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

[Jeanne Goodman (GoodmanJ]

I hope I'm not being politically incorrect. Another question I had about
service dogs is whether they are as necessary in the commonhouse than they
would be in a restaurant. My image of cohousing would mean that the
community has an opportunity to provide the services that the animal would
normally provide.

I do think you are right that we should seriously consider air filters for
the common house, but I still felt this question is worth asking.

Jeanne Goodman
Jamaica Plain Cohousing
Boston, MA


----- Original Message -----
From: Alicianat [at] aol.com
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2002 8:59 PM
Subject: [C-L]_Re: Service Dogs and common areas


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


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