Academic Services Center |
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| Service Animal Guidelines at North Dakota State College of Science | |
| Service animals are animals trained to assist people with disabilities in the activities of normal living. The Americans with Disabilities Act’s (ADA) definition of service animals is ". . . any . . . animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including, but not limited to, guiding individuals with impaired vision, alerting individuals who are hearing impaired to intruders or sounds, providing minimal protection or rescue work, pulling a wheelchair, or fetching dropped items." If an animal meets this definition, it is considered a service animal regardless of whether it has been licensed or certified by a state or local government or a training program. | |
| A service animal must be permitted to accompany a person with a disability everywhere on campus. However, there are some places on campus that are not safe for service animals; these areas are discussed in greater detail below. | |
| These guidelines: differentiate "service animals" from "pets," describe types of service dogs, denote campus locations that are off-limits to service animals, and set behavioral guidelines for service animals. | |
| These guidelines can be found on the World Wide Web at: Disability Support Services | |
| Definitions: | |
| Pet: A domestic animal kept for pleasure or companionship. Pets are not permitted in college housing facilities. Permission may be granted by a professor/instructor, dean or other campus administrator for a pet to be in a campus facility for a specific reason at a specific time (e.g., a pet dog is used as a demonstration tool in a biology class; a group may be given permission to use the Student Center for a cat show). | |
| Service Animal: Any animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability. Service animals are usually dogs, but may be monkeys. A few other animals have been presented as service animals. A service animal is sometimes called an assistance animal. | |
| Therapy Animal: An animal with good temperament and disposition, with reliable, predictable behavior, who has been selected to visit people with disabilities or used as a therapy tool for people who are experiencing the frailties of aging. The animal may be incorporated as an integral part of a treatment process. A therapy animal does not assist an individual with a disability in the activities of daily living. The therapy animal does not accompany a person with a disability all the time, unlike a service animal that is always with its partner. Thus, a therapy animal is not covered by laws protecting service animals and given rights as service animals. | |
| Types of Service Dogs: | |
| Guide Dog: a carefully trained dog that serves as a travel tool by persons with severe visual impairments or who are blind. | |
| Hearing Dog: a dog who has been trained to alert a person with significant hearing loss or who is deaf when a sound, e.g., knock on the door, occurs. | |
| Service Dog: a dog that has been trained to assist a person who has a mobility or health impairment. Types of duties the dog may perform include; carrying, fetching, opening doors, ringing doorbells, activating elevator buttons, steadying a person while walking, helping a person up after the person falls, etc. Service dogs are sometimes called assistance dogs. | |
| SsigDog: a dog trained to assist a person with autism. The dog alerts the partner to distracting repetitive movements common among those with autism, allowing the person to stop the movement (e.g., hand flapping). A person with autism may have problems with sensory input and need the same support services from a dog that a dog might give to a person who is blind or deaf. | |
| Seizure Response Dog: a dog trained to assist a person with a seizure disorder; how the dog serves the person depends on the person's needs. The dog may stand guard over the person during a seizure, or the dog may go for help. A few dogs have somehow learned to predict a seizure and warn the person in advance. | |
| General Guidelines for Faculty, Staff and Students to follow when Encountering a Service Animal on Campus or in the Classroom: | |
| • Allow a service animal to accompany the partner at all times and everywhere on campus except, where service animals are specifically prohibited. | |
| • Do not pet a service animal; petting a service animal when the animal is working distracts the animal from the task at hand. | |
| • Do not feed a service animal. The service animal may have specific dietary requirements. Unusual food or food given at unexpected times may cause the animal to become ill. | |
| • Do not deliberately startle a service animal. | |
| • Do not separate or attempt to separate a partner/handler from her or his service animal. | |
| Requirements of Service Animals and their Partner or Handlers: | |
| Vaccination: The animal must be immunized against diseases common to that type of animal. Dogs must have had the general maintenance vaccine series, which includes vaccinations against rabies, distemper, and parvovirus. Other animals must have had the appropriate vaccination series for the type of animal. All vaccinations must be current. Dogs must wear a rabies vaccination tag at all times. | |
