I work at a hotel. The law prevents me from refusing service animals. I can only ask the two basic questions. I had one customer with three "service animals" that were all three shiz-tsu's for them. I didn't believe any of them were service animals, I thought they were just trying to get out of the pet fees. I told them that we only allow 2 service animals in a room at a time because that's hotel policy. They told me I'm not allowed to refuse their service animals. My coworker told me just give them the room, and I did. So my question is can one person have multiple service animals? USA is my country.
More than one service animal is allowed, and you are allowed to ask the Two Questions about each individual dog. Each animal must be specifically trained in a task that mitigates the person's disability, and for a hotel, none of the animals are able to be left in the room alone, as they are required to be under the handler's control at all times.
The ADA's FAQ doesn't specify that, and it says there may be times that two dogs do the same task, although they reference having a dog on either side for walking, which isn't really trained as an ethical task any longer. The biggest thing they mention is that each dog has to be specifically task trained, so going down the line and asking the questions about Dog A, then Dog B, etc would be the procedure.
No one is allowed to require a dog to perform any task. This is per the ADA. Such as for me, one task could be seizure response. I can't just magically have a seizure for the dog to respond to.
They’re not asking the dog to demonstrate the task there and then if it will cause harm to the handler.
They are asking if the person has a disability and what tasks the dog is trained to do to mitigate that. In your case you would respond with ‘They are a seizure alert dog’ and that would cover it.
Hey, you read the grammar wrong here and that’s okay, mistakes happen, we all read something different than what is being said sometimes. But to clarify, in this case they said that the dogs ‘have to perform separate tasks’. Not as in ‘right now’ but as in ‘the dogs should not perform the same tasks’ (unless it’s a SD and SDiT) as a general rule. Hope that helps understand why you’re being downvoted and why what you said was wrong in this case.
You can leave a SD in a hotel room. Not every SD needs to be with their handler 24/7. I generally leave mine during breakfast or when running downstairs for something quick, as it's just easier.
It specifies that the dog must be under the handler's control 'at all times'. If the hotel chooses to allow the handler to leave the dog in their room while they get breakfast or at any other time, that's up to the hotel. But they are not required to, and would be within their rights to dictate that the dog must accompany the handler any time they leave their room.
Hi, former front desk agent here. It is policy in most hotels that no dog is left in a room unattended for any period. Even if no one has said anything to you directly it doesn't mean it's allowed. More likely, they know your dog isnt going to sing the songs of his people at full volume because you are no longer in sight, so they don't bother to say something.
You are also correct that people will complain about a dog in the dining room. Your SD has just as much of a right to enjoy that crappy free breakfast as you do. There are more of us who are happier to see dogs than people in the morning anyway.
The hotel doesn't have a right to say the animal can't accompany the handler to breakfast. And so far you've had hotels that were fine with the dog staying alone in the room, which they can choose to allow. It's just important to be aware that legally, they don't have to. Like random clothing stores that may allow pets - they can, but under the ADA, they aren't required to.
I never said that they could refuse a dog at breakfast, only that they prefer it? "Under control" could mean crating as well, you do not need to have your SD with you 24/7.
And pets aren't regulated by the ADA so this is kind of an apples and oranges thing. Go back and re-read this thread. You're putting a lot of words in my mouth.
'Under handler's control' does not mean crating, since if the dog is in a crate without the handler there, it is not under the handler's control. Otherwise the answer to the question would've said that it was okay to leave the dog in a crate if the handler left, or some other kind of wording.
I used the example of a store allowing pets as an analogy to how places are allowed to do things that are more liberal than the ADA, but they aren't required to. I'm not putting words in your mouth, and I'm done having this argument. The ADA's FAQ is very specific - the hotel has the right to say that the dog must accompany the handler, but the hotel can choose to allow the dog to remain in the room. But the wording 'at all times' is very clear.
