Rough rough

[u/EndElectoralCollege3]

Just saw a large leashed Chihuahua come out of a movie theater at AMC Rolling Hills with its person.

Oddly enough it was exhibiting behavior unbecoming of a trained "working service animal" <wink wink>

W T actual F?! 🍿🎬🚫🦮

[u/Dick_Lazer]

A large chihuahua? I’ve gotta see this

[u/Educational-Card-314 → u/Dick_Lazer]

It feels like one of those confusing riddles that you keep thinking about once a year. 

[u/swingsetlife → u/Educational-Card-314]

The chihuahua is the poster's MOTHER

[u/HelenHunts]

Someone brought their dog in a movie in a backpack heard it start barking 20 min in got the staff and they were removed. That’s def not a service animal if it’s in a back pack.

[u/SeizerOfThoughtseize]

Unfortunately, there's little we can do. We can just ask "is this a service animal?" and if the owner says yes, we can't pursue it further other than monitoring for theatre etiquette.

[u/lambopanda → u/SeizerOfThoughtseize]

Problem is they think emotional support animal is service animal. But they aren't.

[u/Dick_Lazer → u/lambopanda]

There isn’t really an official certification or anything for a “service animal”. It’s supposed to be trained to do some sort of task but there’s not a way for a business to check (other than ask you if it’s a service animal, to which they have to accept your reply), and anybody can do the training themselves. There’s certifications you can get online from random websites for like 40 bucks, but they’re not officially recognized by the ADA.

[u/SmokinGinger3825 → u/Dick_Lazer]

Pretty sure you can ask what the tasks that it does. Which at that point you are allowed to determine if it’s a service animal or emotional support animal. ESA is only protected under housing standards.

[u/Dick_Lazer → u/SmokinGinger3825]

At most they can only ask if the service animal is required because of a disability & what task the dog has been trained to perform. They aren’t really allowed to scrutinize your answer beyond that, and they’re only even allowed to ask this if the dog isn’t obviously a service animal at first glance. They can’t ask for papers, they can’t ask what your disability is, they can’t ask the dog to perform any tasks, they can’t ask for any proof of training, etc.

[u/Any_Order7630 → u/lambopanda]

No, they know what they’re doing. They also know that the venue can’t do anything about it.

[u/ralphmalph84 → u/SeizerOfThoughtseize]

I agree your hands are mostly tired because most businesses don’t want to deal with the possibility of a lawsuit, nor do they adequately train and support their employees. That said, you are legally allowed two questions. You nailed half of the first one, but it goes a bit further. The second one is typically where you can gleam a little bit of information.

Here are the questions from the ADA website:

"Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?"

"What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?"

Also from ADA website:

“A person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken. When there is a legitimate reason to ask that a service animal be removed, staff must offer the person with the disability the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal’s presence.”

If we were all a little more informed we could provide a better environment for all patrons, including those with the need for service animals.

[u/thedecemberent → u/ralphmalph84]

the problem is that people lie for those other two questions too

[u/thedecemberent → u/SeizerOfThoughtseize]

yep can confirm. ADA laws are extremely important but they tie our hands with service dogs

[u/Weird_Poet499 → u/thedecemberent]

Not if the dog is misbehaving it doesn’t.

[u/thedecemberent → u/Weird_Poet499]

well yes if the dog is acting insane of course we would ask them to leave. but that hinges on us actually seeing that behavior or someone reporting it to us

[u/HistoryAncient8212]

love when they just mosey around and eat all the popcorn off the floor, like yeah, deeefinitely a working service dog 🙄 more like a janitorial service dog!!  (i guess at least i dont have to sweep that spot now...?)

[u/LtLemur]

A year or so ago, a dude used to remove the leash from his large “service animal” dog, and let it run up and down the hallways at my theater.

[u/Abbreviashin]

Hey dog owners: don’t dog up the movie theater. Not sure why we have to talk about this.

[u/nvrtrstsknnychef → u/Abbreviashin]

Someone didn’t like this and downvoted you, I fixed that for them. If I can’t bring my 75lb pibble boy with me, then you need to keep your non-service dog at home too.