Pros and Cons of Service Dogs

The article I’m writing about is titled “Pros and cons of getting a service dog. The article can be found online at doggoestocollege.com. The article was written and published by doggoestocollege.com.

The are many pros and cons to service dogs. The first pro is the main reason service dogs exist: assistance with one’s disability. The dogs are there to help their owners get through everyday activities in life. Service dogs help their owners achieve greater independence. Without their service dogs many owners couldn’t do regular activities and could feel restricted on what they can and can’t do. Dog’s that can help to detect medical alerts can actually be the difference in if the individual (owner) can get a drivers license or not. Happiness is right in front of the individual at all times. Sometimes people with disabilities can become depressed or unhappy, but it is pretty hard to become unhappy with a loving and caring dog next to the individual. Service dogs give some owners a piece of mind. Knowing that someone or something is there for you at all hours of the day can be really comforting to some people. Although there are many pros of having a service dog, there are also a lot of cons. One problem that a lot of service dog owners run into is the denial of entering some public places. There is a federal law granting all service dogs to be allowed into public areas, but some public place owners still don’t let the dogs in. They question whether the validity of their service dog is true. Another concern that many service dogs owners have is the constant remarks and questions they receive throughout the day. A lot of people are very curious about service dogs and want to know more about them. It isn’t that these people are doing anything wrong, but the owners are asked these questions very often which can get annoying. Many people with disabilities have to learn not to be self conscious about their disability. With a service dog it is obvious that this individual has a disability and can really harm him or her knowing that people are staring at you because of your disability.

It was really interesting to see that there are some cons of owning a service dog. Most people know of the good that service dogs do. They help their owners with many simple tasks throughout the day, that without the service dog they wouldn't be able to do so. What I want to know is, How are some public space owners allowed to not serve those with service dogs? I had read in a previous article I wrote about that they are only allowed to ask two questions, “Is this a service dog?” and “What is this service dog trained for?”. They aren’t allowed to ask any other questions regarding the validity of the service dog. I could further my research on this specific example on looking up what happens to the individuals who don’t grant access to service dogs. Are they fined, or is there a harsher penalty? 


Link to Article