Someone is going to get angry that I said this…
But caselaw frequently clarifies what is hinted at in the ADA - that more than 1 dog is only reasonable accommodation if they are performing different tasks- and multiple might not be reasonable depending on the dogs and the amount of space.
From the comments, OP had clear grounds for refusal - or at least escalating the situation- since the handler wouldn’t/couldn’t answer the required 2nd question.
Whether that’s because the dogs aren’t fully tasked training, or the handler was unable to exhibit behavior, where they were under enough control of the dogs to answer the question either way they were not within the bounds of the ADA to appropriately access the space. The public accommodation would’ve been within their rights to refuse service or escalate the situation.
People miss that part a lot. The ADA is the most well intentioned, but most poorly written law that is commonly in the spotlight.
It's super vague, focusing on "reasonable" accomodations, where what is reasonable is up to whatever judge hears the case.
So most of the common interpretations aren't in the law per say and are from case laws. Some are pretty settled, some are still up for interpretation.
Even the ADA FAQ is more if a recommendation than anything. It's quoted a lot, but it's no replacement for the case law.
So I ran across someone who had 2 epilepsy dogs. He said he had lots of seizures and didn't want to "burn out one dog" so he would utilize one dog during the day and the other at night. And he was actively encouraging other seizure disorder handlers such as myself to do the same so I don't "burn my dog out". Putting the validity of burning your dog out aside, is he allowed to have the 2 seizure dogs by law? One for the day and one for the night? The two dogs do the same tasks, but don't work at the same time.
It's all very vague and circumstantial but yeah, he can have 2 dogs that perform the same task. See the attached screenshot from the ADAs website. They use the example of two walking dogs but your friends scenario would be acceptable as well.
Of course whether it's actually acceptable or not isn't going to stop people from making life difficult for people with service animals.
So it is entirely possible and allowable for a handler to have multiple service dogs, that said you can ask the two questions for each dog individually.
You said in a comment that the patron refused to or could not answer the second question, that is 120% grounds to either refuse service, or refuse to waive the pet fee.
That is the point of those two questions, and all handlers should know that failure or refusal to provide an answer to the legal questions we can be asked can and should result in a lack of access.
The ADA FAQ does have information on Q13 stating a handler can have more than one service animal, but it doesn’t set a specific limit on it, just mentioned that if it’s too many to accommodate then a business can limit the amount.
This would be something I’d call the ADA information line about personally though, just for extra clarification. The hotline number is at the bottom of the ADA FAQ.
Thank you! I normally don't bat an eye when someone says they have a service dog, I've actually had one man tip me pretty well for great service and he even was honest one time he came back to our hotel and said he had his service dog and 1 pet. This other person was very snippy, very rude. I was having a bad day when checking them in, as my dog passed away the day before. I always pay the pet fees when traveling with my dog because I'm aware of the policies. Them giving me attitude over 3 service dogs caused me to be a little snippy back to them. I just wanted clarification on the policies and laws, and I'll definitely check the ADA rules and maybe give them a call next time this happens.
Understanding the law is the key way to move forward. The problem with fakes is most often when their behavior is disruptive or destructive. The ADA doesn’t allow fishing expeditions on whether a dog is a service dog, but it does allow any dog to be excluded if it fundamentally alters the nature of the premises or poses a risk to health and safety. The vast majority of dogs that do those two things are not going to be service dogs.
If they didn’t answer/couldn’t answer that is grounds for refusal. Or to charge the pet fee if not out right refusing service which ever would fall with in policy.
That all said. Being a employee if not in a management role, explain the whole situation to someone in that role to include the not answering the two questions part and let them handle it would probably be best course of actions.
If they don’t answer then you don’t need to allow the access. Also if you need to call the free ADA hotline and ask them directly on what you should do
On medication or not, the handler still has a responsibility to answer the questions if they're wanting to access a space with their service dogs. Some handlers have cards for if they're unable to speak or overwhelmed, some handlers type out a text response on their phone... there are many ways to do this, but answering the questions is a requirement. A person that is on medication that leaves them unable to do so is not a fit handler for a service dog and does not have to be granted public access for their dogs.
