Service dogs play a very important role in our community. They help people with many different disabilities. Whether it is a veteran who served our country and now battles with PTSD, someone who is in a wheelchair, a child who has autism, or someone who suffers with mental health issues, service dogs are used for a lot of reasons. Although many service dogs are valid, some people fake service dogs (or emotional support dogs) just to bring Fido everywhere with them. They pay $30 to get a red vest that says "Service Dog" or "ESA", a Identifaction card that says their dogs name, and a fake doctors note saying that they have anxiety and walk right into the store or onto a plane without any repercussions. Even though emotional Support dogs do not have public access, people do it anyways. Service Dogs do not have any valid identification in the United States so it makes it easier for people who have disabilities to get service dogs, it also makes it easier for bad people to fake them and harm real service dogs. Fake service dogs distract real service dogs from their jobs and it can be very harmful. If a service dog misses alerting their handler to a high heart rate, a blood sugar drop, or a seizure because a fake service dog is barking at them, it can be fatal to the handler. Many states already have laws and fines/jail time for service dog fraud such as Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington State, and Wyoming. Lets work together to add Connecticut to the list!
