Hi friends! I'm writing because I'm wondering how other venues policies surrounding comfort animals vs service animals work.
We have a clear policy on welcoming service animals. Our policy with comfort animals has been a customer friendly policy in that we allow patrons in with their comfort animal but let them know we may need to reseat them or ask them to leave if any disturbance occurs with their animal or other patrons.
The other evening we had a patron attend with what seemed to be a pet.. though they were adamant it was a comfort animal.. is there any way of obtaining verification of when an animal is a certified Comfort animal vs a pet? I don't want to have to change our policy to not allowing comfort animals in, but also know that it may be difficult to properly identify comfort vs pet... Thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Laura
Thank you so much for your thoughtful replies. We are solid on our Service Animals policy but always happy for that confirmation from others, too. :) Comfort animals' topic is so tricky and I think that what I've been finding is that there truly isn't much guidance on it for organizations that would like to allow them in. I think the best way forward is to let our organization decide and be very clear about what we allow on our website, etc so folks can know in advance.