Sheryl Womble, a Valley resident, has years of experience working with service animals. Service animals have helped with day-to-day activities such as picking up things and opening doors. Womble knows how to differentiate a real service dog from a fake one.

Womble recalls an incident that happened years ago. According to her, she was at a community event with her service dog when another dog wearing a vest that “indicated” it was a service animal tried to attack her dog. In an attempt to protect her service dog, she blocked the attacking dog with her wheelchair and got bit.

She states that just because a dog wears a service animal vest, doesn’t mean it’s real. Vests can be purchased over the internet. Although they “can help” in the identification of a service dog, they increase the incidence of people passing their pets off as service animals.

One way to tell that a service animal is a fake one is the way it behaves. Dogs that show aggressive behavior in public are less likely to be service dogs because to be a service dog, the animal should be trained for years on several aspects including basic obedience.  

Source: The Spokesman-Review

Do you own an assistance animal? Register your pet. 

The Service Animal Registry of California invites you to have your assistance animal registered in order to designate its status. We also encourage you to take our online classes so you can be fully aware of your rights and gain more knowledge about your support animal.

Finally, we present to you our book entitled, “ASSISTANCE ANIMAL LAWS: LEARN YOUR RIGHTS REGARDING SERVICE ANIMALS, EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMALS, THERAPY PETS, AND OTHER DOGS, CATS, AND ASSISTANCE ANIMALS” to provide you with a complete education on assistance animals.

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