# Service dog discrimination



## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

This just made us sick, but one of the girls who has a GSD service dog in the same obedience class as Boris (our Doberman) had the following incident at a sport and travel show recently.
I've just copied and pasted it since you need to create an account to view the whole thing otherwise.
Have any of you run into this sort of thing in your area, or is it just a few ignorant people around here?



> *Woman with service dog treated badly at Home, Sport Show*
> She was wrongly told to leave; apologies sent to her
> By JIM ROMSAAS
> City Editor
> ...


I just can't believe the ignorance that's still out there in this day and age. These are the nicest people in the world and it just sickens me that someone could be ignorant enough to actually make them leave an event they were trying to enjoy.

If the incident alone wasn't bad enough, the comments left by a few who are apparently friends of the guy who asked them to leave are absolutely appalling..... I didn't include the comments here, but if you create an account (which is very short and simple) you can see the mess. I give our trainer (juel) credit for doing a great job of getting the facts out there and trying to set things straight. 
Here's the direct link.
Mesabi Daily News

And the link to the the website of the lady and her service dog.
My Service Dog


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## Revernance (Aug 20, 2007)

These kind of things get me so mad at the world. 
But you know what. There are still more good people than bad people.


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## Deni (Jul 6, 2005)

What a handsome dog!! Makes me think of Rin Tin Tin.

I managed to read almost all of the responses to the article. (Didn't have to register.) I stopped when people started getting silly. 

The only thing that I can figure is that there were two people (or maybe more) who were at that event with dogs. There was Maureen with Blade -- Blade having the vest on and Maureen speaking kindly to the girl who wanted to pet the dog -- and some other person with a dog -- the dog not having a vest and the person being snotty to kids. I think that's very possible. Of course, even the snotty lady shouldn't be made to feel bad about having her dog in a public place.

I haven't heard anything about a similar occurance in my area. I hope it's just an isolated incident and good for Maureen to try to make people aware of this important issue.


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## star rider (Feb 27, 2006)

the show coordinator as well as any agent involved with the show should be glad that Maureen Rooney is willing to let this get behind her and move on.

otherwise there could have been some serious implications involved. including law suits


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

How terrible that she had to go through the experience to begin with and then the nasty comments later were totally uncalled for. It is good to see that more people were considerate and empathetic than the hateful few with nothing better to do than be nasty. Maureen Rooney is truly a great person for being able to let it go and move past it and I sincerely hope she isn't confronted with such ignorance again.


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## mikenas102 (Feb 8, 2006)

Generally I wouldn't say to sue them because this country is so sue happy. However, in this case the show organizers are so arrogant even after realizing their mistake that I think the only way to teach them a lesson is to sue them and bankrupt them.


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## longhornxtreme (Feb 20, 2007)

IANAL: But I'm pretty damn sure you need to speak to one. The ADA statutes and the like usually provide for punitive dmages.

There are laws out there to 1) prevent what happened , 2) compensate the victim, and 3) punish the offender.

Go see a lawyer. There's nothing shameful in bringing suit to have the current existing laws enforced.


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## JanS (Apr 14, 2004)

Thanks all.

I went ahead and gave Maureen and Judy (the trainer) this link so they could read your nice comments too.


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