BELLEVUE (NBC 26) — A new state bill aims to crack down on service animal certifications across Wisconsin.
Laws already on the books prohibit people from misrepresenting their pets, but this bill raises penalties for those that aren't getting their dogs like properly certified.
Stephany Rodriguez trains and certifies dogs who are working to become service animals.
She is the Facility Manager for Dog Training Elite Northeast Wisconsin and her standards for these dogs are high.
"If at some point your dog doesn't pass, your dog doesn't pass," said Rodriguez. "I'm not going to have one of our service dogs go out in public and act a fool. So, your dog will be well trained and certified through us."
But not everyone gets the proper training or service animal certification.
A new bill in the Wisconsin legislature would fine or require community service for those who misrepresent their pet as a service animal.
Even though as Rodriguez points out, many don't even realize they're certifying improperly.
"You also can Google 'service dog certification' and you can go somewhere, and people don't necessarily know that it's not legitimate but you can go to a business, a website and register and you can pay for your service dog to be registered and you get a certificate and say 'Ok great, I'm good," said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez also voiced concern over standards for certification and enforcement of the certification laws.
One of the bill's co-authors, State Representative Paul Tittl, hopes a key addition to the law limits people avoiding the rules.
"You have to have an established relationship with the person that's prescribing it for at least 30 days. It will just give them a little bit more... clout to say 'Yes I have a service animal and yes it was prescribed," said Tittl.
"There will always still be bad actors out there. This hopefully will just cut through the red tape so that there's less of them"
Tittl says he hopes to have a hearing on the bill in the fall and assumes he'll get one some time after Labor Day.
