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Registering Your Dog As A Service Dog In Michigan


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Is anyone familiar with the process of registering your baby as a service dog? I know they are becoming more common for those who suffer from ptsd from war or other traumatic experiences in life as well as other serious medical conditions. Are they allowed in hospitals ie ER etc? Does your dog require special training even if you don't see or feel the need for further training? Is this process expensive and how would a low income person manage such expenses? Any and all help, advice, personal experiences would be extremely appreciative. Where do you begin? Please help. Thanks

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Is anyone familiar with the process of registering your baby as a service dog? I know they are becoming more common for those who suffer from ptsd from war or other traumatic experiences in life as well as other serious medical conditions. Are they allowed in hospitals ie ER etc? Does your dog require special training even if you don't see or feel the need for further training? Is this process expensive and how would a low income person manage such expenses? Any and all help, advice, personal experiences would be extremely appreciative. Where do you begin? Please help. Thanks

 

 

There is no requirement for a service dog to be be registered with the state. You do have to have regular dog licence (there is no charge for a service dogs tags) You will probably have to teach the county treasurer this tho. You will need a recommendation from your DR stating that the dog will be able to assist with your disability. Then the dog must be task trained to perform a special task that is a direct assist for your problem. Most people find the training to perform that task or tasks to be very hard and go thru a professional training service but this is very costly. The dog must conform in a lot of areas. Trained to sit/wait on command must be able to be in the public with fussing, barking lunging at people etc. When working the dog should ignore all but the person they are working for. It can be daunting but very worth while. A trained service dog or one in training can go anywhere people are allowed to go with just a couple of special areas not allowed (sterile ares of hospitable like surgery room) but all other areas they are allowed. (once had to have a talk to head of security at Sparrow about retaining their folks) Service dogs can go to movies, out to dinner to the malls, wal-mart etc. Anyone asking about the dog only has to be informed that the dog is a service dog and they are not allowed to ask about your disability.

 

Having lived with a service dog for 6 years they can do wonders! The wife has one named Prozac that is trained to assist her with panic attacks and is very good at her job. (some of you may have seen her at th FM wearing her clothes and sunglasses).

 

 

Hope this helps a little

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  • 3 weeks later...

No recommendation from your doctor to use a service dog, that's an outright misstatement of federal and state law. You, an American citizen, get to determine your own health, medical, and mental needs and make a decision for YOURSELF whether a service dog would assist you /mitigate a disability. If you want to sue in court or get the county/city to prosecute someone who fails to grant you access, you better be able to back up your claims that you're disabled and the dog performs a task that mitigates your disability.

 

There is no state registry for service dogs. What the state has is a list of trainers in the state. You can self report as a trainer. It's an email to the state administrator. Any person who wishes to seek protection under the law must have a dog that was trained by a trainer or organization that is on that list.

 

I registered as a trainer. No special cape, harness, leash, card, license, or anything necessary under federal law (differs under state) and federal law trumps state for access. If you want to press charges or use the state law in any manner, you must comply with state law including having an ID for the dog (simple laminate that I made myself). Let me enlighten you all too, registering means nothing. David Leyton, Prosecutor for Genesee County wrote me a letter in which he stated he would NEVER prosecute a business for failing to grant access to a service dog user (I've had several denials of access over the last decade). Register away. Comply. And realize, you have no real protection but your own mouth, your own wits, and your own ability to care for yourself. Sounds a lot like medical mj, doesn't it?

 

Oh, and I'm well known in the community as an service dog user activist, working for a disabled judge, and Leyton used to come to my judge's office. He knows me. He knows my former boss. He doesn't give a crap about these rights.

 

US Service Dog registry is BS. You don't have to pay for that crap.

 

Also, I suggest that your dog comply with basic commands and know how to act in public or you're going to make it difficult for other users. But to say there's special commands or intense training is not necessarily true. I trained both of mine using clicker training and Bridge and Target training. Dog number one was ready at age 8 months and has been working 8 years. I also trained a dog for the visually impaired prior to this. It might be good people training to do this first and you can usually find an org that will sponsor you to train the dog for them. Bring your tissues, because when that dog goes back, you're gonna feel like crap (but happy too...)

 

The statement that an SD must only pay attention to the person that they are working for is also misleading. Hearing assistance dogs are trained to notice when another person is talking and to alert the hearing impaired person, often by nudging or standing by the speaking person. They also notify about ambulances (while driving for example), doorbells/door indicator lights flashing/ringing, lots of things.

 

While I applaud your efforts to help, some of your info is wrong. Anyone have more questions? PM me. I'm one of the top experts in service dog laws in the state, and that's pretty sad. I got there from experience, training, and specialized education. I've had to correct the Michigan Department of Civil Rights on their interpretation of the law using HUD information as my proof. Even employees of HUD don't know the law. Forget about the DOJ helping you too. Unless you have money to sue, get used to writing lots of letters and getting nowhere. I've even had the police threaten to arrest me and put my service dog in the pound (a dog whose training is valued at about $45k) when a Tim Horton's failed to grant me access. I was not unruly or disruptive, just a citizen who wanted my rights enforced.

 

And the police force? My cousin works on the same force.

 

Bottom line - don't think anyone will help you more than you. Don't think your rights are a sure thing and that anyone cares more than you do about YOU.

Edited by whodathot
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Oh and mental disabilities are harder to prove and get justification for, but if you stay out of the system, and stay out of trouble, most people are going to just let you go about your business. The first time you have a denial of access, you'll find out what you're made of.

