Service Dog?

[tmclanton]

I am trying to decide if I want to take my hearing alert dog with me or give her a vacation from work! I am profoundly Deaf and recently got her certified, so she did not go with us on our last trip. I have a couple of concerns about doing it:
1. I am a little concerned that she may freak out at the costume characters... has this ever happened to anyone?
2. Since it is just my son and I, it would make riding rides difficult. However, my son does not ride a lot of rides, but we would like to ride a couple! Are there any rides that you can take the dog on?
3. Since it is just my son and I, I feel more comfortable with her alerting me to sounds... especially when my son calls out to me. It also helps that my son holds on to her vest when we walk so it is easier to keep track of him.
4. I am afraid it will be a pain to take her out to the restroom at the resort. We are staying at WL and I would not feel comfortable taking the dog out without taking my son with me... which may mean waking my son up to go with me to take the dog out.

Has anyone ever gone to WDW with just you, a small child and a service dog? What was your experience.

 

[mykidsintow]

My last trip I ended up spending a day with just my daughter, her dog and my son. The dog can ride most things (not roller coasters or anything that would put him/her at risk). Of the gentler rides Peter Pan comes to mind that you would have to skip... or perhaps the new Toy Mania if you are going to DHS.

If your dog potties on a schedule it should not be an issue to take him/her out. I did that on my own this last trip for 4 nights. My daughters dog potties in the am after breakfast, in the afternoon and at night before bed. I try to give him an extra stop in the day, but he never uses it..... I just would not like to potty 3X/day so I still offer.

I am sure your dog would not be the first to dislike characters. Lucas has always loved Characters, but our last trip was the first trip he didn't flip out over seagulls.... We don't have seagulls in KY its not like we could work on it

If you are more comfortable in your surroundings and don't mind missing a few rides then I say take the dog. There is always the option of the kennel. On our last trip I gave Lucas a break on the last day and left him in the room crated and a note on the door for maintenance to know, if needed. He was just exhausted.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

 

[mechurchlady]

What rides will you be able to go on? If you had someone with you then they could watch your kid and dog but since you are alone you have no babysitter to watch the kid let alone a dog. Thus what rides would you be going on? You wont be doing roller coasters or Test Track probably because of your child. In fact your dog probably will be more willing to ride the rides than your kid.

In this case I say take the dog. In FAQs is a link to the disability info from WDW on what rides are allowed, not recommended and are prohibited. Toy Story Mania does not allow service animals. Most of the kid friendly rides except roller coasters allow dogs. If you do decide you want to do Toy Story Mania and other rides that are not dog friendly you can leave your dog in the Kennel at WDW for a couple of hours. I doubt the dog will freak out over costumed characters.

Do bring a copy of certification in case WDW asks for proof. It is a gray area and easier to have a copy of proof. The laws is that if WDW ( or other company) offers a service or discount to the disabled guest above what nondisabled guests get then they can ask for proof. Technically letting the service dog stay for free is above what nondisabled guests get.

You can contact the hotel and ask for a room near the potty areas but there is no guarantee that will work. Most dogs go potty on a schedule. A lady on line was complaining that her nonservice dog potties at 5 am every day so then she cannot get back to sleep, lol. It will all work out for the best. Kids are resilient and waking the kid for a doggy potty wont hurt it that much. A little inconvenience will be outweighed by the fun the kid has at the parks.

 

[videogal1]

I doubt the dog will freak out over costumed characters.

Do bring a copy of certification in case WDW asks for proof. It is a gray area and easier to have a copy of proof. The laws is that if WDW ( or other company) offers a service or discount to the disabled guest above what nondisabled guests get then they can ask for proof. Technically letting the service dog stay for free is above what nondisabled guests get.

1. I certainly hope no Disney employee has been advised to ask for that mythical "certification" and if anyone does I hope that you advise them that whether or not you choose to use a Service Dog is your civil right and has nothing to do with how much of an "advantage" it appears to confer.
2. Technically, letting the dog stay for free is the law and any establishment that attempts to abridge the law by charging a fee to accommodate a Service Dog is breaking the law.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

1. I am a little concerned that she may freak out at the costume characters... has this ever happened to anyone?

No, my SD has no issues with characters. Is there anywhere you can take her to get used to somebody in a costume? A local high school that has a furry mascot costume, perhaps?

