Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Service Dogs and common areas

[Alicianat (Alicianat]

Hello Cohousers,

I have been enjoying your discourse on service animals. I do not live in co 
housing but I do have firsthand experience with airborn allergens and with 
blind people.
A service dog must cannot be excluded from common areas by law and certainly 
not by ethics. 

It is far more complicated to request that a dog owner "shampoo" a service 
animal than you think.  Just blindfold yourself before you shampoo you 65 lb 
dog and them make sure you dry him/her completely before going outside again. 
And by the way, get the doghair off you and the floor, bathroom, etc, -- 
still with the blindfold on. . .  
My point is, that is an unrealistic burden. 

People with airborne allergies are as likely to be allergic to the perfume in 
shampoo, (people and dogs), laundry fragrances and cleaning solutions as pet 
dander so if we are really going to address allergies, everyone coming into 
the common areas must use fragrance free detergent, fragrance free hand 
cream. . . . see where I am going here.

If I may suggest a solution-- hospital quality air filter for the common 
areas.  I recently purchased two Healthmates for my home in response to a 
bout of dust/animal dander allergies and voila, life is beautiful again, 
animals and all.  I think that would be a far better solution than obsessing 
about service dogs/animals in common areas. These filters are worth every 
penny.  They cost about 400 and filters are guaranteed for 5 years, and clean 
up to 1500 sq feet of territory.  

Alicia N.

 
_______________________________________________
Cohousing-L mailing list
Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
http://www.communityforum.net/mailman/listinfo/cohousing-l