• Service dogs must be allowed in any public place or business serving the public.german shepherd seeing eye dog image by Stephen Orsillo from Fotolia.com
  
  Service dogs aid those with disabilities, such as deafness, blindness and ambulatory impairments, with common tasks, as well as emergency situations. Many disabled people rely on their service dogs to help them live an active life. However, many public places do not allow dogs on the premises. Luckily, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides legal protection to those in need of service dog assistance.
  
  

Qualification

• You or your service dog are not required to qualify for protection under the ADA. Almost anyone with a service dog is protected, as long as that dog provides a service that is directly related to some sort of medical condition or disability of its owner. This can include guide dogs for the blind or visually impaired, hearing dogs for the deaf or hearing impaired, seizure-alert dogs for epileptics and a host of other types of service dogs, used for a variety of physical and mental disabilities.
  
  

Access

• Under the ADA, service dogs must be allowed, with their owners, into any public place or business that serves the public, including, but not limited to, restaurants, taxis, hotels, stores and theaters. In addition, the service dog and owner must be allowed anywhere within the premises that they allow customers or the general public. However, the owner of a business does not have to provide any special accommodations for the service dog, besides allowing it in his business.
  
  If a person walks into your business with a dog and you are not sure if it is a service dog, you may ask the owner, and even inquire about the tasks the dog performs. However, you may not legally ask the person to present any form of identification for the dog or proof of disability. In fact, it is illegal to inquire at all about the person's disability. Any violators of the ADA's policy on service animals can be sued.
  
  

Exceptions

• There are some certain conditions in which service dogs may legally be excluded from access to public areas. If a person's service dog becomes violent, threatening or destructive (biting, growling, etc.), a business owner or employee may ask him to remove his dog from the premises. However, the person must be allowed to return without his dog. The owner of a barking dog in a movie theater may also be asked to take his dog outside. Other areas in which service dogs may be refused access are places in which the presence of a dog would affect the safety of others, like on roller coasters.