SF Animal Welfare
I just got off the phone with the
Director of San Francisco Animal Welfare and Control. He is an
extremely nice guy who is in a very difficult position
when it comes to ADA and state disability law compliance, and I was
deeply appreciative of the time he gave me to try and resolve some
of the problems I was facing in getting a California service dog
tag for Glindy.
Apparently, the city and county of San Francisco have come under
fire from all sides regarding their service dog tags. The system
that they have is easily abused, and they have a tremendous number
of people with untrained animals receiving these tags instead of
seeking the more appropriate protection of "emotional support
animals" under the federal Fair Housing Act or the state's Fair
Employment and Housing Act. At the same time, the department is
receiving pressure from various disability lobbies to only issue
tags for the disabilities the lobbies care about, in order to
prevent dilution of what it means to be a service dog.
Nobody wants their particular disability to be excluded by law, and
nobody wants the bar for service dog status to be so high that the
economically or socially disadvantaged can't attain it. However,
without any baseline criteria about what constitutes adequate
public access training, many well-intentioned organizations are
left in an unenviable position with regards to determining what
makes a legitimate service animal.
Glindy and I may be in a tough spot when it comes to compliance in
California, but I think the Animal Welfare people are in an even
tougher spot. In the end, we're all just doing the best we
can.