited by state and federal law on how to establish whether a person’s dog is a service animal or not.
Legally, these entities can only two questions: is that a service animal and what is it trained to do? They cannot ask for a demonstration of the task the dog is trained for or request any documentation or proof of licensing. In fact, businesses run the risk of lawsuits and significant fines if they ask additional questions or refuse a handler and their dog access to a location if it turns out to be a legitimate service animal.
“The only time I’ll say something to a customer with a dog is if another customer complains. But normally I don’t say anything even though I know it’s usually just their pet and not a service animal,” says Jamie Smith, a manager at Stage 71, the Whole Foods Market bar and restaurant in Burbank.
The grocery chain’s pet policy, posted near the entrance of the store, states that only service animals are allowed on the premises. Smith knew the two questions Whole Foods Market staff is legally allowed to ask pet owners, but said she’d prefer if someone higher in management did the questioning instead of her.
“The presence of untrained and often behaviorally challenged dogs in the environments in which we travel is increasingly problematic. It can put us and our dogs in bad situations,” says Penny Reeder, president of the advocacy group Guide Dog User, Inc. 
Reeder acknowledges that it can be difficult to tell whether a dog is a service animal or not, but says it’s obvious that a lot of employees and even members of law enforcement aren’t educated on the laws that differentiate ESA’s and service animals, which can be dangerous for both the handler and their service animal.
“Sometimes dogs are attacked and sometimes it’s just so distracting for our dogs that they can’t travel safely with us,” she says. Reeder added that service animals are not trained to defend themselves or their handlers and can be traumatized or injured so badly in an attack they’re no longer able to work as a service animal. Losing an able-bodied serviced animal creates mobility challenges for a disabled handler and it can be financially devastating.
Another issue is the ease in which any dog owner can get online, sites like Chewy.com and Amazon.com, and purchase harnesses, vests, collars or leashes emblazoned with phrases like “service animal,” “service animal in training,” “therapy dog” or “ESA K-9” that appear somewhat official on the surface.
In California, making false claims that a companion pet or an ESA is a service animal is a misdemeanor. The violation can come with six months in prison, up to a $1,000 fine or both, but the law is rarely enforced. Businesses tend to ask customers with a troublesome dog to leave or, if a dog is behaving, simply look the other way.
Whether a person trying to pass their ESA or pet off as a real service animal gets caught or not, says Dr. Ni, there are other unintended consequences. Service dog handlers, especially those whose disabilities are not outwardly obvious are more likely to face discrimination from businesses that have had problems with fraudulent service animals or untrained dogs on their property.
California based Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit organization that raises and trains service animals for those with disabilities, performs an annual survey of handlers who have received one of their service-dog graduates.
In 2018, CCI found that 87 percent of their graduates “encountered a fraudulent or uncontrolled service dog in public where pets are not allowed,” 66 percent had a dog growl, bite or interfere with their service animal, and 1 in 5 felt that their “quality of life or independence had been moderately or severely impacted by fraudulent service dogs.”
Reeder’s organization is focused on potential updates to the Air Carrier Service Act that the Department of Transportation has proposed. These include changes like requiring ESA’s be in carriers at all times, limiting the size of ESA’s and requiring ESA handlers to confirm that their dogs have been trained to behave in public.
“They’re supposed to come out with new rules in November,” says Reeder. “I hope they do, but this administration doesn’t seem too interested in regulations.”
Greater public awareness, says Wallis Brozman, a national marketing assistant at CCI, is ultimately the best tool organizations and advocates have because punitive legislation rarely has any enforced follow through.
“We have to show the impact that untrained emotional support and pet dogs have on the independence and safety of people with disabilities who rely on task-trained service dogs for greater social mobility,” he says.
From Pups in the Park at Dodger Stadium to doggy-friendly bars or the miles of hiking trails in city parks, there’s no shortage of activities or public spaces for dog owners in Los Angeles. Advocates for disabled people that depend on service animals, like Dr. Ni, encourage people to take advantage of these opportunities, but then leave their dog at home when going to public spaces that, by law, only allow service animals.