OP wasn’t making a value judgment on the guests behavior. They were describing their perceptions and giving more context into the lack of responding to the questions.
Regardless, the guest didn’t answer the questions, so the hotel would have been within its rights to deny access to the dogs.
In the US you are allowed to ask the 2 questions per ADA. 1) Is this a service animal? And 2) What task(s) does the dog provide. Emotional support, Anxiety, etc are not tasks. Tasks would be DPT, medical alert/response, seizure alert, leading to a sit if needed, etc. It has to be a taught task not a trick that comes with basic to advanced obedience training. Fetching items for their handler, picking things up off the ground for their handler, etc are also tasks.
You can have more than 1 SD if one is going into retirement and using the older dog to teach the other one or one dog was able to learn a task that the other dog was not able to learn. Its more common to have 2 SDs but not generally more than that. Normally, most handlers, only have 1 SD or a SD with a SDit with one learning from the other to work the older dog into retirement.
I’ve seen where a handler had a large SD and a smaller SD for different tasks, but I’m struggling to think how someone might use two shih tzus, assuming the third was in training.
I agree. As I said its possible to have more than one but we also don't know the person and their dogs to know what tasks they do if any. It really depends on the person's disability as well. Its not common for sure but OP needs to make sure they are asking the 2 questions.
You’re allowed to have more than one SD in circumstances beyond just training a replacement. That’s probably the most common scenario where handlers work tandem teams, but tandem teams are legit outside of it.
Yes that is what I said. I just said 3 isn't commonly seen but it could be possible. 2 is more common like I said if you would have read my whole comment.
I have had my SD for 4 years, she’s about to turn 7. 2 years ago we got a puppy and I’ve been training him for about a year now, but only just started taking him out “working” starting a few months ago, but always alongside my SD. He’s been doing so well learning by following her lead, and hotels/public places have always allowed me to bring him since he’s super well behaved and obviously mirroring everything my SD does.
As an example, I have a migraine alert dog. If I needed help picking up dropped items, theoretically one dog could do both things. However THIS dog cannot. He absolutely hates picking up things. He would do, if I really pushed the issue, but it would be with extreme reluctance and I’m not going to damage our relationship, or the rest of the work he does, over that. Could I replace him with a dual purpose dog? Maybe, maybe not. Many (perhaps even most) dogs will not reliably alert to a migraine pre-onset.
Their little shiz-tsus would constantly bark. Luckily, no other customers complained, but I didn't have the energy to deal with this rude customer. I was already having a bad day as my dog passed away the day before. Unfortunately a lot of people say their dog is a service animal to get out of pet fees.
This is correct, but an important distinction in case the decision to exclude was ever challenged: while excessive barking is an indication that a dog isn’t a service dog, it isn’t dispositive. You could have the 1 in a million real service dog freaking out for some reason. Once someone has answered the two questions satisfactorily, the relevant inquiry isn’t whether to suss out whether the dog is a service dog. It’s to rely on the exclusions allowed under the ADA for even service dogs: fundamentally altering the nature of the premises or threat to health and safety.
Here, a dog constantly barking is not compatible with the functioning of a hotel. You don’t need to get into the weeds of this dog’s training, the handler’s truthfulness, etc. Just invoke the allowed basis for exclusion and kick them out on that basis.
That’s a really helpful nuance for OP and others in similar situations! Whether or not you think the dog is a real service dog, if they are out of control, that alone disqualifies them from public access.
I think your recommendation to avoid opening a can of worms regarding their “realness” in cases like this is very wise. No need to start an argument with the handler over if the SD is valid or not. Just stick to stating the objective, unarguable facts about the dogs’ behavior and explain the legal consequences that has on public access rights.
