One time, after passing through bag check at MK, I heard a bark behind me. A woman was bringing a purse dog through security and when the security CM leaned over to look in the bag, the dog barked at him. I heard him ask the lady to remove the dog so he could check the bag. She made some comment about the dog being her service animal, but she complied. The dog really started barking then and snapped at the security guy. But she got through. Under the existing law, she could - and should - have been refused entry.
A disabled woman confined to a wheelchair testified in her state what happened to her service dog when they encountered one of these fake support dogs. She and her dog were on an elevator, the dog sitting on the floor next to her. A woman with a large purse gets on. Almost as soon as the doors closed, a purse dog jumps out of the lady's bag and attacks the snout of the poor service dog, causing it to bleed. The disabled woman said her dog never moved, barked or defended itself, as that's what they are trained to do. She called it "all 4 down", i.e., all 4 paws on the ground. The woman with the fake first said her pet was a service dog. But later admitted she lied because she wanted to bring her pet with her.
Something will be done eventually. Not only are these fakes a nuisance and threat to others, but they are a real danger to those expensive and highly trained legitimate service animals and the owners who depend on them. I can't imagine what that poor woman felt watching her dog being attacked by some purse dog because some entitled woman couldn't leave her unruly pet at home.
