Wal-Mart's corporate policy is to allow service dogs in its stores and many people with service dogs have reported good experiences with Wal-Mart, however it is often the case that their written policy and what managers are telling their employees are two different things. It is very common for service dog owners to be told by Wal-Mart greeters that "only seeing eye dogs are allowed".
In March of 2007, the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners wrote a letter to Wal-Mart about the problem. In
this letter, citing a study recently completed, IAADP stated:
More than half the respondents reported they had positive experiences shopping at Wal-Mart. In fact, some individuals had high praise for the stores they patronized. However, out of the 134 surveys returned by assistance dog partners, we documented a substantial number of complaints about negative experiences at Wal-Mart. A few respondents went into detail about these distressing incidents. IAADP learned it was not just a local or regional issue, since negative incidents were reported from every region of the United States. IAADP offered to help Wal-Mart establish an educational program but nothing is being done. Please sign this petition to ask Wal-Mart to ensure that service dog owners nationwide can walk into the front doors of their stores without being harassed, humiliated or turned away!
EDIT July 24, 2008: So many people have signed the petition and offered their stories of harassment by Wal-Mart that it is no longer necessary to include information on a specific case within the petition itself, therefore the information that previously appeared here regarding a specific case has been removed. This petition is not about any specific case. It is about a definite pattern of harassment of Service Dog teams nationwide. Since the comments provided by signatories provide some level of evidence of this, the specific case information which appeared here previously has been removed.
EDIT -- July 25, 2008 -- Have you experienced similar problems with SD access? SHARE YOUR STORY HERE.......after signing the petition, of course.
