Plaintiff attempted to
bring a 13 week old Great Dane puppy into a Burger King restaurant as a service animal and
was denied service. The manager informed Plaintiff about the “no dogs” policy and asked to
see the puppy’s identification. Plaintiff told the manager that the puppy had received his
service dog tag, but was still in training. Plaintiff also told the manager that he needed the
service animal to help him with his walking and balancing. The manager refused to provide
service to Plaintiff and told him to remove the puppy. An expert testified that the puppy was
still too young, had a playful streak, didn’t have complete control over its bladder or bowels
for an extended time and the puppy had not been vaccinated for rabies. The puppy was too
small to assist Plaintiff’s disability and Plaintiff may have injured himself or the puppy if he
leaned on the puppy for balance. The court found that the puppy was not a service animal
within the meaning of the ADA and dismissed Plaintiff’s complaint with prejudice. Just
having service tags is not sufficient to show the animal is trained to perform services.