East Texas service dog owners say they’ve been denied fair access to businesses

His military service in Afghanistan ended years ago, but Mike Howk still hears the sound of bullets flying past him. He was injured when a bomb exploded and has sleep apnea as a result — causing him to stop breathing at night.

When nightmares strike or his breathing stops, Howk has a friend — man’s best, that is — to help him: his service dog, Chipper, a sable-colored German Shepherd.

“She helps me to remember, ‘Hey, you’re home,’ ” he said.

The ever-present symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder — and a traumatic brain injury — demand that Howk have his service dog with him at all times. State and federal laws protect his ability to bring his service animal with him wherever he goes.

But when Howk tried to enter Hospitality Health ER in Longview on July 6, 2023, he was told he couldn’t have his dog with him. After addressing the matter with a manager, he said he was allowed to walk in through a back door. It felt demeaning, he said.

Howk and another East Texas man say they’ve been denied service or treated poorly at various establishments because they have service dogs — a situation that service animal advocates say is all too common.

Business owners, meanwhile, say they support people’s rights to bring legitimate service animals into their establishments. But sometimes, people lie and say an animal they have in their care is a trained service animal when it isn’t, causing problems for customers, employees and people with real service animals.

“It’s the people that are pretending their dogs are service animals that are creating the problems for everyone else,” said Denette Vaughn, a senior attorney with the Disability Rights Texas organization.

Laws protect service animals

Some wear vests, and some don’t. Some are large, and some are small. Not all service dogs are the same, but all have this in common: They’re trained to perform essential tasks for their owners — and they have the legal right to be with their owners wherever they are.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the nation’s preeminent disability rights protection law, businesses such as restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals and more have to allow people to bring their service animals with them into their places of business. In a sense, the animal is no different from a wheelchair or a cane — something a disabled person can’t function without, Vaughn said.

Service dogs can be trained to help blind owners walk and navigate around objects, monitor blood sugar levels for people with diabetes, detect allergens in the environment for those with severe allergic reactions and prevent seizures for people who have them, Vaughn said.

“Taking the dog away from them could actually be critical to whether they live or die,” Vaughn said. “Other people treat it as, ‘Oh, well, you can just leave your dog somewhere else’ or ‘You can take your dog to the car,’ not understanding that it is a very critical medical device that they have with them. Because they just see it as a pet. And it’s not a pet.”

PTSD and other mental and psychological health issues are legally considered disabilities as long as the person has a diagnosis from a physician. In the case of a veteran like Howk, a service dog can help prevent episodes of psychological distress by nuzzling his owner, placing his head in his owner’s lap or standing between his owner and an approaching person, according to the American Psychiatric Association. A service dog could be trained to do something as simple as getting his owner’s attention.

“To somebody who doesn’t understand that’s a task, that may not even appear to be a task,” Vaughn said. “It appears to them as the dog hanging out with them. But it’s a task they’re trained to perform.”

People who have service animals can’t be turned away from public establishments on the basis of having the animal. Under Texas law, businesses or employees who discriminate against people with service animals can be fined $300 or sentenced to perform 30 hours of community service.

Service animals are different from emotional support animals, which aren’t given legal protections, according to the Texas Humane Legislation Network, an animal rights organization. Emotional support animals do not perform a task, unlike service animals. They are there to provide comfort to their owners, Vaughn said.

Their stories

A U.S. Army veteran, Howk was a sergeant and served 2004 to 2012. He spent 15 months in Afghanistan from February 2007 to April 2008 as a machine gunner.

For years, Howk drove his ex-wife to Hospitality Health ER in Tyler for her migraine treatment. When he accompanied her, he would bring Chipper, his service dog, with him. Hospital staff knew and loved Chipper, often leaving bowls of water for her, Howk said.

During a visit to the facility in Tyler last year, Howk was told Chipper was no longer allowed inside. Howk said he pointed at a sign on the door glass windows that said service dogs were allowed and asked, “Why is that there?” Staff told Howk the policy had changed, he said.

