Assistance Dogs and the Law

[SweetHydrangea]

Looking for people with experience/knowledge in this area (rather than just opinions) as I know this can be a touchy subject for people.

There’s a lady who lives locally that goes around the local town centre harassing businesses (both independent and larger chains like Boots/Superdrug) as they have declined her dog entry to their premises.

She was well known in the community for taking her poorly trained pet dog everywhere with her and businesses had to start asking her to leave as it would cock it’s leg, poo on the floor, jump up at tables when people were eating, bark at anything moving. She used to claim it was a emotional support animal.

Now she’s realised that ESA have no legal rights in the UK she’s gone online and bought a ‘Assistance Dog’ harness and is now claiming discrimination and generally making peoples lives miserable by constantly posting on Facebook pages about the awful staff and businesses not allowing her entry, and threatening to take them to court. I’m not a business owner myself or even a shop worker but I know a few people that are and they have all said she is making their lives a misery, particularly the younger members of staff who she seems to really kick up a fuss around - most likely because of their age.

The dog is not a genuine an assistance dog, it’s a pet she’s trying to take around with her.

So I’m just interested in what the actual law is in regards to Assistance dogs? I understand there is no official certification for them and she doesn’t have to provide documents for it, but can businesses refuse her entry when they know the dog is her pet, regardless of what she claims? How can you actually prove it’s an assistance dog and not a pet? It’s seems a really grey area.

You don't have to prove it as there's no legal requirement to.

There's no legal register in the UK. Disabled people dont have to prove its an assistance dog.

But it can be ejected entry if its misbehaving.

Tbh they could refuse her entry, but she could call the police and alleged disability discrimination

She’s a dick who is making it harder for people with genuine assistance dogs. But I don’t think there is anything they can actually do.

Technically in the law, to qualify as an assistance dog that is covered by the equality act, the dog needs to be trained to carry out specific tasks related to the person’s disability. Emotional support animals do not count because they are not trained in specific tasks, for example. It sounds like if it ever got to this point, she’d have trouble proving that was the case for this dog, but she doesn’t have to prove it day to day, it would just be if she took them to court for refusing entry.

It’s a really weird grey area isn’t it? I don’t understand how or why assistance dogs don’t have to be registered to prove they are genuine. Anyone could claim their pet is an assistance dog like this lady and completely abuse the system. I did Google earlier and saw Wetherspoons require you to show something to say the dog has been trained by a certain organisation which I thought was interesting.

I wonder if the local businesses would be better off banding together and speaking to the council or police themselves about the lady as it’s not just one business she is causing issues in.

Well the dog certainly isn’t trained in any way , shape or form so she definitely wouldn’t be able to prove it in court, but in the meantime it seems she can just run rampant around town causing chaos 7 days of the week.

I think she gets a kick out of it to be honest. Who else spends their free time purposely taking their dog places to get a reaction. She knows it’s poorly behaved and does nothing to stop it.

Then we have a little old blind lady who has a dog that helps her walk from her house into town and do all her errands whilst getting barked at by this dog. I feel so bad for genuinely trained dogs who really do help their owners.

Wetherspoons really have no right to be asking that.

Its because you dont have to prove youre disabled. If you've been suffering the impact of a condition for a more than 6 months its a disability. You dont even need a diagnosis.

The truth is we all know the difference between an assistance animal and an emotional support one. People like this woman are an entitled disgrace.

I think if the places refused her, the police would consider it a civil matter and she has no evidence of anything to pursue it

They can't refuse entry legally, however there is no law preventing a business owner asking a poorly behaving genuine assistance dog to leave the premises. I think there is no law to register them because there is no one coordination point so it would get complicated. Even something comparatively usual like a guide dog, doesn't have to be trained and provided by one specific organisation. So when you add in hearing dogs, diabetic alert dogs, seizure alert dogs etc, keeping track of where they all are would be a mammoth task.

