Luna the service dog

[yukidomari]

Originally Posted by draggar

Yes, 10 week old puppies cannot be service dogs but they can be in training (IMO extremely important to start as soon as you can - Luna's "training" started as soon as we got her but early on, until they can physically do the work, it is exposure, socialization, obedience, exposure, socialization, obedience, exposure, socialization, and obedience.

Of course, but whether you want to call it potential SD (I personally do, at ten weeks, because I don't think it's possible to gauge appropriate character at that age to even begin thinking about task training or public access training) or an SDiT, both still aren't federally protected and have access limited (or provided for) by state law. Some states are very SDiT friendly with laws that provide accomodation for them almost the same as full working SDs (like PA), others are not. In some states, SDiTs are not allowed any more access than any other pet dog, which can make public access training more difficult, when the only places you can go with an SDiT are places like PetCo.

In either case, SDiTs and potentials aren't protected under things like the ACAA of 1986 which grants access to full SDs to board airplanes free of charge in the cabin, etc.

It's easily abused though, since there aren't any certification requirements in the states. Most gatekeepers aren't familiar with what is an SDiT, what is an SD, what is a PSD, what is an ESA, and what is a TD. Most don't know what questions they are legally allowed to ask. And so it's easy for people routinely misrepresent their dogs to gain free travel.

But, since you're involved with the SD world as well, I'm sure you know all that.