After his ex-wife moved to Longview, he began visiting her at Hospitality Health ER there. Hospital staff were “anal” about their no-dog policy, Howk said. They told him that, unless his dog was a seeing-eye dog, she would not be allowed inside the facility.

“All of a sudden — my dog has never been an issue — it’s become a huge problem,” Howk said.

In a letter given to Howk, Hospitality Health ER management said they do not allow animals inside their building “due to liabilities, allergies and infection control procedures.”

Hospitality Health ER did not respond to multiple request for comment.

Service animals are not allowed in places where sterilization is required, such as an operating room. Howk said he understands that.

“But you go somewhere where, yes, they are legally allowed and then get turned away. Seriously,” he said.

That’s not the only instance in which he’s had problems at businesses. On May 20, Howk went to Torchy’s Tacos in Tyler to meet with a friend from the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post who had a family member in the hospital. After Howk sat down in the restaurant, an employee told Howk his dog was not allowed inside Torchy’s. Howk pointed down to show his dog was a service dog, as the dog wore a vest.

But that didn’t matter, the employee said; having the animal there was a health code violation. Not wanting to debate the issue, Howk hugged his friend and left.

After the incident, Howk told the employee: “You’re the first restaurant to tell me a service dog is not allowed inside, it’s a health code violation, and we go to restaurants often.”

Tyler resident Daniel Hart, 65, said he had a similar experience when he walked into Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe on Easter afternoon.

Hart, who is completely blind and was born without any eyes, has had his service dog Vienna for three years.

Upon entering with his dog, the host told Hart he could not eat there, Hart said, and the host would have to check with their manager. “This is a guide dog,” Hart responded.

The host again said they would check with the manager. Hart kept thinking: “This can’t be happening.”

“You have all this emotional anguish, and I’m being treated like a third-rate citizen in my home country,” Hart said.

By that point, he was boiling with anger.

Hart said he spoke to two managers: the store manager and an assistant manager. He spoke to the store manager via phone as he was not at the restaurant. The store manager made excuses for the host citing their age, as the employee was a teenager, Hart said.

“Well, that’s the same as saying, until you’re of a certain age, even though you’re doing a job in America, you don’t have to abide by the law. You can ignore it,” Hart said.

The same manager said people have attempted to bring lizards into the restaurant and say they’re service animals, making it difficult for the restaurant. The manager also told him the host has no way of knowing if his service animal was a legitimate service animal or not, Hart said.

“It’s unacceptable,” Hart said. “It’s unconscionable that people could think they could get by with this or behave this way in 2024.”

Afterward, the same manager told Hart he would call the host in and have the host write an apology letter. The manager also said he’d ensure all employees were trained to accommodate service animals.

While eating at Razzoo’s after the host initially refused to allow Hart and his dog inside, an assistant manager approached Hart at his table. Hart told her the treatment he’d received was a form of discrimination. The assistant manager said she did not realize that was the case.

“OK, here we go again,” Hart said. “It’s back to lack of training and also back to being compassionate, treating people like humans in America.”

In the end, restaurant leaders offered to buy him a drink and a dessert. Hart told them he was perfectly capable of paying for his own food.

“That’s an insult to the injury, but let us just smooth this over,” Hart said. “Let us wipe some antiseptic on your butt, and it won’t hurt anymore, even though we caused the wound.”

After his visit to Razzoo’s, Hart never received the apology letter from the host despite the store manager promising one.

When reached for comment, Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe officials said they are investigating.

“We are currently investigating the situation, so we may take appropriate action,” the restaurant said in a statement. “We take guest service very seriously and strive to accommodate all guests’ needs as best as possible. Our Texas restaurants abide by the state policy regarding service animals.”

After Howk’s incident, Torchy’s Tacos leaders said they would offer training for all their employees at the Tyler location and acknowledged they made a mistake.