2. Since it is just my son and I, it would make riding rides difficult. However, my son does not ride a lot of rides, but we would like to ride a couple! Are there any rides that you can take the dog on?

How old is your son? If he is too small to go on the rides that have height requirements, you won't have a problem save for a couple of rides, as SDs can go on almost all the rides that don't have height requirements. Is there anybody you can bring with you to help you, especially if your son is bigger and wants to do rides SDs can't go on? (Or is he old enough where you are comfortable to wait for him at the exit while he rides alone?)

4. I am afraid it will be a pain to take her out to the restroom at the resort. We are staying at WL and I would not feel comfortable taking the dog out without taking my son with me... which may mean waking my son up to go with me to take the dog out.

Your son should be safe asleep in the room for a minute or two while you potty your pup. I'm not familiar with how close rooms at WL get to a grassy or mulchy area you can potty the dog in, but you should ask for a room that is close to such an area, if such rooms exist.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

Do bring a copy of certification in case WDW asks for proof. It is a gray area and easier to have a copy of proof. The laws is that if WDW ( or other company) offers a service or discount to the disabled guest above what nondisabled guests get then they can ask for proof. Technically letting the service dog stay for free is above what nondisabled guests get.

Certification, IDs, or other similar "proof" cannot be required and it is in no way a grey area. SDs are allowed in public places, from stores to restaurants to hotels to beaches, and a business is not allowed to charge a fee (unless the SD causes damage AND non-disabled ppl would be charged the same fee if they made the same damage). "Letting" an SD stay for free (it is not "letting" - it is required by law) is NOT above what non-disabled guests get. SDs are legally medical devices like wheelchairs, canes, and oxygen; they legally are not pets. If a non-disabled person is allowed to go/stay somewhere, so is a disabled person, regardless of whether or not they use a device like a wheelchair, cane, or service animal (barring reasonable exemptions for actual public health or safety concerns, such as no SDs in a restaurant kitchen or hospital operating room).

The only things a business can ask is: (1) Are you disabled? [Yes/no - they cannot ask you what your specific disability is/] (2) Is this your service dog? [Yes/no.] (3) What tasks has your dog been trained to do that mitigate your disability? [Name at least one task your dog has been trained to do that mitigates your disability, such as alerting to sounds you cannot hear {such as the OP's dog}.]

 

[mechurchlady]

Here we go again. sigh.

I said it is a gray area and what I said is based on a Disney legal viewpoint aka I was playing devil's advocate. This has been discussed in this forum before hand. IF they give a guest a service or discount that other guests do not receive THEN they CAN require proof.

That said, they are required to let the service dog stay in the room. However if this is above what a nondisabled guest guest gets then a high highfalutin legal eagle could say it is a special service thus needing proof. If people remember reading this board then they will remember reading about someone who had proof demanded of them. Again this is a possibility and usually proof is not required.

Two minutes to copy records at home is easier than wasting your time fighting with a misinformed or stubborn employee and starting the trip asking for managers while your kid is standing there watching mommy discussing stuff and after a long trip set there bored silly.

 

[tmclanton]

Thank you all for all of the advice. However, after talking to DH about it, we both think it would be less stressful on me to leave Bella with him. He thinks it would be better to take her for the first time when he is there to help take care of the kid and to see how she reacts to everything. I also feel that it would be too much for her to work all day for a week. I do not regularly take her to work with me so she gets a lot of time off... I think I would have to pay her overtime and I don't have that many bisquits!!!

Thanks again for all of the advice. As far as offering the certification for her, my father is a lawyer and specializes in ADA law. He has told me under no uncertain terms to not provide proof of certification for my service dog. He says this only makes it more difficult for other people with services dogs that are not certified. Since there is no federal laws that dogs/animals be certified they can't require it. It is our job to educate the uneducated. However, I realize that this is easy for me to do since I can call him if I ever have a problem!

Thanks again!

