Service Dog's vest removed when he gained weight

[leadinglabbie]

Wow. But, you know, I remember people from this school being somewhat stand-offish when I contacted them a few years ago. I was working on a brochure for the place where I worked about service dogs in taxis. I didn't really feel I could adequately address the issue without talking to some non-guide-dog organizations. emerge and others will be happy to

Comments

[pawpower4me]

oy, this kind of thing really pisses me off and is why the thought of ever going back to a program again for a dog makes me want to run the other way.

I wish more PWD knew that a. you don't need a "certification" and that b. you can buy a damned vest off of the internet. There is a woman who works for PWOC here in NOLA and she sits on the board of our SPCA. She was the reason that a PWD won't be allowed to adopt from that shelter if they say that they are going to train the dog as an SD. She has spoken to me several times and I kid you not, each and every time we've talked she's tried to give me the "Owner training is stupid dangerus and bad PR speech."

I know that being overweight is unhealthy and leads to problems down the road but we're all adults and if you don't trust a person to treat a dog well then don't give them a dog. I'd be curious if any service dog programs have an ownership agreement like TSE or GDF where you get unconditional ownership upon completion of the program

[leadinglabbie]

A friend tells me that there are differences between the ownership policies of TSE and GDF. I believe that GDF does sometimes issue probationary contracts, but I don't know the details about that. At TSE, there's no ownership agreement. You're simply given your dog and a bill of sale.

dogs and weight

[3kitties]

I'm truly glad that TTSE did not do this to me when Meg's weight ballooned! Instead they treated me like a responsible person who was concerned about a dog who gained a lot of weight very suddenly, and they supported me through the process of getting the weight off. It turned out that Meg was allergic to salmon, and the whole weight-loss process is a horrible memory of periodic vomiting. Interestingly, Meg has maintained her weight even in retirement. We have no idea why she went through that bad phase. It happens sometimes, and I think it's an important thing to acknowledge. Dogs are just not machines and their weight is going to go up and down in their lifetime.

[emerge]

My responses to this are mixed. As with every news piece, there are both sides to the story. My suspicion is that there is more going on than we the public are notified of, but again that is only a suspicion. The removal of the vest may have happened only after a series of warnings, weighings, weight-loss attempts, or other cooperative measures, and may or may not have been related to the dog's alleged failure to meet "up to PAWS' specifications

[leadinglabbie]

Yes, I agree that there are generally three sides to a story like this: her side, Paws' side, and the truth. :) But I have a real ethical issue with a school hoping to "motivate" its grads with the "fear" of losing the dog's vest. This is simply not appropriate.

[emerge]

As the article stated, "She says 'PAWS' removes vests from dogs who become overweight because those dogs typically have more health problems. The animals can cost $20,000 to raise and train. 'PAWS' says, knowing they could lose the vests motivates clients to keep their dog in shape

[leadinglabbie]

(A brief response, since I'm on the phone while typing.) I checked Paws' web site and couldn't find any info about ownership of the dogs. (I did only give it a cursory glance, though.) If they *do* retain ownership of the dog, it would have been better, IMO, to remove the dog rather than remove the vest, if the situation became that extreme. (Also, thanks for pointing out that "fear" was not a word used in the article.) I don't mean to imply that these programs should not work diligently to make sure their dogs are healthy; but there are definitely situations where vests/harnesses have been removed, and when the handler is incorrectly advised by the program that they can no longer use the dog as a service animal. I wonder what this woman would have done if Paws had said, "Hey, let us take the dog for a while and get him back into shape for you." (Of course, this could have acutally occurred.)

[imafarmgirl]

How sad. Seems they need to educate their clients more on dog care instead of just pulling vests.

[aerynn]

I don't know hardly anything about service animals, but I know a lot about dogs. It sounds like this dog was over 20 lbs. overweight and the reporter said that it was "obvious" that the dog wasn't working up to standard and that he lacked discipline. It makes me wonder about how she was treating the dog, if both his service training and weight were becoming issues. Discipline issues can crop up if the woman is not acting as an authority figure and spoiling or babying the dog too much, which would be consistent with ballooning weight.

If the dog is to detect seizures and help with hearing, maybe removing the vest is an intermediate step to removing the dog entirely and not allowing the woman to have service animal at all. It sounds as though the dog also provides emotional support, so maybe this was the nicer, intermediate step?

[leadinglabbie]

Well, it's also quite possible that his work wasn't up to par because he had been denied the opportunity to work, due to the fact that the school took the vest. If Yani had no harness for several months and was then asked to guide, her work wouldn't be up to specs either. Of course, I'm only speculating here

[aerynn]

Things are going surprisingly well, considering how busy I am. I guess it is the light at the end of the tunnel that is cheering me up.

You are right about the paternalism, though. I see it in all parts of the dog world, not just with regard to those with disabilities. Some breeders including specific diet requirements in their puppy sale contracts, and others include other really onerous conditions under threat of taking the dog back. I don't know how enforceable those contracts are, but they are out there and require breeding the dog and returning puppies back and all sorts of stuff. Obedience training, etc.

How are things with you? Are you going to be in Richmond post-grad? I am. :)

[leadinglabbie]

Congrats! :) I'm actually going to be in Fredericksburg, and I'm thrilled!