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Every month Helping Paws receives many questions concerning service dogs and the law. The inquiries come from all walks of life -- school children, business owners, landlords, and people with disabilities. They all have very specific questions about the access privileges granted to service dogs in public. This section of the website was designed to help answer some of those questions. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), businesses and organizations that serve the public must allow people with disabilities to bring their service animals into all areas of the facility where customers are normally allowed to go. This federal law applies to all businesses open to the public, including restaurants, hotels, taxis and shuttles, grocery and department stores, hospitals and medical offices, theaters, health clubs, parks, and zoos. The ADA defines a service animal as any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to provide assistance to an individual with a disability. If they meet this definition, animals are considered service animals under the ADA regardless of whether they have been licensed or certified by a state or local government. *Please note that the ADA uses the term “service animal” rather than “assistance animal”. Title III does not preempt any State law, if that State law provides protection for individuals with disabilities at a level greater or equal to that provided by the ADA. As explained in section 36.103(c), the ADA does, however, prevail over any conflicting State laws, or those laws that provide lesser protection against discrimination. For more information on the privileges granted by the ADA, visit the United States Department of Justice website for a fact sheet on service animals. In Minnesota, the access privileges of service dogs are also granted through laws passed by the Minnesota Legislature. We are fortunate that Minnesota grants service dogs-in-training the same access privileges as a fully trained service dog so that trainers can work with their dogs in realistic settings before they are placed with a person with a disability. The Minnesota Disability Law Center has also provided two helpful documents about assistance dog access issues. The first file is a fact sheet, or summary, of the laws and how they apply in Minnesota. The second file is the text from the actual state and federal regulations. Click on the links below to download the files. Additional Information |