| Licensing: The City of Wahpeton requires all dogs over the age of 90 days to be licensed on or before the first day of March of each calendar year. Dog licenses are issued by the personnel at Dakota Veterinary Clinic and the fee is $5.00. Animals must be current on their shots prior to licensing. | |
| Owner ID and Other Tags: The City of Wahpeton requires that dogs wear a current rabies inoculation tag and dog license tag. Dakota Veterinary Clinic personnel encourage owners to place identification tags on their dogs as well. | |
| Health: The animal must be in good health. Animals to be housed in campus housing must have an annual clean bill of health from a licensed veterinarian | |
| Leash: The animal must be on a leash at all times. | |
| Under Control of Partner/Handler: The partner/handler must be in full control of the animal at all times. The care and supervision of a service animal is solely the responsibility of its partner/handler. | |
| Cleanup Rule: The partner must follow the City of Wahpeton ordinance in cleaning up after the animal defecates. The ordinance states that, “every person having custody or control of a leashed animal on property other than his own shall collect said animal’s solid waste when eliminated”. This requires the partner to: 1.) always carry equipment sufficient to clean up the dog's feces whenever the dog and partner are off the partner's property; 2.) never allow the dog to defecate on any property, public or private (except the partner's own property), unless the partner immediately removes the waste; 3.) properly dispose of the feces by flushing or burial. |
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| Individuals with disabilities who physically cannot clean up after their own service animal may not be required to pick up and dispose of feces. However, these individuals should use marked service animal toileting areas when such areas are provided. | |
| When a Service Animal Can Be Asked to Leave: | |
| Disruption: The partner of an animal that is unruly or disruptive (e.g., barking, running around, bringing attention to itself) may be asked to remove the animal from college facilities. If the improper behavior happens repeatedly, the partner may be told not to bring the animal into any college facility until the partner takes significant steps to mitigate the behavior. Mitigation can include muzzling a barking animal or refresher training for both the animal and the partner. | |
| Ill Health: Service animals that are ill should not be taken into public areas. A partner with an ill animal may be asked to leave college facilities. | |
| Uncleanliness: Partners with animals that are unclean, noisy and/or bedraggled may be asked to leave college facilities. An animal that becomes wet from walking in the rain or mud or from being splashed on by a passing automobile, but is otherwise clean, should be considered a clean animal. Animals that shed in the spring sometimes look bedraggled. If the animal in question usually is well groomed, consider the animal tidy even though its spring coat is uneven and messy appearing or it has become wet from weather or weather-related incidents. | |
| Areas Off Limits to Service Animals: | |
| Mechanical Rooms/Custodial Closets: Mechanical rooms, such as boiler rooms, facility equipment rooms, electrical closets, elevator control rooms and custodial closets, are off-limits to service animals. The machinery and/or chemicals in these rooms may be harmful to animals. | |
| Areas Where Protective Clothing is Necessary: Any room where protective clothing is worn is off-limits to service animals. | |
| Areas Where There is a Danger to the Service Animal: Any room, including a classroom, where there are sharp metal cuttings or other sharp objects on the floor or protruding from a surface; where there is hot material on the floor (e.g., molten metal or glass); where there is a high level of dust; or where there is moving machinery is off-limits to service animals. | |
| Exceptions: | |
| A lab instructor may open her or his laboratory to all service animals. | |
| A lab instructor or an instructor in a classroom with moving equipment may grant permission to an individual animal/partner team to enter the laboratory or classroom with moving machinery. Admission for each team will be granted or denied on a case-by-case basis. The final decision shall be made based on the nature of lab usage or machinery and the best interest of the animal. Example: The machinery in a classroom may have moving parts at a height such that the tail of a large dog could easily be caught in it; this is a valid reason for keeping large dogs out. However, a very small hearing dog may be shorter than any moving part and, therefore, considered for admission to the classroom. | |
| Access to other designated off-limit areas may be granted on a case-by-case basis. | |
