Meghan's Story
Dog Guide Etiquette
Elli
Training Journal 1999
Dori
Dori's Homecoming
Dori At Three
Cane or Dog Guide?
The First Seeing Eye Dogs
Dog Guides and Stereotypes
The Battle for Access
Development of content for this site is supported by your contributions, the sale of products through various affiliate programs, and Sarah's work as a writer, speaker, and in other areas listed on her services page. If the material on this site has been helpful or encouraging to you, please consider shopping using the sites linked here--and return to do your shopping anytime using these links to continue supporting this site--or making a contribution using the Amazon Honor System.
Some of the first graduates of the Seeing Eye found that people's admiration of their dogs' work led to their being granted admission to hotels, buses, trains, etc. However, not all graduates met with this kind of fortune. Dogs had a reputation in the United States of being unclean and poorly behaved. Many business owners and drivers were unwilling to allow the dogs inside. Graduates who lived in cities where dog guides had not been seen had to devise their own strategies for convincing business owners to allow their dogs inside. Peter Putnam reported one such event.
... They met for lunch at the Sherman Hotel, but had hardly been seated in the dining room when the head- waiter objected to Nubia. He refused to acknowledge Geisler's argument that he needed the dog because he was blind.
Suddenly the lawyer handed Nubia's leash to Debe and told him to take her out. When they were halfway to the door, Geisler stood up and turned over his table. The head- waiter protested. Geisler said he was blind and did not know how to get out of the room without his dog. Then he turned over a second table. He was groping toward a third when the headwaiter surrendered. (pp. 169- 170)
Dog guide users may now take their dogs into public places of accommodation, thanks to Federal and state laws. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 prohibits requesting proof of the dog's legitimacy; however, some state laws permit this, and some dog guide users feel that people who use the term "service animal" to refer to an untrained animal may jeopardize the rights of users of properly trained service dogs.
Legislation has helped to decrease the incidence of failure to provide dog guide users with access to services while accompanied by their dogs. However, problems still exist. Fear is often the root of the problems. Another cause is lack of understanding of the relevant laws on the part of business owners. Most often this occurs in businesses where the owner and/or staff person does not speak English or has immigrated from a country where attitudes toward dogs are quite different. In Asia and the Orient, for example, dogs are not permitted inside the home or places of business. Refusal to allow a person access to services because he/she is accompanied by a dog guide is discriminatory. Some discrimination is quite suttle--the blind person may be allowed to stay in a motel with his dog but may be charged such a high amount for a deposit that staying there is not practical. Such an event happened to me once at the Harmony House in Ann Arbor, MI.
Documents about the Americans with Disabilities Act provide businesses with information about a wide variety of access issues, including the rights of customers and employees who use service dogs. These documents can be ordered from your local DBTAC by calling 800-949-4232 (voice/TTY).
Putnam, Peter. (1997). Love in the lead: The miracle of the seeing eye dog. New York: University Press of America.
Sarah J. Blake