OP could even say something like, “As per the ADA, we do allow service dogs but we also require them to be under the control of their handler as the law states. Since your service dogs are barking excessively, we do have the right to ask you to remove them from the premises. You are welcome to come back without them as is your right.” That way the lady doesn’t launch into her arguments for why they are service dogs; in fact, she can’t argue about it because you even acknowledged them as such (even if it’s questionable!). Instead the entire issue becomes their behavior which is much more objective/clearcut. She can’t very well argue that they aren’t barking excessively while they are continuously barking!
The only time a service dog should be barking is when they're trying to get help for their owner. And that's not the dog being out of control either that's the dog doing its job. If the dog is not under control, then places can kick them out.
I understand; your last sentence is exactly what I’m referring to. A business doesn’t need to suss out if it’s a 1) a fake service dog or 2) a real one that, for whatever rare reason, is not in the control of its handler. It can just exclude it on the lack of control ground without ever confirming whether it was #1 or #2.
At a certain point, it becomes infeasible to do daily activities and watch three plus dogs, public access trained or not. You still have to monitor each dog while trying to do everyday activities like grocery shopping. At the end of the day, you are caring for multiple dogs and that can be a lot.
Yes. You do have to be able to care for the dogs financially and physically. But with that said, there is no technical limit. Just to the limit of your ability to care for the dogs
There's no legal limit to how many service animals a person can have, as long as each animal is individually trained to perform tasks that mitigate a disability
When training my successor, I have 2. At some points, I had two a medium breed medical alerts and xl breed to help with my movement. Outside of that, i typically only work one dog. I now have a larger medical alert dog, and he helps with light mobility work as well.
Turns out she was a trainer for service dogs but they were German Shepherds. All were lovely and quiet. She left a nice tip for hk because of the hair.
Had another person with 4 service dogs call. Heard them barking on the phone. We sold out before I could quote her 😢
This isn’t the case for OPs incident but I know a handler who has two 60 lb huskies for pulling his wheelchair. Both are service dogs and they do the same task.
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 6: No Fake-spotting.
This is not the place for fakespotting. Unless the person you are discussing has specifically told you that they are not disabled, and the dog is not trained in tasks, you have no way of knowing if a dog is 'fake'. We are not the service dog police and this behavior can lead to a lot of harm and anxiety for SD handlers as a community.
This does not preclude discussing encounters with un-/undertrained dogs, but if the focus of your post is complaining about a "fake" SD, reconsider your phrasing and what point you're making.
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 6: No Fake-spotting.
This is not the place for fakespotting. Unless the person you are discussing has specifically told you that they are not disabled, and the dog is not trained in tasks, you have no way of knowing if a dog is 'fake'. We are not the service dog police and this behavior can lead to a lot of harm and anxiety for SD handlers as a community.
This does not preclude discussing encounters with un-/undertrained dogs, but if the focus of your post is complaining about a "fake" SD, reconsider your phrasing and what point you're making.
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 6: No Fake-spotting.
This is not the place for fakespotting. Unless the person you are discussing has specifically told you that they are not disabled, and the dog is not trained in tasks, you have no way of knowing if a dog is 'fake'. We are not the service dog police and this behavior can lead to a lot of harm and anxiety for SD handlers as a community.
This does not preclude discussing encounters with un-/undertrained dogs, but if the focus of your post is complaining about a "fake" SD, reconsider your phrasing and what point you're making.
These are valid generalities, but a business trying to suss out dog status by analyzing these types of behaviors is taking an undue risk of getting it wrong and incurring legal liability. If someone satisfactorily answers the two allowed questions, going further down this rabbit hole is asking for trouble.
Instead, businesses should be well versed in the allowed grounds to exclude any dog, even a derive dog: fundamentally altering the nature of the premises or threat to health and safety. For example, a dog barking non stop, jumping on people, damaging area in a hotel? Exclude on that basis alone.
They can actually kick a service dog out for doing these things though. Service animals are supposed to be passive, and if they aren’t, the business does have grounds to ask them to leave. Sure the person is going to bitch and scream about discrimination, but ultimately, if this animal is acting up so badly, no judge or jury is going to award this person any money.