 

[LauraVV]

I am trying to decide if I want to take my hearing alert dog with me or give her a vacation from work! I am profoundly Deaf and recently got her certified, so she did not go with us on our last trip. I have a couple of concerns about doing it:
1. I am a little concerned that she may freak out at the costume characters... has this ever happened to anyone?
2. Since it is just my son and I, it would make riding rides difficult. However, my son does not ride a lot of rides, ...
4. I am afraid it will be a pain to take her out to the restroom at the resort. We are staying at WL and I would not feel comfortable taking the dog out without taking my son with me

We went to Disney in January. Both of my kids have service dogs. A couple of points:
* Service dogs don't have to be certified. There is currently no certification standard in the US. Unless you have an agency dog and the agency certified your dog the certification is, at best, unnecessary.
* You can ask CM at the parks to show you the spot to walk the dog for potty breaks. At the resort, I'd just take the last potty break before your child goes to bed. I'd take the first potty break when your child gets up.
* Service dogs can ride the slower rides. You can call Disney and ask for a list of the rides that are OK for service dogs. If there's a ride your child wants to ride you could leave the dog in the bathroom at your room (or do a short term kennel at the park while on the ride) while riding that ride.
*A service dog shouldn't be afraid of characters. Characters are not afraid of service dogs.

A cute story about Pluto. We started our trip with a character breakfast. Pluto met my daughter's dog. Pluto took his collar off and placed it on her dog. Pluto then ran away (he didn't have a collar on, after all). My daughter chased Pluto. It was just the cutest thing. We have pictures of her dog wearing the collar and pictures of Pluto the dog leading Rebel, the service dog.

 

[LauraVV]

Here we go again. sigh.

I said it is a gray area and what I said is based on a Disney legal viewpoint aka I was playing devil's advocate. This has been discussed in this forum before hand. IF they give a guest a service or discount that other guests do not receive THEN they CAN require proof.

That said, they are required to let the service dog stay in the room. However if this is above what a nondisabled guest guest gets then a high highfalutin legal eagle could say it is a special service thus needing proof. If people remember reading this board then they will remember reading about someone who had proof demanded of them. Again this is a possibility and usually proof is not required.

Two minutes to copy records at home is easier than wasting your time fighting with a misinformed or stubborn employee and starting the trip asking for managers while your kid is standing there watching mommy discussing stuff and after a long trip set there bored silly.

http://www.ada.gov/qasrvc.htm

The non-informed MAY ask for service dog certification. That doesn't mean they have the legal right to do so. We have cards we received from the agency that trained our dogs. We didn't show this card at Disney. We've never shown the cards. We don't show them because if we do the person asking for the card thinks they have the legal right to ask for this when, in fact, they do not.

Service dogs are not a privilege. They are WORK. They are an attempt to even the playing field for the disabled. Service dogs are a piece of medical equipment.

 

[SueM in MN]

Certification, IDs, or other similar "proof" cannot be required and it is in no way a grey area. SDs are allowed in public places, from stores to restaurants to hotels to beaches, and a business is not allowed to charge a fee (unless the SD causes damage AND non-disabled ppl would be charged the same fee if they made the same damage). "Letting" an SD stay for free (it is not "letting" - it is required by law) is NOT above what non-disabled guests get. SDs are legally medical devices like wheelchairs, canes, and oxygen; they legally are not pets. If a non-disabled person is allowed to go/stay somewhere, so is a disabled person, regardless of whether or not they use a device like a wheelchair, cane, or service animal (barring reasonable exemptions for actual public health or safety concerns, such as no SDs in a restaurant kitchen or hospital operating room).

The only things a business can ask is: (1) Are you disabled? [Yes/no - they cannot ask you what your specific disability is/] (2) Is this your service dog? [Yes/no.] (3) What tasks has your dog been trained to do that mitigate your disability? [Name at least one task your dog has been trained to do that mitigates your disability, such as alerting to sounds you cannot hear {such as the OP's dog}.]

In post #3 of the disABILITIES FAQs thread, there are links to several ADA fact sheets about Service Animals and the rights of people with disabilities for access for their Service Animals.
The Department of Justice suggests printing those out and carrying copies of those to educate people/businesses that ask for things that are not allowed to ask for.