| To be Granted an Exception: A student who wants his or her animal to be granted admission to an off-limits area should contact the Disability Support Services (DSS) office on campus. Visitors should also contact the Disability Support Services (DSS) office. | |
| General Guidelines for Emergency Situations: | |
| In the event of an emergency, emergency personnel that respond should be trained to recognize service animals and be aware that the animal may be trying to communicate the need for help. The animal may become disoriented from the smell or smoke in a fire or laboratory emergency, from sirens or wind noise, or from shaking and moving ground. The partner and/or animal may be confused from the stressful situation. Emergency personnel should be aware that the animal is trying to be protective and, in its confusion, is not to be considered harmful. Every effort should be made to keep the animal with its partner. However, emergency personnel’s first effort should be toward the partner; this may necessitate leaving an animal behind in certain emergency evacuation situations. | |
| Grievances: | |
| Any student dissatisfied with a decision made concerning a service animal should follow the grievance procedure as outlined in the NDSCS catalog. | |
| Clarifying Questions and Answers: | |
| Q: How do I know if the animal is a service animal and not just a pet? | |
| A: Some handlers carry a certification from the school that trained the animal, but certification cannot be required. Many service animals will be wearing a harness, cape or backpack, but some will have only a leash. It may be possible to discern that an animal is a service animal from the partner's disability, but some disabilities are not visible. You may have to rely on the verbal statement of the partner/handler. | |
| You may exercise your judgment concerning whether the partner's statements about the training and functions of the animal make it reasonable to think that the animal is a service animal. The following factors can be used in evaluating the credibility of the partner's statements. | |
| • the nature of the individual's disability (when the disability is visible) | |
| • the training the animal is said to have received | |
| • the ability of the animal to behave properly in public places | |
| • the functions the animal is said to perform for the individual | |
| • the animal is fully controlled by the partner at all times | |
| Q: What if the handler does not appear to have a disability? | |
| A: A person does not have to have a disability to be training a dog for a service dog training program. A non-disabled person may be caring for the service animal at the request of the disabled partner. (The animal may be of a breed or have a personality type that requires a significant or constant presence by a person to maintain the level and quality of training the animal has received.) A handler may be transporting the animal to a disabled partner. A service animal being transported or temporarily cared for retains rights granted to service animals. The partner may indeed have a disability, but the disability is not visible the person does not "look" disabled. You may ask the partner how the animal is assisting her or him. | |
| Q: What if an animal acts out of control? | |
| A: Service animals are trained to behave properly in public settings. For example, a properly trained service animal will remain at its owner's feet. It does not run freely around, bark or growl repeatedly at other persons or animals, bite or jump on people, or urinate or defecate inside buildings. An animal that engages in such disruptive behavior shows that it has not been successfully trained to function as a service animal in public settings. Therefore, you are not required to treat it as a service animal, even if the animal is one that performs an assistive function for a person with a disability. You can ask a partner to remove a disruptive or unruly animal. However, you should consider available means of mitigating the effect of an animal's behavior that are acceptable to the individual with a disability (e.g., muzzling a dog that barks frequently) that would permit the animal to remain. You may not make assumptions about how a particular animal is likely to behave based on past experience with other animals. Each situation must be considered individually. You may inquire, however, about whether a particular animal has been trained to behave properly in a public setting. | |
| Q: What else should I know about behavior? | |
| A: The service animal should be unobtrusive, not solicit attention, pull or strain on leash (unless pulling a wheelchair), and not exhibit aggressive or fearful behavior. Aggressive behavior is growling, biting, raised hackles, baring teeth, etc. However, these examples are not always indicative of aggression. For example, growls are only means of communication to dogs and sometimes that communication is valuable and appropriate. A curled lip that exposes the teeth can also indicate the presence of distasteful odors or that something offensive has been picked up on the lip, tooth or gums. It is entirely appropriate for a dog to display a protective or fearful response in certain contexts. | |
