Bill could send Fido back to the doghouse

There was a time when dogs stayed home. They had little houses in the backyard, a worn spot on the floorboards of the porch where they lay to enjoy the sun, their own special pillows next to the lounge chair in the TV room. Maybe they went along for Sunday rides out into the country.

Then the world changed. America went to war. Social media made people anti-social. Nearly half the people living on Oahu don’t have backyards or front yards or any yards. The rational majority was so busy trying to make a living that they got drowned out by the irrational minority, and suddenly dogs weren’t just pets that welcomed people home at the end of the day; they became fashion accessories, security blankets, social surrogates and, for some, symbols of defiance.

People now take their pet dogs everywhere — to the market, to restaurants, to the theater — and just expect everyone to deal with it.

When the signs went up in Whole Foods Market Kahala, the figurative epicenter of the vocal minority, it was a clear indication that the madness was coming to an end. No dogs except service dogs. Yes. Finally. Yes.

The Legislature has now taken a step to stop the nonsense. Senate Bill 2461, if signed into law by the governor, sets up fines for people who say their dogs are service dogs when they’re not. It would impose a fine of $100 to $250 for the first violation and $500 or more for subsequent violations.

The all-too-familiar problem is how to enforce this.

Enforcement is connected to one of the main reasons things got so out of control anyway:

People just don’t know what to say.

In their hearts they don’t want to be wrong, and they don’t want to be jerks, so they say nothing or mutter to themselves about dogs in public, or maybe they complain to the manager, who really doesn’t want to be a jerk, either.

Maybe people know there are only two questions that can be legally asked of a person bringing a dog into a public place, but they can’t remember what those are and don’t want to get in trouble by asking the wrong thing.

(In case these are not committed to memory, the only two questions allowed by the ADA in situations where it is not obvious that the dog is a service animal are: 1. Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and 2. What work or task has the dog been trained to perform?)

People generally like dogs, and most have an abiding respect for service dogs, but that doesn’t mean everyone is OK with a pet dog eating fries off the floor at a restaurant, barking at babies or sniffing papayas in the produce section.

Pretending a dog is a trained service dog when it isn’t is the moral equivalent of parking in a handicapped parking space when you’re not. Finally, there are signs that this flagrancy will no longer be tolerated.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.