I was told that my psychiatric service dog is not the same as a service dog and not allowed in the VA medical center at Seattle. The police said Shinsecki had ordered this. Does anyone know about this? The police also said the Americans with Disability Act does not apply to the VA.

I have tried for hours now to find a way to call Shinsecki's office to inquire but can't find any number other than 827-1000 and when I finally called that the woman told me to google it!! What's up with that???

I think that the newspapers would like to hear about that little bit of discrimination. This is why they put a retired general in charge of the VA because he is used to giving and following dumb orders. It is good to have a Yes Man in charge of the VA.

Sounds like another case of VA (wanna be) Police over-stepping their bounds. Try calling the ADA Office and letting them know what you were told, have them put a call in to the Chief of the Seattle VAMC and I'd bet that all will be well.

I also agree that the media needs to hear about this!!

maryriver,
There is a big difference in Guide Dogs (Service Dogs) and Therapy Dogs.
I've done a shout out to someone I know that is very well versed on this issue
and I will get back to you on this.
For now here is a link regarding ADA.

http://www.vetdogs.org/

carlie

Is your service animal certified and with the service animal "uniform" that is to be worn while on duty?
I had a therapy dog, wasn't cert. but you couldn't tell Me, or Her that She wasn't my therapy dog! Most stores, and my CBOC saw it differently, had to have the certification as a working service animal.

BoonDoc

"ALRIGHT, MUTT, GET YOUR PAWS IN THE AIR AND BACK UP SLOWLY TOWARDS ME! YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, ALL FOUR OF 'EM, IN THE AIR!"

I am begining to understand that some of the problem is the way we talk about this subject.

First off, I have discovered that the ADA does NOT apply to federal agencys - but the U.S. Rehabilitation Act of 1973 "prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs conducted by Federal agencies, in programs receiving Federal financial assistance, in Federal employment, and in the employment practices of Federal contractors". And in Jan of 09 congress added language that makes all of the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act virtually the same PLUS they added language that clearly makes mental health disabilities equal with physical ones as far as these two laws go.

Second, the way we name the professional dogs confuses people. Service or therapy or companion psychaitric ..... there are only two catagories either the dog is a pet or it is a service dog. Some pets are trained to visit nicely with folks who are living in nursing homes and the like. These dogs are pets.

Service animals are trained to provide a service ....and here is a web site that helps us see the types of service acknowledged by the laws: http://www.psychdog.org/tasks.html

So now that I have answered my own question I have set up a meeting with folks from Senator Murrays office and we will see if thay can get through the police mentality

TKS and I hope this helps others too

Semper Fi

Good!!!

I am thinking of training my young golden to go with me to visit places I have a strong aversion too.

I researched it also and I think that our VA has posted in a couple of spots that service dogs are authorized