INDIANAPOLIS — A proposed law could put a strict definition on what qualifies as a service animal.
The two animals allowed under the legislation would be dogs and miniature horses.
Miniature horses aren’t typically animals we think of that could be trained to help those with disabilities but according to advocates they have a high aptitude to serve.
“They are extremely empathetic. they are easily trainable, they respond really well to a lot of different situations and they have a really long life. Their lifespan is 30 to 35 years, " Lindsey Fisher the Owner of Wrangler and Friends said.
Fisher’s miniature horse, Wrangler, currently serves as a traveling emotional support animal. She hopes establishing a code in Indiana that allows miniature horses to be service animals, will help to get more people interested in training them.
"This could be a really important bill for the welfare of miniature horses,” Fisher said. “They could be finding jobs for themselves that are meaningful and fulfilling like Wrangler does and it could provide homes for all these animals that don't have a home now."
House bill 1354 establishes state guidelines that mirror the federal law. The Arc of Indiana which advocates for people with disabilities, says right now it can be confusing to know what's consider a service animal and what’s not.
"It does give that business owner the right that if the service animal is acting up and being aggressive towards other patrons that they can ask that individual to remove the service animal from the business, " Hannah Carlock with The Arc of Indiana said.
Kelsey Burton with Medical Mutts , which takes shelter dogs out of shelter and trains them to be service, says service animals take around six to nine months to be fully trained.
She says that they are prepared to be in public situations. Burton says bills like this are important because they can help weed out people pretending their pet is a trained service animal.
"It makes people think that all dogs are fake,” Burton said. "Now our individuals that we're training our clients to have, these dogs are now going out in to the community and they are kind of being hassled. You know people aren't believing that they're service dogs."
Service animal trainers say animals that have gone through extensive training act differently in public compared to untrained animals, which makes them easier to identify.
The bill passed out of the senate on Tuesday, but needs one more vote in the house before it is sent to the governor's desk.
