Service Animal Incidents Get Hospital, Deli Owner in a Pickle

A man has accused a New Jersey hospital for discrimination for not recognizing his dog as a service animal—because it was a 12-pound poodle.

Of course, most people associate the term “service animal” with larger breeds more associated with working, such as German shepherds and labs, and not poodles*.

The man, a resident of San Francisco, maintained the dog had an “Assistance Dog Tag” from the city, but this designation does not require the specialized training that service dogs have. As it turns out, the man had trained the poodle himself to remind him when to take his insulin shots.

However, even if the dog was a legitimate service animal, it would not have been allowed with its owner in the emergency room or in post-op as he had requested.

*Note: The organization Poodles at Work maintains that poodles are “helpmates with curls” and make excellent service or “social therapy” dogs.

In another incident reported by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, a man who is blind walked into a delicatessen with his Seeing Eye® dog—and his trainer from the state Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired. The trainer was showing the man and the dog a safe route to the nearest pharmacy, and they decided to stop for something to eat.

However, fearing strict public health laws regarding animals in restaurants, an employee asked the man to take the dog outside. The trainer identified himself and explained the situation with the service dog, but the employee was unyielding in refusing to let the dog stay in the deli.

The man, who is blind, filed suit with the state, claiming his civil rights had been violated by the dog’s removal.

Although both cases showed a lack of understanding about service animals, they both had happy endings.

The deli owner, while not acknowledging any wrongdoing, agreed to have his staff receive sensitivity training regarding people with disabilities.

And while the hospital was found to be within its rights to ban the poodle from certain areas requiring a sterile environment (and the fact that the dog was not a legitimate service animal), the man did manage to see his mother in her hospital room with the dog, but with a 5-minute limit for the pet.