No dogs allowed: Many Calgary, Ottawa businesses rejecting service animals

Dogs have been our friends for millennia, but their role as real helpers in our personal lives has evolved markedly in the last couple of decades.

From seeing-eye duties for the blind to helping the physically disabled be more independent; from helping provide early warning of epileptic seizures to detecting some kinds of cancer, dogs have come to assist us in many important ways.

One of the fastest-expanding jobs for our canine friends has been as therapy animals, comforting seniors and those who’ve suffered trauma. They’ve even worked inside courthouses to help steady nervous witnesses.

They’re also proving very effective at helping former soldiers, police and other first-responders cope with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Public awareness of this service, however, is lagging far behind, according to a trainer.

George Leonard, a search-and-rescue technician, First Nations band constable and dog trainer, runs Courageous Companions, which trains and certifies service dogs for a variety of duties, including PTSD work.

He says that widespread ignorance is keeping dogs and those they serve out of many businesses in Canada, including restaurants and supermarkets, off airline flights and even out of cabs.

Public understanding of service dogs doesn’t seem to extend much past seeing a Labrador or German Shepherd helping the visually impaired, he said in an interview with Yahoo Canada News.

“We run into that all the time,” he said.

The evidence comes in the form of a survey conducted this year by Courageous Companions based on the experiences of some 300 people, largely veterans, who have a service dog trained by the organization.

The results, posted this week on the group’s Facebook page, suggest many businesses either flout or are unaware of provincial laws requiring certified service dogs access to their premises.

The problem was especially acute in Alberta, with Calgary having the worst track record at a 90 per cent refusal rate. Ottawa ranked a surprising second at 80 per cent, followed by Saskatoon, Brandon, Man., and Moncton, N.B.

Winnipeg is friendliest city for service dogs

The survey found Winnipeg, where Courageous Companions has a high public profile, was the easiest environment for people with service dogs, with just a five-per-cent refusal rate. Toronto ranked second at 30 per cent, followed closely by Vancouver, Montreal and Quebec City.

The least-accommodating businesses were, airlines, the transportation and taxi industry, restaurants, grocery stores and hotels.

“With Air Canada and WestJet, it’s just sheer incompetence,” said Leonard. “There’s too many staff, not enough information and they just don’t know.

"When it comes to a restaurant, what they’ll generally say is it’s in violation of the health code.”

Leonard is especially frustrated with the taxi industry. Courageous Companions has taken one Ottawa cab company to court over repeated refusals to accept passengers with service dogs.

“What really hammered that one home to us was we were at an event at the War Museum, at the request of the government, and we couldn’t get a cab from there,” he said. “They actually started a confrontation with us three times in a row when we were trying to leave there.”

Leonard said the reasons for cabbies’ refusals ranged from dog allergies to claiming the vehicle was a place of worship (for Muslim drivers who pray inside their cabs,) to simply not abiding dogs, period.

The dismal results out of Calgary were heavily influenced by Leonard’s own recent experience there around Remembrance Day with his own service dog.

“I went 0 for 20 when I was trying to go out,” he said. “I got denied in the restaurant of the hotel I was staying at.

“I got kicked out of one place with the Calgary Stampeders with me. They were shocked to see that.”

Leonard said he advised his football friends not to make a fuss.

“Understand, this is how it is for some people,” he said. “It was a great eye-opening experience.”

Alberta’s Service Dogs Act requires people with qualified dogs to be granted admission to any place where the general public is allowed. Violations can result in fines between $300 and $3,000.

A spokesman for Alberta Human Services, which administers the legislation, said the department does not field complaints directly. People who’ve been turned away from businesses are advised to contact local police or the Alberta Human Rights Commission, Blair Addams told Yahoo Canada News.

The department does not collect data on the number of complaints made about violations of the law, Addams said. Why not?

"That’s a really good question," Addams said.

Not out to shame businesses

Leonard didn’t report the offending businesses or out them publicly. The survey is going into a report intended for Veterans Affairs Canada, which is doing preliminary work for a pilot project next year on using psychiatric service dogs as an alternative to drugs to help veterans suffering from PTSD.

Courageous Companions has also reached out to organizations representing the restaurant and hospitality industries, with a combined membership of more than 70,000. They will distribute educational guidelines to businesses on what questions can and can’t be asked when they encounter someone with a service dog.

“The story is accessibility and education, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Leonard.

One aspect involves building awareness that service dogs now come in all shapes and sizes, not just retrievers and shepherds. A restaurant host might look suspiciously at a chihuahua wearing a service-dog jacket.

“That’s all about perception, because there’s a changing face of service dogs in the last 15 years,” said Leonard.

He warns clients they may have to do the educating themselves.

“So you’re going to have the extra pressure of explaining what this dog is and what this dog does,” he said.

Courageous Companions is working towards a national certification standard, including the familiar jackets the dogs wear. Meanwhile, the group’s members carry identification cards that can be checked online to confirm they have qualified service dogs.

Leonard warned that since interest in using dogs to help vets and first responders with PTSD has grown, operations have sprung up falsely purporting to provide certified dogs. A national standard should help eliminate the problem, he said.

The Courageous Companions program sprang from Leonard’s experience working with the military in search-and-rescue operations. When acquaintances began returning from tours in Afghanistan with PTSD, Manitoba First Nations leader Elijah Harper pushed for expansion of a therapy-dog training program.

“The First Nations actually started the initiative to start training dogs for service members,” said Leonard. “That’s how the whole program started. It was a reciprocation of the respect they gave to us.”