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Welcoming assistance dog partnerships into your business and allowing them to access the services you provide is an important part of widening access to more customers. Not only does it fulfil your legal obligations to provide reasonable adjustments to disabled people, it allows you to access a part of the £274 billion spending power of disabled people and their families. This guide will take you through the basics of welcoming assistance dogs.

Recognising Assistance Dogs

Recognising an assistance dog can be hard at times so here’s some quick guidance that will help you

• They may wear a vest to identify them. Many assistance dogs wear vests or harnesses which states they are an assistance dog. This may also be in the form of a lead slip, bandana or collar especially in hotter temperatures. Not all assistance dogs will wear a piece of gear to identify them and it is not legally required. If in doubt you may want to ask the person whether their dog is an assistance dog.

• Not all assistance dogs with have an ID card. Assistance dogs are not required to have ID cards or be certified or registered. Because of this, you should never ask to see an ID card or proof the dog is an assistance dog. Assistance dogs can be trained by anyone including the dogs owner.

• Assistance dogs can be any breed. Despite Labradors and Golden Retrievers being the most well known, all breeds of dogs you can own legally can be assistance dogs, even Chihuahuas and Mastiffs

• They will behave in a highly trained manner. Though there are no set training standards in the UK, assistance dogs are expected to be non-disruptive and be focused on their work. This is because it’s a reasonable adjustment to allow an assistance dog into a non-dog friendly business and it would be unreasonable to allow an untrained dog in. If a dog is misbehaving, you may want to ask the partnership to leave.

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Business Accessibility

Making an assistance dog partnership feel welcome can make all the difference, here’s a few tips

If you have aisles make sure they are large enough for an assistance dog to go down with their handler. Remember some assistance dog handlers are wheelchair users so you should also factor this in when deciding on aisle width. Sometimes buildings may be too small to do this, so plan for an alternative for people to access your service if this is the case.

If you serve food or drink, or are somewhere customers tend to be for an extended period of time, consider investing in a dog water bowl for any assistance dogs that may come. You can often pick these up for cheap at a local pet store.

Have a welcoming and correct sign can be a great way to welcome assistance dog partnerships. For more information check out our Give A Dog A Sign campaign which includes a sign design you can use.

If you have an accessible toilet, make sure the red cord is freely hanging and touching the floor. If someone falls it needs to be reachable from the floor so it’s important it is free and not tied up, even if it gets in the way. Some assistance dogs are also trained to pull the cord if their handler is in trouble. You may want to order some red cord cards from Euans Guide to remind your customers not to move it to an inaccessible place.

Ignore the dog. It may seem counterintuitive, but besides offering a water bowl, ignoring an assistance dog is usually the most welcoming thing to do!

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FAQ

Here are a bunch of commonly asked questions

What about if someone has allergies or could have an allergy?

You can’t refuse an assistance dog just because someone might have an allergy. If there is an identifiable person with an allergy, you should take reasonable steps to keep the people apart which is unlikely to include refusing an assistance dog

What about cultural or religious beliefs?

Though you should be sensitive to such beliefs, it has been made clear that this is not an acceptable reason to deny access to an assistance dog. For Muslims, the Muslim Shariat Council has clarified that assistance dogs should be made welcome in businesses and services.

My business has a buffet or serves food, can I stop an assistance dog from going entering the business?

No. The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has said that assistance dogs should be allowed in places that serve food.

For buffets, there was a court case in that clarified this (Clutton and Williams v Pen–y–Bryn Group) which means that assistance dogs should be allowed to accompany their owners to a buffet.

When can I deny access to an assistance dog?

Only in the upmost exceptional circumstances can you deny an assistance dog. Only a court can decide those circumstances. Commonly used examples include certain wards of hospitals and walk through animal enclosures.

I run a B&B, can I charge an additional cleaning fee for an assistance dog?

No. As an assistance dog is an auxiliary aid this can be seen as passing the cost of a reasonable adjustment onto the disabled person which is unlawful. If you usually charge a pet fee this should be waived for assistance dog partnerships.

I am a taxi driver and am allergic to dogs, can I deny an assistance dog?

Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles have a section dedicated to them in the Equality Act 2010 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 which made it explicitly against the law for assistance dogs to be denied from these services. You can ,however, get a medical exemption certificate if you have a medical reason such as an allergy to be able to not take assistance dogs. You cannot refuse an assistance dog on the grounds that a future passenger might be allergic.

Have a different question? Contact Us

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Resources

EHRC Guides

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has produced two guides for businesses and assistance dogs. These are the main resources used when talking about assistance dogs. The first is Assistance Dogs: A Guide For All Businesses which is aimed at you standard business and goes over legal responsibility and discrimination. You can find this document in English and Welsh here: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/assistance-dogs-guide-all-businesses

The second document is Take the lead: a guide to welcoming customers with assistance dogs . This document is directed towards the tourism industry such as B&Bs. You can find this document in both English and Welsh here: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/take-lead-guide-welcoming-customers-assistance-dogs

Assistance Dogs (UK)

The ADUK have some information for businesses and service providers on their FAQ: https://www.assistancedogs.org.uk

Transport for London

TfL have this page on assistance dogs: https://tfl.gov.uk/transport-accessibility/assistance-dogs

They have also produced this video which you may find useful

Give A Dog A Sign

This is a CATE UK campaign to improve assistance dog signage in the UK. You can find more information and our free to use signs and posters here

AccessAble

AccessAble allows you to break down and show the accessibility information of your business which can reassure disabled people who want to access your business or service. You can find the site here: https://www.accessable.co.uk