Man Loses Assistance Dog Because It Goes Off Leash - Page 2

 I am sorry to state the obvious here, but no dog, including a highly trained service dog is a robot. That said, it is important to look at how the dog assists Dr. Yonnet. Was the dog trained with skills rendered in proximity of the gentleman? Was the dog ever trained to do off-lead work from a distance?

Dr. Yonnet said he would never put his dog in danger. No owner would knowingly place his animal in harms way. Can he predict with 100% certainty what is around the next tree or corner for the rest of Eon's life? I think not.

Every program, including the one where I obtained my service dogs over the years, makes you aware of your duties and lists prohibitions very clearly. In this case violations occurred, and CCI has the absolute right to take the dog back. (In my case, the program turned ownership of my dogs to me when I completed training, but it can still revoke his certification. BTW, I've never had a CCI service dog.)

I do not have one iota of sympathy for the man, BUT my heart goes out to Elon. The dog suffers as a result of the handler's errors in judgement. That is the way it always happens, doesn't it?

CCIs response is a good cap out. On the other hand  Mr Yonnet should not accept the dog under the conditions which he could not keep. I would not deal with organisation which has such rules. What are they?

The way the CCI handeled the situation is deplorable.
Oh yeah and "great" PR job!!!
Hans

Due to the strict rules of the Lion's Club in Canada, I decided to train my own hearing ear dog, rather than rely on them to provide me with one. With most service dog organizations, you never own the dog, and they can take it away from you if they feel you are not treating it properly or obeying their rules.

The dealbreak for me was they also said I had to get rid of any dogs I had as pets. At that time, I had a 13 year old German Shepherd, which I'd owned since she was 9 mo. To rehome a dog that old would have been worse than cruel to both of us.

So I will help you with hearing aid dog if you get rid of your 13 years old dog and then I will take that dog away from you at any time,  if you do not follow our rules to a "t" ? What is wrong with these people!!?? Who wakes up in the morning and comes up with this fascists dictatorial  stuff. What a traumatic thing to do to already vulnerable people.

What is wrong with working with people and their dogs and their every day life needs and loves and situations, so that the new support dog will fit into their complete  life without emotional upheaval? 

 I have worked with several deaf people and trained their dogs ( some I have given them)  to respond to fire alarm and door bell, phone  and so on. It was fun and it was a lot off work and I have charged nothing or for all that the same as for basic obedience even so it took 10x longer. Unfortunately I do not have time to do this any more,.... But back then  when I have done this work it would never crossed my mind to put any restriction on the dog or the owner. It became their dogs and with their needs came responsibility to maintain the dog so that they can keep benefiting from it.    
 

Hans
http://www.alpinek9.com

Yes, Hans, but you are able to separate the dog from the human in the equation. You don't view dogs as furry humans, with more rights than the humans.

I think that maybe too many of these organizations view dogs as so much more than dogs, and they feel that they have the right to dictate everything done with or to that dog.  And by people continuing to support these groups, their dictatorial policies are reinforced.

Now I realize that there is a lot of time invested in these dogs, as well as money, but once the dog has been placed, that really should be the end of it.  You don't sell a car and then expect someone to come take it away from you if you don't wash and wax it once a month, and while this is oversimplification of the issue, it very much boils down to the same thing.

If a lot of people let these groups know that their policies are offensive and hurtful to both the animals and the humans involved, it might go a long way toward fixing the problems.  God knows, a service dog is still a dog, and needs to be able to run and play.

Crys

 I think they "give" the dog for free, but the government pays out 30,000 for each dog. A buddy of mine was going to start a service dog program. That was the going rate back then.

So, they take the dog back and get 30,000 for him again ? Sounds like a good money making scheme. 

the guy was given the opportunity to have a service dog.......
the guy broke the rules.........
the guy looses the dog and gains an important life lesson.......

sad story, but good lesson.

Watching the service dogs being trained at work, I observe the majority of the training is actually done off leash. A leash will not allow the dog to perform certain tasks, such as fetch a phone from another room or open certain doors. If a dog is not reliable off leash, I'll wager it's not reliable enough to potentially save someone's life.

There must be more to this story.