It would be illegal in Minnesota for anyone to misrepresent that their animal is a service animal, under a bill awaiting a vote in the state Senate which also has a hearing this morning in the House. Terri Krake brought her seizure service dog, Brady, to the Capitol and says impostor animals create real problems. Krake says, “Dogs that had fake capes go into Target — I’ve visually watched them — and they urinated on an end cap in Target. If that was a service dog, it should immediately be removed, because all of our dogs are trained not to do that.” Backers say because impostor service dogs are not trained on proper behavior in public places, they make it difficult for legitimate service dogs to do their job.
Alan Peters with Can-Do Canines says, “Pretending that your dog is a service dog has far-reaching negative impact for people with disabilities. It’s inappropriate, it’s immoral, and we want to make it clearly illegal.” Backers say they hope a new state law will embarrass those who misrepresent their animals into not doing it any more.