New policy aims to prevent misrepresentation, disruption of service animals

UCLA updated its animal access policy to clarify which animals are allowed in campus buildings after several students attempted to pass off their dogs as service dogs.

UCLA announced April 16 it had updated its Animals on Campus policy to specify distinct definitions for service animals, assistance animals and pets. While service animals are allowed to freely enter most campus buildings, emotional support animals must be approved by the appropriate office depending on the location in question.

The change is intended to help prevent conflict between working service animals and other unleashed animals students might try bring to campus, said Christopher Elquizabal, interim Americans with Disabilities Act/Section 504 compliance and grievance officer.

Elquizabal said the policy was updated following three recent incidents in which students and visitors passed off emotional support dogs as service dogs and disrupted classes or passing students.

“In one incident, an ESA dog was off-leash and started biting and nipping at a service dog,” Elquizabal said.

The term “service animals” can only apply to dogs or miniature horses who have developed a relationship with an individual to protect them from their specific health risk, Elquizabal said. Misrepresenting a pet or an ESA as a service animal is illegal and could result in a fine or jail time under California law.

Despite this, Elquizabal said passing off other animals as service animals is becoming more common.

Erin Rice, director of the People-Animal Connection program at UCLA, which brings therapy dogs to patients at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and to UCLA for stress-buster events, said she has observed an increase in the number of dogs wearing service animal vests in the medical center.

She said she thinks this might be because service animal vests can be purchased easily online for nonservice animals. She added separating real service dogs from fake ones is difficult because California state law prohibits directly asking service dogs owners certain questions about their animals.

“It’s tricky because you can (legally) only ask two questions: Are they a service animal, and then if so, what task are they trained to perform?” she said. “We train our team so that if they see another dog they just go in a different direction and don’t interact with other animals while we’re working.”

The policy update also clarified where students and organizations could go to register emotional support animals, depending on where the animals would be brought on campus.

The most restrictive areas on campus are laboratories, research facilities and food preparation sites, according to the new policy.

The policy would not affect organizations like PAC that bring therapy dogs to stress-relief events on campus, as long as they register dogs in advance of events.

Rice said she thinks the policy would make campus a safer environment for her organization’s therapy dogs by regulating the presence of untrained animals at UCLA.

“We love interacting with the students,” she said. “It’s a totally different energy going on campus after being with the patients. … It really gives our staff and our dogs energy to be surrounded by UCLA students.”

Lilybeth Domingo, a third-year sociology student, said she has taken several classes in which students brought unleashed pet dogs to the classroom but that these dogs were not usually disruptive.

“They’re chill, they’re cute, I want to pet them,” she said. “I don’t really have a problem with them.”

Elquizabal said he thinks the policy change will impact him personally as someone who has a disability and a service animal.

“As a person with a disability who has a service dog, the policy is generally one that is more flexible than you would find at other institutions,” he said. “The reason for that is partly due to having individuals with disabilities in the disabilities office who lend their perspective and really helped make this policy what it was.”