“It is company policy to allow service animals in all of our dining rooms, including our Tyler location,” a Torchy’s Tacos representative said. “An error was made during this interaction when our team member did not ask the appropriate questions about the service animal and thus, was unable to confirm that this veteran could remain seated indoors.”

Fake service animals pose problems

For business owners, determining whether an animal is a legitimate service animal — and thus has the right to be in an establishment — can be confusing, said Kelsey Streufert, chief public affairs officer for the Texas Restaurant Association.

No formal certification program for service animals exists or is required. Unlike parking in a handicap parking space, which requires a person to have either a placard on their rearview mirror or a specialty license plate, business owners and employees can’t ask to see documentation pertaining to an animal. Also, service animals aren’t required to wear specialized vests, according to the Texas Humane Legislation Network.

Service animal owners can train their own dogs, and under Texas law, a service animal in training can be permitted to enter a business as long as it is under its owner’s control.

To ensure whether the animal is a legitimate service animal or not, business owners can ask two questions — and two questions only, according to the Texas Workforce Commission: Is the animal required because of a disability? And what type of work is the animal trained to perform?

Asking further questions would be an invasion of people’s privacy, Vaughn said.

Most businesses and restaurateurs “simply take customers at their word if they say this is a service animal,” Streufert said.

But sometimes, people bring an animal to a business and claim it’s a service animal when it isn’t, creating confusion for business owners and damaging the reputation of service animals, Streufert said.

Service dogs can be removed from a facility only if their handler can’t control them, according to the workforce commission. Animals should be tethered or leashed to their owner unless the owner’s disability prevents it. Even if a business asks a person to remove his or her service dog, the establishment must offer “reasonable accommodations” to continue serving the person.

True service animals are generally well-trained, Vaughn said. Animals that misbehave likely aren’t real service animals, and business owners can ask their owners to leave.

In 2023, Texas lawmakers passed a law that makes misrepresenting a service animal a crime. People who wrongly say an animal has been trained as a service animal when it hasn’t can face a fine of up to $1,000 and be sentenced to 30 hours of community service, according to Section 121.006 of the Texas Human Resources Code.

“Restaurants have to be really, really thoughtful and really intentional in terms of making sure they’re meeting the needs of any guest with a disability who is absolutely entitled to service just like everyone else, but not letting people who don’t have legitimate service animals ruin the experience for other people,” Streufert said.

While emotional support animals and other non-service animals aren’t permitted in establishments, restaurant workers might be confused about how local health and safety codes mesh with state and federal laws regarding service animals, Streufert said. That’s why providing education for all employees is crucial.

“I think that’s really the most important thing that restaurants can do to make sure they’re hitting their goal of providing great service to everyone,” Streufert said.

Seeking awareness

Howk and Hart said they want to see business owners and employees become more familiar with laws regarding service animals.

“Just as someone would be expected to know laws pertaining to driving a car, they should be expected to know the laws pertaining to the treatment of people with impairments,” Hart said.

Howk wants the state of Texas and the federal government to ensure people and companies are aware of the laws and have stricter punishments. He wants people who pretend to have service animals to be punished.

“Because of their stupidity, their ignorance, their selfishness … if somebody’s pet dog with the service vest attacks a human being or another dog or something, why should I be punished with my service dog for someone whose service dog is not a service dog?” Howk said.

Despite issues arising from false service animals, however, Vaughn said she believes people with legitimate animals are denied equal access too often.

People who believe they’ve been wrongly denied service have a few means of recourse. Streufert said people who have an issue with service at restaurants should speak to a manager first to see if the situation can be resolved.

People also can file an American with Disabilities Act complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division either online, via mail or via phone by calling 1-800-514-0301.

“There needs to be more understanding that, in this state, there’s criminal penalties for faking service animals, but also for discriminating,” Vaughn said. “There needs to be more awareness out there of what this law says so that people can’t pretend they just don’t understand it.”

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