This situation came up yesterday on the bus. A couple of women came on
with a big dog which could have been a Pitt Bull for all I knew
(muscular, blocky head), but it certainly wasn't a Golden Lab or a
German Shephard. They claimed it was a "service animal" with
do***ents, but they didn't show any docs and the driver didn't
challenge them. What concerned me most about the animal was that it
was unmuzzled.
Problems didn't start until a passenger who boarded later raised a
fuss. The women who was holding the leash on the dog took the animal
to the other end of the bus away from the upset passenger. But the
other passenger kept up his verbal assault on the other women of the
pair who was still in his vicinity. He just wouldn't let the matter
drop and voices were raised to the point that the dog became agitated.
Fortunately for everyone on the bus, the women handling the dog kept
her head. She, her partner and the dog got off at the very next stop.
Still, there were several tense moments that needn't have happened if
the driver had simply not allowed the dog on in the first place.
Later yesterday I researched what the ADA legislation said about
"service animals." The website I found said that while "service
animals" can be identified by do***ents, no one has to produce the
docs to board public trans****tation. Nor does a "service animal" have
to be muzzled while on public trans****tation.
So does that mean an a attack dog is a "service animal" if the handler
simply claims that it is
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