Service Dog Central

Certification does not mean an individual dog is a service dog. There are several businesses selling fake certification over the internet. All a person need do to get this certification is pay a fee. Their dog is never tested and their disability is never verified. All the certification really means is that the person was willing to pay money to get it.

If you question whether ID or certification is legitimate, a quick internet search of the name of the certifying organization will reveal whether it is an agency that trains service dogs, or one that merely certifies any dog sight-unseen for a fee.

Examples of certification/registration for a fee schemes (and official looking ID cards):

SARA (Service Animal Registry of America)
USARplus (United Service Animal Registry) *
Goldstar German Shepherds
SDA (Service Dogs America)
Registered Service Dog
SDCA (Service Dog Certification of America)
NASAR (National Service Animal Registry)
American Service Dogs
Service Dog ID
Certified Service Dog
National Association of Service Dogs
Service Dog Tags **

Note: Not a single service listed above tests the dogs they certify, register, or ID. They do nothing to verify the dog's training or the owner's disability. All that is required is that the purchaser fill out a form with the information for the certificate and where to mail it, and include payment ranging from $35 to over $200 depending on the package being purchased.

Here are some scary quotes from some of the sites above:

"Since 2003, Goldstar has certified over 1,300 dogs of various breeds, large, medium, and small."
"SDA recognizes that every person in America may have some form of disability."
"Get an SDA kit so your dog can accompany you everywhere you need."
"This is a site designed to assist disabled people in obtaining a valid certification and ID card for their service dog so that you can take it on public transportation, into public places such as restaurants, grocery stores, etc."
"Service Dog Certification of America recognizes that every person in The United States of America may have some form of disability."
"If your dog exhibits occasional nipping, Service Dog Certification of America recommends muzzling."
"Your "canine helper" is moments away from becoming a Certified Service Dog through Service Dog Certification of America!"
"Yes, You Can Take Your Dog or Cat With You! It's no secret that many businesses simply aren't pet-friendly, even though most of the population is. A large number of our clients register their dogs (cats and other animals) as Certified Service Animals or Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) not just to accompany them into stores, restaurants, motels, or on airline flights (for no extra cost), but to successfully qualify for housing where pets aren't allowed."

Want to see more? A simple Google search turned up many businesses selling certification over the internet:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=service+dog+cert...

How's this for honesty?

* We had a run in with this organization ourselves. They lifted several pages of copyrighted material from our site and published it as their own.

** We had a run in with this one too. Our forum has a no advertisement policy. When the owner of this business was banned for advertising, he joined again under a false name, pretending to be someone looking for a place to get ID for his service dog. When we told him these places were scams, he suddenly started promoting his own business, pretending he had done a search and just discovered his own site! IP addresses matched, so we know it was the same person.