Thank you all for all of the advice. However, after talking to DH about it, we both think it would be less stressful on me to leave Bella with him. He thinks it would be better to take her for the first time when he is there to help take care of the kid and to see how she reacts to everything. I also feel that it would be too much for her to work all day for a week. I do not regularly take her to work with me so she gets a lot of time off... I think I would have to pay her overtime and I don't have that many bisquits!!!

Thanks again for all of the advice. As far as offering the certification for her, my father is a lawyer and specializes in ADA law. He has told me under no uncertain terms to not provide proof of certification for my service dog. He says this only makes it more difficult for other people with services dogs that are not certified. Since there is no federal laws that dogs/animals be certified they can't require it. It is our job to educate the uneducated. However, I realize that this is easy for me to do since I can call him if I ever have a problem!

Thanks again!

I think you have to do what you feel comfortable doing and in your situation, I might also decide it would be better to wait until I had another person.

I also am glad for the advice your father gave.
Each person who shows 'proof' that can't legally be asked for just makes the person asking for the proof more sure that they are right to ask for it.
When that happens, the next person will also be asked to show proof and the person doing the asking will never get the correct information.

We went to Disney in January. Both of my kids have service dogs. A couple of points:
* Service dogs don't have to be certified. There is currently no certification standard in the US. Unless you have an agency dog and the agency certified your dog the certification is, at best, unnecessary.

* Service dogs can ride the slower rides. You can call Disney and ask for a list of the rides that are OK for service dogs.

If you look in the disABILITIES FAQs thread, there is a link in post #3 to the Guidebook for Guests with Disabilities for each park. The Guidebooks list the rides/attractions where Service Animals are not allowed.
This is a link to the WDW webpage about Service Animals that tells which attractions are not allowed on; there are also some where the SD user is asked to talk to the CM before riding.

http://www.ada.gov/qasrvc.htm

The non-informed MAY ask for service dog certification. That doesn't mean they have the legal right to do so. We have cards we received from the agency that trained our dogs. We didn't show this card at Disney. We've never shown the cards. We don't show them because if we do the person asking for the card thinks they have the legal right to ask for this when, in fact, they do not.

Service dogs are not a privilege. They are WORK. They are an attempt to even the playing field for the disabled. Service dogs are a piece of medical equipment.

Thanks for explaining this so well.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

I said it is a gray area and what I said is based on a Disney legal viewpoint aka I was playing devil's advocate. This has been discussed in this forum before hand. IF they give a guest a service or discount that other guests do not receive THEN they CAN require proof.

That said, they are required to let the service dog stay in the room. However if this is above what a nondisabled guest guest gets then a high highfalutin legal eagle could say it is a special service thus needing proof. If people remember reading this board then they will remember reading about someone who had proof demanded of them. Again this is a possibility and usually proof is not required.

Sorry, this is wrong. Again, there is no grey area. The law is specific in that hotels are listed and no charges/fees is listed. Proof is never required and cannot be legally required (except in a court case, where proof of disability and proof of training can be required in an access case).

Not to mention "proof" technically doesn't exist, since there is no federal certification nor federal standards/tests, so businesses who demand to see certification (or any other proof) do not understand the laws.

Two minutes to copy records at home is easier than wasting your time fighting with a misinformed or stubborn employee and starting the trip asking for managers while your kid is standing there watching mommy discussing stuff and after a long trip set there bored silly.

No, it is not. Even if you have the "records" or "proof" that a business cannot ask for, if you show it, the only thing it does is get the next SD team harrassment from the business who wrongly thinks all SD teams have or show certification/papers/ID/etc. Yes, SD teams do in fact come across situations where the business says, "But the last team showed me their card/certification/paperwork!" A business not knowing the laws is no excuse; they need to know the laws that apply to them and follow such laws. In no circumstance under the ADA can a business require proof (other than the person's answers to the three questions I posted in a previous post), such as certification or ID cards.

Not to mention nobody wants strangers to know their very personal and legally confidential medical information, such as doctor's name or type of doctor or diagnosis, if by "records" you mean something from one's medical file.

A disabled person cannot be singled out to show an ID or other such thing just because they are disabled; that is what it would be if proof was required for an SD. It is the same thing if somebody with a wheelchair or hearing aid had a business demand proof they had the right to their wheelchair in the business.

