I posted this as a response to someone who had a tenant inform all the other tenants on how to get a dog into a no pets building. Here are some medical tests that I am going to add to my criteria as requirements for dogs coming into my unit.

Now, here are the tests that I am going to require and this will be a handout to applicants..

IDEXX Diarrhea Panel. This costs $275 at my local vet. The test identifies which of 8 bad bacteria are in a dog's stool. Several of them are transferrable to humans: Clostridium Perfringens, Clostridium Difficile and Campylobacter Jejeuni. Since 80 percent of dogs have Clostridium Perfringens you can pick and choose which dog you will accept with the issue. This stays dormant in the dog's intestine and can suddenly multiply to cause diarrhea and even hermorrhagic diarrhea. You can claim that children and other dogs play on the grass and you don't want these bacteria in the building. The Clostridium last for five months on hard surfaces.

Rabies vaccine or a titer. The titer tests dog's blood for level of rabies vaccine/antibodies. This is for old dogs who might die from a rabies shot or sick dogs but you really don't want sick dogs.

If you have already accepted a dog in a rental you could add the vaccine for Kennel Cough for any new dogs which is highly contagious among dogs and can cause pneumonia in dogs.

I am going to make this list for myself and hand it to anyone who applies. We can ask for neutered cats so I am sure we can ask for neutered dogs only.

This is only for people who do NOT have a real service dog like a blind person or a person with seizures or a hearing assist dog.

This is a gray area and we are being forced by dishonest tenants to take dogs on new carpeting and in buildings that would just not be good to have dogs. I am going to make this part of my rental criteria going forward.

AllyM, have you checked the FFH and ADA requirements to ensure these new criteria are legal when applied to ESAs? The reason I ask is if I were a judge, I'd have to wonder if this wasn't a thinly veiled attempt to circumvent the law by using an unreasonable battery of tests as an excuse not to comply.

For example, how often do dogs showing none of the symptoms actually have these illnesses? If it's one in one-million, then a judge might rule a $275 poop test to be an unreasonable burden, even if there is a teensy-weensy risk to others. In cases like this, the judgment often goes to the part who would be most-harmed. Requiring all tenants to pay for a test when there's only a 0.0000001 chance of a positive coming back would probably be deemed unreasonable.

Not legal. You can only require things that are legally (by actual law) required of every dog or animal. Thus, you can require rabies vaccine and license of every dog, including service animal and ESA. You can require rabies vaccine for cat and ferret.

You can probably require brucellosis test for the emotional support cow or bison. In some states, you can require a Coggins test for the guide horse for the blind or the ESA horse or donkey.

Maybe you could get away with the DNA poop cleaning enforcement if you can prove there was a pre-existing problem at your building.

You can meet the animal and reject those that bite you.

As I said in the other thread, you can't add requirements like this that don't apply to ALL animals by local law/ordinance.

You can't require SAs or ESAs to be neutered, for example.

But, I already said it in the other thread and you don't really care. So, I'm not posting this for Ally. I'm posting this for others that might follow her (very poor) advice that she has already been warned about previously as being illegal.

- John...

Note that, in the other thread, AllyM said this:

"This is only for people who do NOT have a real service dog like a blind person or a person with seizures or a hearing assist dog."

She was only going to give this list of requirements to those that she thinks are faking -- not the "real" ones.

Again, that is clearly illegal. Do not follow her advice.

- John...

As far as I know, all states in the US have a rabies vaccination requirement. So, I require a rabies vaccine and proof from vet. There are people who ignore it, but I can legally require that.

I'll be honest and say that I require proof of flea/tick preventative for dogs and cats.

I did get asked about that by someone recently. A resident I've accepted. I showed her where IAADP (International Association of Assistance Dog Partners) and ADI (Assistance Dogs International) both strongly recommend them. I also explain how difficult it is to eradicate fleas from a home, and that a "Bomb" doesn't really do it. It made sense to the person I was speaking to. I also explained the reason that both orgs strongly recommend that a dog be neutered if it is going to do public access work.

Flea prevention.... yeah, I can see that one flying. You are allowed to decline service animals who damage your property and fleas are damage. As long as it is required of all animals on your property.

You can require that dogs be house trained and that cat litter boxes be cleaned, because reasonable accomodation doesn't require that the landlord has to allow the destruction of his property.

Barb: I agree that RECOMMENDING things is fine. But that isn't what is being suggested here. She is trying to use it to weed out people with ESAs -- based on a BELIEF that they are "fake." She basically says that she'll take Service Animals that are "real", but then use this list to get rid of anyone else.

Even though AllyM professes to be a physic, she still can't magically judge "real" from "fake" and then use this legally to weed them out. It just doesn't work that way. :(

- John...

Typo there, obviously. I meant that she professes to be a PSYCHIC, of course.

- John...

I am search online, ESA Doctor said the ESA letter is good for one year and they need to get new letter every year. Is that correct?

I don't appreciate personal attacks and those who make them should not be here.

80 percent of dogs have Clostridium Perfringens. Most have no symptoms until they develop an overgrowth and have bloody stools. Then they have to be rushed to emergency for treatment.

Of course I would use a credit check to screen and could probably find some other reason to reject an applicant.

Since I had radiation for cancer and my immune system is a bit weak I might get away with requiring the IDEXX Diarrhea panel to prevent contact with a contagious bacteria. Also if there are children in the building that might help.

I am not sure where you found the "80%" figure but none of the vet sites support that statistic. In fact, there are very few tests that can definitively detect this.

Most healthy dogs, cats and humans have this bacteria in their system without any problems. Perhaps you should require that prospective tenants be tested as well.

LOL. Wash your hands after handling dog poop and you should be fine.

AllyM: Where were you personally attacked by me exactly? All I said was that your advice was illegal (which I still stand behind, but that is not a "personal attack") -- and that you had no way to determine which were "real" and which were "fake" other than psychic ability (which, if I recall, you have stated NUMEROUS times that you have, right?).

So where, exactly, was the "personal attack" again you? Disagreeing with your advice and calling it illegal is not a "personal attack."

- John...

Landlord of the Flies, I think the insurance policy sounds like a good idea. After all, renter's insurance can be required without breaking some law.

Vets require that dogs have a variety of shots before they can be boarded. Boarding kennels and some groomers require that dogs have a variety of shots before taking them on as clients.

I don't want some fool suing me right now because I don't want their dog on my new second floor one bedroom carpeting. I'll let you know how this works out.

NC Investor, you either didn't check that 80% statistic or you don't know where to look. I just researched this because I have a rescue with two intestinal bacteria that I don't want to get.

Some of you people are awful. i only stay here because I can occasionally help someone.

I'm not going to referee the John vs. AllyM fight, other than to say I don't think John personally attacked and was giving helpful corrections, but there was a tone of mockery that was not helpful. On the other hand, bad advice is bad advice and should be called out without someone taking it as a personal attack. When we learn we are wrong, admit it and move on. Nothing to get bent out of shape over. The people here are not "awful." Go to any Facebook political discussion page and you'll find awful. They won't hesitate to use words and phrases that the blocking software here would not allow thru. (wink)

I was a bit "mocking" here, I agree. Sorry about that. It carried over from the OTHER thread where this started and I tried to tell her there that it wasn't legal. When it was ignored there, I admit I was a bit frustrated when she made a new thread saying the exact same (illegal) thing. So, I clearly responded with a bit more of a "tone of mockery" than I might normally have done. Sid is right.

- John...