Today's Petfinder newsletter had a link about ESAs/SDs/Therapy Dogs. They are giving the wrong info!

Look at www.petfinder.com/dog-breeds/collections/emotional-support-dogs/

Note their wording:

How do you register your pet as an emotional support animal (ESA)?

Step 1: Meet with an expert

Schedule an appointment for a brief assessment with a licensed therapist.

Step 2: Get proof

Your ESA requires a letter from a mental health professional stating that the animal provides therapeutic value to its owner.

Step 3: Get registered

Register your dog online with a reputable nationally recognized, government-approved website. You’ll be assigned an identification number for your pet and receive proof of registration such as a certificate or card you can present as necessary.

How do we convince them to take this down? They need to be actually diagnosed a disabled by the licensed mental health provider, and they need a letter of medical necessity from that provider stating they have the disability and need the animal as part of the treatment plan.

This "registered" part is absolute BS and just flat wrong!

I encourage you all to respond to them and tell them they need take "Step 3" off their site, since it is flat out wrong There is no such thing as a reputable nationally recognized, government-approved website. Those websites are all scammer sites and do nothing but take people's money for nothing.

I saw a post on a local forum, regarding a prospective tenant who couldn't find a rental because of her German Shepherd. The response post read something like: "...xyz apartments allows dogs. There's a breed restriction with a loophole. You get a doctor to say that your dog is an ESA."

Here's a large apartment complex's "Pet Policy"/dog policy:

Dogs must be at least one-year old

Breed Restrictions-No to the following breeds: Akita, Alaskan Malamute, Chow, Doberman Pinscher, German Shepherd, Great Dane, Husky, Pit Bull Terriers (including all breeds such as American Pit Bull Terrier, American or Irish Staffordshire Terriers, Bull Terriers, Pit Bulls, American Bull dogs, and Presa Canario), Rottweiler, Saint Bernard, and Wolf Dog Hybrids. We reserve the right to add additional restricted breeds at any time.

Thank you for having posted about this issue that seems to become more and more pronounced with time. I'd be interested in any legislation in defense of landlords.

Barb: Yeah, that's some poorly researched crap from them.

My first question would be: Please show me a list of "nationally recognized, government-approved website" -- with emphasis on the "GOVERNMENT-APPROVED" since no such thing exists.

- John...

Barb, I went to Petfinder's Contact page and submitted this:

----

Hi there! I am writing with a concern about this page of your site:

www.petfinder.com/dog-breeds/collections/emotional-support-dogs/

Specifically, the steps at the bottom in the "How do you register your pet as an emotional support animal (ESA)?" section. The title itself is incorrect -- since there is no need or official way to "register your pet as an ESA."

The information throughout this section is very incorrect. Step 2 should be clarified that having an ESA requires the person have a disability by Federal definition of the term. The letter from the mental health professional must state that the person has a disability (although not what it actually is) and then something along the lines that "the accommodation is necessary to give the tenant equal opportunity to use and enjoy the housing community." It has to be more than just provide "therapeutic value" to the owner. The owner must meet the Federal disability definition.

And, probably more importantly, Step 3 is just absolutely incorrect. There is absolutely no such things as a "nationally recognized, government-approved website" for ESA registration. Registration is not required and, in fact, the government absolutely does NOT APPROVE NOR RECOGNIZE ANY website as an "ESA registry."

Step 3 should simply be "Give this documentation to your landlord to show that you are allowed an ESA."

I hope that you will correct this misinformation quickly. Thank you.

---

Note to self: You use "absolutely" way too many times when you are fired up! HA!

They PM'ed back and gave me the address for the administrator and I wrote to them as well. I can't get it past the censor though.

pets

at

petfinder

dot

There is a LOT of BAD advice/ misinformation out there fueling the deceitful desires and illegal/immoral behaviors of pet owners.

Zillow has an article/instructions that uses ESA, Therapy dog, and Service dog interchangeably.

DJ, it is.

My SD, Scooter, goes everywhere with me. It has become more and more difficult. He has flown from coast to coast, and been on a cruise to Alaska and Canada. We were on one flight where a cat got out of its carrier, and another where some little ESA dog was being a total annoyance, barking the entire trip. Scooter looked up with a “what is wrong with that thing” look, then curled up to snooze.

We’ve also seen some very well trained dogs, including a beautiful K9 GSD on a flight.

Just pay attention to your local news stations online. Every few days you're going to see stories about these miraculous therapy dogs and emotional support animals and all this new wave nonsense. This stuff is totally different than a service dog. Federally regulated or not, this stuff is BS!

Kids on college campuses have to have a therapy dog during finals week and kids in the quart room have to have a therapy dog and any tragedy had a school these people bring in these therapy dogs it's just conditioning for some reason. I don't know why, but it is. It is crazy in my opinion.