“Service Dog” mistreatment at Kidani Villas

[CBMom01]

I'm not here to discuss what someone should and shouldn't do with respects to their service dog. I cannot make that determination nor could one legally discriminate against someone with a service animal unless it falls under ADA rules.

FWIW service animals go to zoos all the time, the presence of other animals itself does not prohibit a person from having access to a place. You probably have a zoo near you, you may want to check out the rules. For mine (which yes has the animals you listed) states you just need to stop by Guest Relations for further instructions about service animals. Barking inside a room is unlikely to even disturb animals on AK's property. I'm not sure where you're going with a presumed overriding of training as you have no idea what any particular presumed service dog is trained for.

FWIW you do not need to professionally train your service animal per ADA rules and people can and do train their own.

FWIW what you suggest about a pet friendly location violates ADA laws. You cannot relegate a person with a service animal to a specified room or area.

Your opinion may be that AKL is not the most appropriate location for a service animal but legally you cannot deny a person access nor a room if they have a service animal.

I was under the impression that most people here on this thread have the going assumption this dog was likely not a service animal and thus comments were more along the lines of this. But I did personally think Disney should have done better in the event this was a service animal there could have been real issues should the owner have been inside.

In any case respectfully your comments show another example of issues with people's assumptions regarding service animals.

These are all very good points.

Also, people outsude the door talking to the dog and getting its attention (and passing things under the door I think!) probably made thing worse. Who knows if the dog would have settled down if left alone.

 

[Nursemanit]

What happed to “safety checks” of our room? Seems like WDW can enter for no reason or is that only when we are showering?

 

[SteveMouse]

Persistent barking when an individual is incapacitated due to a fall or chemical imbalance is a perfect example of a service that an animal might be trained to perform. Disney should probably have conducted a wellness check (and cataloging the barking as a service the dog was trained to perform and including that in the guest record is probably legal and would increase the service the hotel would provide at no real cost).

My guess is that the dog was either an emotional support animal or ”just” a pet, neither of which are required to have any training (as opposed to a service animal, which requires specialized training).

The animal actually disturbing other guests (not guests being scared of a dog)- keeping a guest awake or limiting guests’ ability to use amenities would likely be sufficient for intervention. The challenge would be how to intervene legally and efficiently. Would animal control be called to intervene? Would the guest and animal be told to leave property?

 

[Mikey15]

911 has no jurisdiction at Disneyworld? On a side note then, who do we call if we having an emergency at WDW?

There’s many places (most?) where the barking dog would fall under animal control or bylaw jurisdiction rather than police / emergency services.
That being said, that’s also why the suggestions that the dog could be alerting to a health emergency with the owner would carry more weight.

 

[chuff88]

No one is supposed to interact with service animals but the handler.

And, while they should be trained not to bark, barking alone is not a sign of “distress”

A dog screeching to the point that it could be mistaken for a human child is absolutely a sign of distress.

 

[chuff88]

Had the owner been with the dog in the room I would have thought it was trying to alert someone (as service animals depending on the disability are trained to do) but this really doesn't seem the case and it does sound like the dog was in high distress for a completely different reason.

I do wish Disney had not taken a less than empathetic point of view. I agree with another poster it may be that the employees collectively threw up their hands and didn't want to field any more complaints on it, although I feel checking on the room and if no answer at the door attempting to contact the person who the reservation was under could have been done. If nothing else than a barking dog is a noise complaint made by multiple people. I'm a bit perplexed on that one as we know people can and do get into trouble with Disney for their behaviors. That this was a dog shouldn't have changed background attempts to rectify the complaints.

While I agree in theory that they should have done some kind of check, I would echo a previous poster mentioning that staff explicitly cannot interact with service animals. And had they opened the door to try to determine what was going on and the dog had escaped they would have been liable for anything that happened to the dog. I genuinely think that the staff's hands were tied. Now, I do think that they could have explained this better in response to the complaints, but I can also see how it would become exhausting to field complaints about this for hours and not be able to do anything about it.

ETA: I think someone up thread (maybe the OP) also mentioned that the front desk had reached the guest(s) and they were not in the room. I would assume in that call they also told them that the dog was barking and the guest(s) simply didn't do anything about it. I hope that they were asked (told) to leave when they returned.

 

[Matty B13]

If one of the occupants of the room had a service animal...... should it not have been with the owner, and not in the room???? First sign of an animal not being a true service animal.