If somebody has an issue with an uninformed/misinformed employee, there are many things to do: explain/show the laws, ask for a higher-up, call the ADA Hotline, call another business of a similar type that they know knows the laws, if the business is a chain then call corporate, call the police if the person is covered under the state law, etc.

My SD is certified and I have proof I could show, but I never do.

 

[dclfun]

I don't ever show Skye's certification card either, even though it's attached to her vest. I've actually never been asked for it as my disability is visible. For those whose disability isn't visible, then it is legal and might be necessary, as was mentioned, for a CM to ask if you are disabled and if so, what tasks does your dog do to mitigate your disability. I agree that there is no gray area about certification. Just because people have been asked by the uninformed doesn't mean that it was ever required. Unfortunately I have been in contact with quite a few people who misrepresent their pets as SD's to gain public access to places where pets are not allowed. These are the dogs who relieve themselves in public, act unruly, and unfortunately set a bad example for those of us who cannot go anywhere without the assistance of our SD's. This may be why some CM's are asking for "proof" but the above two questions are all that you have to answer.---Kathy

 

[Nalla]

I am trying to decide if I want to take my hearing alert dog with me or give her a vacation from work! I am profoundly Deaf and recently got her certified, so she did not go with us on our last trip. I have a couple of concerns about doing it:
1. I am a little concerned that she may freak out at the costume characters... has this ever happened to anyone?
2. Since it is just my son and I, it would make riding rides difficult. However, my son does not ride a lot of rides, but we would like to ride a couple! Are there any rides that you can take the dog on?
3. Since it is just my son and I, I feel more comfortable with her alerting me to sounds... especially when my son calls out to me. It also helps that my son holds on to her vest when we walk so it is easier to keep track of him.
4. I am afraid it will be a pain to take her out to the restroom at the resort. We are staying at WL and I would not feel comfortable taking the dog out without taking my son with me... which may mean waking my son up to go with me to take the dog out.

Has anyone ever gone to WDW with just you, a small child and a service dog? What was your experience.

1. I've not had a service dog freak out about head characters. I've taken two different service dogs before. If you're concerned about the head characters, practice first. Try Chuck E Cheese (they have a big mouse too!), some Toys R us stores have a big giraffe or even if you can find a school mascot nearby to practice on. If you're near NYC go to the World of Disney Store, they have characters there you can practice on too. That's where both my dogs were first introduced to characters.
2. For the most part, SDs can go on kid rides. I'm a thrill ride person myself, and so that has caused problems with my SDs, since they cannot ride thrill rides. Disney has a list of what they can and can't go on.
4. Admittedly, that will be annoying! Maybe you could try and schedule potty times just before your son lays down, and right when he gets up. I don't think I'd feel comfortable leaving a kid alone either.

As far as CMs and asking for certification, I've never had it happen. They all seem to understand ADA, which is one reason I LOVE going to Disney. No hassles! The only time someone said something out of the ordinary was when someone told me I needed to go to guest services to "register" my dog. I argued for a minute, then gave up on that guy and went to guest services. Guest services was as confused as me, and went and asked the first CM what he meant. He was referring to the GAC and got himself all mixed up. I had one other CM tell me NO DOGS! repeatedly, and stick her finger in my dog's face. I went to her manager about that.
But that's two CMs, out of probably hundreds I encountered. The majority of which were totally cool about the dog, and generally just asked if I needed help with anything.
Personally, I would bring your dog. Going to WDW with a SD is really a lot of fun, and makes the trip much more managable (in my experience at least).

 

[SueM in MN]

Just for purposes of clarification, the people who posted they were wrongly told they had to provide documentation were checking in to their resort. They were first told "no dogs" then told they needed proof it was a service dog. Still ilegal, but I just wanted to add that clarification. Hotels are specifically mentioned in the links I talked about on an earlier post about ADA printed resources.

One other thing I thought of-
air travel/airlines come user a different set of rules.
They ARE allowed to ask for proof that an animal is a service animal before allowing it on board a plane. But, even then, they are not allowed to require anything in writing. They are also allowed to accept credible verbal assurances ( can't remember if this is the exact wording and can't look it up right now, but it's similar to that ).