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Dogs supposedly trained to detect and respond to potentially life-threatening blood sugar levels in people with diabetes were, in reality, often untrained, un-housebroken puppies with hefty pricetags—currently set at $25,000. At least, that's according to a lawsuit filed this week by Attorney General Mark Herring on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
According to the lawsuit, the non-profit company Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers and its owner Charles Warren Jr. made extraordinary claims about their "diabetic alert dogs." The company and Warren said that the dogs were highly trained and that their performance was "backed by science."
[...] Virginia has a bone to pick about almost all of that. Though the prices were real, the dogs' abilities were not, according to the lawsuit. Customers said they received "ready" dogs that were not at all trained to detect and respond to blood sugar levels.
[...] Moreover, SDWR's dogs lacked even basic pet training, according to the lawsuit. Some dogs were merely puppies that were not housebroken, struggled to walk on a leash, chewed on things, and didn't respond to their names. They also displayed behaviors incompatible for service animal work, including frequent barking, jumping on people, and being terrified of loud noises.
[...] "[T]hese hopeful and vulnerable consumers receive poorly trained, ill-behaved dogs that are not equipped to help them manage a life-threatening disability and are little more than very expensive pets," the lawsuit concludes.
(Score: 4, Informative) by takyon on Friday May 11 2018, @05:36PM (1 child)
They apparently can detect a chemical change associated with low/high blood sugar: https://beyondtype1.org/diabetic-alert-dogs-dads/ [beyondtype1.org]
I'd expect them to react to signs of dizziness, remind forgetful owners to check their reading on schedule, and generally help the fat/weak/old owners to move around.
These are two distinct problems. People claiming the need for emotional support animals are being disruptive to businesses. They can forge a doctor's letter or obtain one with a cheap online mental health consultation. They can demand to have their animals let in anywhere, and business owners and employees will probably comply out of ignorance of the exact legal requirements, a fear of being sued or fired, etc. And when people take poorly trained and loud dogs onto airplanes, into restaurants, etc., it gives the legit service dogs a bad rep, causing harm to their owners.
(This is the best article about it: Pets Allowed [newyorker.com] (archive [archive.is]). A quick search finds that people were definitely triggered by it.)
This business on the other hand, allegedly committed fraud and supplied animals that were supposed to be the seriously trained kind. Worse case scenario, someone dies because of it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by NewNic on Friday May 11 2018, @05:51PM
It's worth noting this paragraph from that article (my emphasis):
lib·er·tar·i·an·ism ˌlibərˈterēənizəm/ noun: Magical thinking that useful idiots mistake for serious political theory