 

I disagree with calling a service dog someone's baby. My dogs are working dogs, contributing members of our home, but they are not babies. They are not people. They are not pets that I'm parading out in public. They get plenty of love, attention, exercise, better food than I sometimes eat, but they are not babies. Period.

 

And if you have a dog that is an unusual breed, small, really big, not the traditional idea of what a "service dog" breed is, be prepared to defend yourself or educate the ignorant masses. Prepare for people to jump and scream when you walk past them, prepare for people who insist their child has a right to pet your service dog (even if you tell them why it's not a good idea), prepared for people to yell across shopping malls at you, whistle, make kissing noises, thrust their hands at your dog's head and body, invade your personal space, and otherwise harass you.

 

But hey, take Baby out into public and see how it is. If you ruin it for me, I'm going to let you know. Your dog lunges at mine, bites, snarls, or looks askance, guess who's leaving?

 

Uh huh. Just feeling a tad po'ed about this subject right now and Med Mj in general, so please forgive me if the truth is harsh today.

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I can't believe Kent County is actually more progressive than ANYWHERE else in the state on this issue! Or any issue!

 

In GR a restaurant manager was just arrested for not allowing a service dog into the dining room. Maybe it was her petulant attitude towards the incident...hopefully she learns her lesson.

 

Her restaurant closed...

 

 

And she was arrested...

 

 

It was a sub-par chain Mexican restaurant anyway. No loss...

 

HH

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I really have no experience with service dogs except this one interesting story.. I was house sitting for some friends of mine and they had a dog who had been trained to be a service dog but had developed some skin condition that excluded it from being assigned to a disabled person.It was the best dog ever.. My boyfriend and i were sitting outside and decided to start a fire in the fire pit.. We did that and sat around it for a couple of hours.. We were discussing how the fire was getting low and one of us needed to go get some more wood.. We discussed this for a bit when we started hearing strange noises in the woods. It sounded like a bear or something was coming right up to us.. When all of a sudden there came that dog dragging a big branch of a tree out of the woods.. He actually put it right at my boyfriends feet.. LOL I was pretty amazed at that..

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  • 2 years later...

No recommendation from your doctor to use a service dog, that's an outright misstatement of federal and state law. You, an American citizen, get to determine your own health, medical, and mental needs and make a decision for YOURSELF whether a service dog would assist you /mitigate a disability. If you want to sue in court or get the county/city to prosecute someone who fails to grant you access, you better be able to back up your claims that you're disabled and the dog performs a task that mitigates your disability.

 

There is no state registry for service dogs. What the state has is a list of trainers in the state. You can self report as a trainer. It's an email to the state administrator. Any person who wishes to seek protection under the law must have a dog that was trained by a trainer or organization that is on that list.

 

I registered as a trainer. No special cape, harness, leash, card, license, or anything necessary under federal law (differs under state) and federal law trumps state for access. If you want to press charges or use the state law in any manner, you must comply with state law including having an ID for the dog (simple laminate that I made myself). Let me enlighten you all too, registering means nothing. David Leyton, Prosecutor for Genesee County wrote me a letter in which he stated he would NEVER prosecute a business for failing to grant access to a service dog user (I've had several denials of access over the last decade). Register away. Comply. And realize, you have no real protection but your own mouth, your own wits, and your own ability to care for yourself. Sounds a lot like medical mj, doesn't it?

 

Oh, and I'm well known in the community as an service dog user activist, working for a disabled judge, and Leyton used to come to my judge's office. He knows me. He knows my former boss. He doesn't give a crap about these rights.

 

US Service Dog registry is BS. You don't have to pay for that crap.

 

Also, I suggest that your dog comply with basic commands and know how to act in public or you're going to make it difficult for other users. But to say there's special commands or intense training is not necessarily true. I trained both of mine using clicker training and Bridge and Target training. Dog number one was ready at age 8 months and has been working 8 years. I also trained a dog for the visually impaired prior to this. It might be good people training to do this first and you can usually find an org that will sponsor you to train the dog for them. Bring your tissues, because when that dog goes back, you're gonna feel like crap (but happy too...)

 

The statement that an SD must only pay attention to the person that they are working for is also misleading. Hearing assistance dogs are trained to notice when another person is talking and to alert the hearing impaired person, often by nudging or standing by the speaking person. They also notify about ambulances (while driving for example), doorbells/door indicator lights flashing/ringing, lots of things.

 

While I applaud your efforts to help, some of your info is wrong. Anyone have more questions? PM me. I'm one of the top experts in service dog laws in the state, and that's pretty sad. I got there from experience, training, and specialized education. I've had to correct the Michigan Department of Civil Rights on their interpretation of the law using HUD information as my proof. Even employees of HUD don't know the law. Forget about the DOJ helping you too. Unless you have money to sue, get used to writing lots of letters and getting nowhere. I've even had the police threaten to arrest me and put my service dog in the pound (a dog whose training is valued at about $45k) when a Tim Horton's failed to grant me access. I was not unruly or disruptive, just a citizen who wanted my rights enforced.

 

And the police force? My cousin works on the same force.

 

Bottom line - don't think anyone will help you more than you. Don't think your rights are a sure thing and that anyone cares more than you do about YOU.

 

I know this is an old post but would really like information on who i can contact to register as a service dog trainer ( to train my own service dog) with the state.  I cannot afford to spend the thousands to buy an already trained service dog (Diabetic Alert Dog).  You seem to understand the laws and have a wealth of information.  Finding info on who to contact, or any requirements seems to be impossible and I'm sure laws have changed in some way since this post was written.  Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.  

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