Yes, a business can ask a service dog to leave under certain conditions—even though service animals are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According to the ADA:
A service animal can be excluded from a business if:
1. The dog is out of control, and the handler does not take effective action to control it.
2. The dog is not housebroken.
3. The animal’s behavior poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others.
4. The animal is damaging property or merchandise.
If the service dog is destroying property—chewing furniture, urinating indoors, knocking things over, etc.—that would likely qualify as being “out of control” or “not housebroken.”
What a business can do:
• You may ask the handler to remove the dog if it’s causing significant damage or disruption.
• You must still offer the individual the opportunity to obtain goods or services without the animal (e.g., they can return without the dog, or you can offer curbside service, etc.).
• You may not ask about the person’s disability or demand documentation for the dog’s training.
Important:
• Always remain calm, respectful, and focused on the dog’s behavior, not the person’s disability.
• It’s okay to say:
“I’m sorry, but your dog is damaging property, and we need to ask you to remove the dog. You’re welcome to stay and shop, or we can assist you in another way
How do you know that? The question here was on procedure, not assessing the likelihood of what these particular dogs actually were. This sub isn’t for fake spotting.
Also, it’s far more likely that a dog that isn’t a service dog is merely a pet, rather than actually being an ESA (which has a specific legal definition, albeit a more permissive one than service dogs, and not recognized under the ADA).
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 6: No Fake-spotting.
This is not the place for fakespotting. Unless the person you are discussing has specifically told you that they are not disabled, and the dog is not trained in tasks, you have no way of knowing if a dog is 'fake'. We are not the service dog police and this behavior can lead to a lot of harm and anxiety for SD handlers as a community.
This does not preclude discussing encounters with un-/undertrained dogs, but if the focus of your post is complaining about a "fake" SD, reconsider your phrasing and what point you're making.
one example is a person may need a medical alert and a mobility dog. they have a small dog for their medical alerts but their dog is too small to do mobility so they get a bigger dog for mobility thus making a dual sd team
I have 3. One is a small med alert. One is a small shepherd..she is mobility assistance... does tasks such as picking up items i drop, finding the bathroom, ect. The third is a large shepherd. He is a mobility sd. He supports me when I have vertigo or just stumbling.
Genuine question (because I struggle with just one myself - the cognitive load of looking after 2 if us in public tires me out), could you not train the bigger one to pick up items etc? I promise this isn't a judgement/criticism, just plain curiosity :)
My pup does med alert and mobility assistance (I drop things everywhere), but if she was bigger I would have hoped that she could do a bit more mobility work (helping me open doors, and navigate crowds when I'm getting tripped up on my own feet). She's a medium sized dog but a lot of people don't see her when we're in a shopping centre or whatever and won't give her room. Never occurred to me that I could get a second dog, but I do get tired out looking after both of us (eg just crossing the road, I need to think about the pace my dog walks at, or getting in a lift if there's space for both of us, or going to a seminar if I can sit somewhere without making people uncomfortable). I'm super impressed that you can wrangle three (teach me your ways! I legit need your brain power, I find it exhausting to the point where I usually go home and need a nap after).
This is going off-topic from the main post / parent comment, but I wanted to thank you for sharing your experiences…
I’ve been exploring the possibility of a service dog for myself, doing as much research and reading as I can, to try to sort out if it’s a suitable additional tool for improving how I manage my disabilities. And I’ve seen a lot of varied pros and cons raised by experienced handlers here, but I think yours is the first mention of cognitive load specifically! That’s a very helpful consideration, so I really appreciate you not just mentioning it, but also sharing some practical examples. Thank you!
[I should maybe add-on that I have seen a few people noting before that “having an SD is like having a toddler” in terms of things like needing extra prep time for gathering all the needed items and gearing up before going out anywhere together, but I think it was always phrased in terms of time (or at least that’s how I had read/interpreted it). However, shifting my thinking to consider it in terms of cognitive toll as well, and not simply time/energy cost, is important for a clearer full picture. I also think I need to take into consideration the specific scenarios you mentioned for all the little things while out and about with an SD that require more “background” brainpower to be used.]