Only guide dogs are specifically recognised/protected in law. Shops and restaurants are private property and can ban individuals for bad behaviour.

The issue is there has been a huge rise in owner trained assistance dogs and there is no governance. Anyone can say they have an assistance dog, buy a harness/lead slip etc online, slap it on a dog and off they go. You’d be surprised at the amount of poorly behaved “assistance” dogs I come across. You’re right it’s a very grey area. I have a disability and have an assistance dog who has been trained by a nationally known charity, he’s my lifeline to a normal life most days. I joined a few Assistance Dogs FB groups and you’d be astonished at the behaviour of some people on there, they treat their dogs like some kind of fashion accessory then wonder why they draw attention to themselves. Some on there are always looking for issues and to fight access issues. I’m sorry but if you choose to dress your dog in a dress and dye its tail rainbow coloured people aren’t going to think your dog is working! I fully expect someone who dresses their dog up to be along shortly though and have a rant.

It just makes life harder for those of us that need our dogs to life an independent life to be honest.

You’re very wrong here. It’s not just guide dogs that protected by law, it’s covered in the Equality Act 2010.

If you're registered disabled and rely on your dog then you would be protected by the Equality Act, in the same way as you would be if a shop said that it couldn't accommodate a wheelchair. But "emotional support dogs" for non-disabled people are just... dogs.

The police cant cant do anything about disability discrimination as it is not of itself an arrestable offence.
Demanding someone to leave a private property is reasonable and the police would remove the person who has no right to be there under breach of peace law not the occupier.
And the police cant "force entry" with an individual to force an occupier to provide a service.

The woman would have to sue the occupier

How can someone prove they “rely on” their dog though? So many people just sticking assistance dogs labels on completely untrained dogs and expecting access whenever they please.

My understanding that a genuine assistance dog has to where their fob on their lead.

*wear

No, there’s no requirement for the dog to have anything displayed saying it’s an assistance dog. Although a lot of charities recommend this for help with access (guide dogs uk for example) it’s not required by law.

Sadly it’s definitely not a legal requirement to have to evidence that a dog is a true trained assistance dog.

I guess individual companies could insist they are registered with them in order to access their premises? As it’s for the dog and not the person?

I think you misunderstood. I was saying legally she doesn't have to prove it.

The could still refuse her entry. But she could call the police, but I wouldnt expect theyd respond and insist she go in the shop with her pet

No, they can’t insist that a person register with them before accessing their shop/cafe/whatever.

@ShesTheAlbatross it wouldn’t be the person being registered it would be the dog!

Either I know the exact situation you're talking about or there's potentially two of these people!

Edited to add i've seen the pub chain mentioned, it's definitely the same person.

if she actually took anyone to court I assume she'd have to prove her dog is an AD (on a balance of probabilities). I'd suggest business owners keep a log of whats happening when and her dog are on the premises if she's causing issues. CCTV could be helpful if the dog isn't well trained.

Sorry that’s what I meant, register their dog with them. That’s not an acceptable request for businesses to make. Disabled people must register their assistance dogs before entry? It also wouldn’t actually achieve anything, because presumably if going down this road was something they could do, they wouldn’t be able to ask for proof anyway, as that doesn’t exist, so they’d have to accept anyone who registered as legitimate.

The police have no legal basis to respond because no crime happened prior to her calling.

If police showed up its to stop a crime from happening (breach of peace type crime) they can only instruct her to remove herself and the dog together or prehaps remove the dog (with no warrent?) for observation if the occupier said its out of control and dangerous.

Yappy Snappy assistance dogs fall within the general control obligations an owner has in a public place.

She has to go to court to prove what happened was discrimination as in the business refused entry because of her disability (because they refused to allow her enter with or use her property (which happens to be a dog not a stick or wheelchair) in a reasonable way).

The business counter argument is barred for a legimate reason eg under health (grounds of hygine as not toilet trained) and safety (YappySnappy isnt under control)

The police won't come out as disability discrimination is a civil offence not a criminal one.