 

[RoseGold]

I would assume in that call they also told them that the dog was barking and the guest(s) simply didn't do anything about it. I hope that they were asked (told) to leave when they returned.

They had a lot of power over, for example, charging for damages. This would be a situation I can totally see that.

 

[Simba's Mom]

We were at AK and i asked someone their dog freaked out with the different animals or sudden flight of birds. She said no, not at all. The dog did seem perfectly calm.

Ironically, Animal Kingdom was the one theme park where we saw the service dog along with the man he was "servicing", specifically at the"Feathered Friends in Flight" Show. The dog was very calm.

 

[chuff88]

Ironically, Animal Kingdom was the one theme park where we saw the service dog along with the man he was "servicing", specifically at the"Feathered Friends in Flight" Show. The dog was very calm.

By their very nature, properly trained service dogs should be able to behave and perform their service in any kind of environment, even ones where there are an abundance of other animals. I haven't seen a lot of service dogs at Disney, but I was waiting to go into the Tiki Room at Disneyland once and there was a family there with a service dog that was very calm. The person the dog was assisting was sitting on a bench and the dog just calmly laid down under the bench and remained alert but calm.

 

[ParkHoppers]

As in 99% of dog incidents I blame the dog owner. If you need the dog for support why is it left in the room.

 

[CarolynFH]

ETA: I think someone up thread (maybe the OP) also mentioned that the front desk had reached the guest(s) and they were not in the room. I would assume in that call they also told them that the dog was barking and the guest(s) simply didn't do anything about it. I hope that they were asked (told) to leave when they returned.

I hope so too. @Chelle's Belles I've read this entire thread but over the three pages I've forgotten - do you have any followup for the next day or next night? Do you know whether those guests were still there the next night?

 

[jo-jo]

i saw someone with a personal wheelchair and their sort of large dog next to them. The dog was wearing a necklace of glow lights. I went by the owner to say the dog looked cool, and the dog stood up and growled at me .

is that normal for a service animal?

 

[_auroraborealis_]

i saw someone with a personal wheelchair and their sort of large dog next to them. The dog was wearing a necklace of glow lights. I went by the owner to say the dog looked cool, and the dog stood up and growled at me .

is that normal for a service animal?

No.

 

[upritbass]

i saw someone with a personal wheelchair and their sort of large dog next to them. The dog was wearing a necklace of glow lights. I went by the owner to say the dog looked cool, and the dog stood up and growled at me .

is that normal for a service animal?

Define ‘normal.’ Did you invade the owner’s personal space without permission? What was that service dog’s task? What happened after the service animal growled?

 

[jo-jo]

Define ‘normal.’ Did you invade the owner’s personal space without permission? What was that service dog’s task? What happened after the service animal growled?

Define personal space. I spoke with the person, just like someone waiting in line. Was I inches from her face ? No.

she turn to the dog and said stop that.

She has a group of people around her. We were waiting for Toy Story ride, the accessible area.

 

[Donna M]

If I had a dog next door barking for hours I would ask for a room change. I can´t stand barking dogs. A service dog should be with the owner; why else would they have one?

 

[Anthony1971]

I would have walked to the front desk. I have always found the front desk to be far more responsive than the call center. While I have no idea what they can do as I don’t know the rules but at least a resort employee could have heard what OP did.
I am no expert on service animals but I have seen them sit perfectly still on NYC subways surrounded by people and I have seen others that were barking and called out by a TSA agent saying to the owners face it is not a service animal and will not be allowed on the plane.

 

[xipotec]

An acquaintance ordered service dog vests for her two little Morkies who are 100% not service dogs or even for emotional support. She gets them in everywhere

Sad that in today's world people are always trying to game the system.

Most service dogs are not....

 

[Mathmagicland]

Could it be no action from Disney or the sheriff because it was a in DVC resort rather than a Disney hotel room? There seems to be a difference if someone is in a property they “own” through DVC vs renting a hotel room from Disney. Put the same situation in a condo complex, with one owner complaining about a neighbor’s dog barking, what would the condo association do “in the moment”? It could be seen as very similar with DVC ownership.

There was an incident at WDW last fall that made the news earlier this year, where a DVC owner pushed a cast member in a WDW restaurant. Neither the police took action or Disney asked him to leave the premises when it happened because as a DVC owner he was at his home resort which was where the incident occurred.

Not taking one side or the other, but thinking out loud that the factor of DVC ownership is possibly looked at differently in some situations than in a rented hotel room.