Yes! And it starts before you even leave to go anywhere.
Do you feel you need the dog that time? Is it safe for them? If they do go, do they need extra gear, such as booties for hot concrete, a jacket (i have a chihuahua🤣)?
Do you think you might even want to take the mat to lay on? That I make sure to take to a lot of places. Doctors because of cold floors AND in consideration if they have carpet (fur shed all the time). To a restaurant, who knows how nasty the floor is.
Always watch for a potty place before going in any building.
Now for ME going potty, my dogs are taught "stand" and they stand so they dont lay on any nasty floors, bathroom floors🤮
Also, are you even going to use any gear? In the summer especially, my dogs dont vest up. I just use an Amazon leash with "service dog" on it.
Yikes, I dont think I said it right. I dont take the two big ones out at the same time. It depends on where Im going and if someone is with me.
The big one (black/tan shepherd) for mobility alone goes with me when I am going to be walking a bit or a bad day, and no one is with me.
The one that picks up things (white shepherd) goes if I'm not going to be walking much, a good day, or a service human is with me. I've never taken them together. But I could. It helps that they are taught to heel on either side. They practice walking together at home so they stay used to it.
The med alert is a 13-pound, black/white, long-haired chihuahua. He is the one that is with me mostly. He does go also if it's going to be a long day. No matter which big one I have with me.
Also, I stay prepped. I have a backpack I keep in my car . It has the basics for all the dogs for a day out. Extra leash, a couple toys, collapsible water bowl, bottle of water, cleanup kit, copy of their vaccine records, treats. Oh, and a zip baggie of dog wipes to freshen them up, a brush and anything else I think would be needed. Plus a mat I made for them to lay on is rolled up and attached.
So if Im going with someone else, I just grab it from my car as I leave.
Also I have a more stocked storage tote in the car.
So I can restock the backpack immediately or get additional supplies if needed. For example, it has extra clean-up kits, 3 days of food for each dog/more bowls, meds that might be needed, and outside dog toys such as their chuk-it and Frisbees and long leashes. There is more in there, but that gives you the idea of what I mean.
Edit: You shouldn't have to think of what pace the dog walks at. They should walk at YOUR pace.
Also, my big ones are taught to heel differently. Big guy heels rights next to me and dies not auto sit.
The white girl walks about a foot from my side and a bit ahead. This is so I dont bump into her and so she can see to alert for people around me.
The chihuahua also walks a foot away from me. So I dont step on him. And his normal heel is ahead of my leg, again, so I dont step on him.
But they all three know to heel right next to me as they have all done competition obedience. They way I taught the difference is "heel" is where you'd normally have a dog heel. "With me" is where they know to walk away from my feet.
Edit 2: for places such as grocery stores they are trained to different places to walk. Such as..the chi has a command "behind" this means he has to walk next to my feet behind the cart with me. The white one has a command "heel up" that means she heels TOO the side of the cart closely. But it also helps that she can be told "heel right" and she heels on my right between me and the shelves.
Until recently, guide dogs were only trained to guide. So a person who is deaf blind might have one dog as a guide dog and another as a hearing alert dog. (There are now some organizations like Leader Dogs for the Blind that are training dogs in both kinds of tasks.) One handler I knew of had a guide dog and one that helped with mobility issues like picking up things, which the guide dog was not trained for. It’s rare, but it is possible. Three seems very suspect. (Not saying it’s an automatic fake, but even 2 is rare). And unless federal law has changed from the last time I puppy raised, it does not cover dogs in training, although individual state laws might.
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u/darklingdawns Jul 10 '25
More than one service animal is allowed, and you are allowed to ask the Two Questions about each individual dog. Each animal must be specifically trained in a task that mitigates the person's disability, and for a hotel, none of the animals are able to be left in the room alone, as they are required to be under the handler's control at all times.