Fauna’s Adventures

From the artist:

“Fauna and I travel regularly, and Fauna’s Adventures is being created with support from amazing organizations including: United Airlines, Amtrak, Special Olympics, Hilton Hotels and many Denver-based hotels. I am partnering with these organizations to create images to promote their support of legitimate service animals. Until the government gets involved and enacts legislation to reduce the rampant use of fraudulent service animals, Fauna and I will be doing our part to educate the public about the important role real service animals play in our society.

We love to visit schools and businesses where we can offer information on proper etiquette when meeting a service dog, as well as the rights of the users of these amazing animals. It has been my experience that people are largely unaware of how a well-trained working animal should act, and Fauna is happy to be the ambassador of good dogs everywhere.” – Ted

Why a guide dog project?

We have all been in a store or restaurant and seen a dog wearing a little vest, dressed as a “service animal”. These dogs will often bark or lunge at people or other dogs out of fear, because they have not been trained to handle public situations. Incidents of pets masquerading as service animals has reached a critical level of crazy in recent years. Many state and local governments have passed legislation punishing those who misrepresent pets as service animals, but the reality of the situation is that these laws are seldom enforced. These laws carry a minimal penalty, doing little to discourage the behavior of the owners. Lack of education on the part of restaurant and shopowners means fraudulent service animals largely go unchallenged, only emboldening these dishonest people and casting doubt on those who use legitimate service animals. It is with this in mind that I have created a body of work which features my guide dog Fauna, to educate and advocate for the use of properly trained service animals in the hospitality and travel industries.

Faux Service Animals

Fraudulent service animal owners are often well educated and aware of the required information they need to provide in order to justify their misrepresented pet as a service animal. Though the ADA states on their website (you can find links to resources at the end of this page) that registration of service animals is not required, that has not stopped numerous organizations online from offering questionable identification credentials, allowing almost any animal to masquerade as a service animal. The frustrating part of the story is these people will produce an official-looking ID card when confronted, and often businesses will not question them further. The sad truth here is that people feel as if they are entitled to bring their pets with them wherever they go, whether it be a pig, peacock, squirrel or alligator in the guise of emotional support animals – expecting them to have all the rights a legitimate service animal like Fauna has.