Service dog removed from home in Ontario because he became too fat

The Ontario Human Rights Tribunal has concluded that National Service Dogs did not discriminate when it removed one of its dogs from its home because it had “gained significant weight” and had health problems while in the care of a family with an autistic girl.

Juror Romona Gananathan made the decision last week, two years after Sammy, the service dog, was taken from the Mississauga home where he had lived as a companion since 2018.

When Sammy came into the house, he weighed 33 pounds.

The dog weighed 129 pounds at its peak weight in 2019.

That’s when National Service Dogs staff stepped in to work with the family to try to reduce the dog’s weight.

The tribunal said the Cambridge-based charity’s final decision to remove the dog from the home was “reasonable after a number of years of working” with the family to properly feed, arrange play dates and walk Sammy.

“It is crucial that Sammy gets his body moving,” the organization wrote in a letter to the family in the weeks before the dog was removed from the home.

Lack of money prevented the family from hiring a dog walker, so National Service Dogs urged them to find a high school student who could walk the dog to earn volunteer hours.

Shortly after the dog was taken, the family alleged discrimination ‘because of disability’, contrary to the Human Rights Act.

National Service Dogs testified that it had repeatedly asked the family to properly feed Sammy and exercise the dog.

When the dog appeared to suddenly lose weight due to changes in his diet, developed hip and shoulder injuries and a degenerative spinal condition, the organization removed the dog in March 2022 for the animal’s welfare.

“Based on the totality of the evidence, I conclude that the applicant’s disability was not a factor in the respondent’s decision to remove the dog from the family home,” Gananathan wrote in her decision.

“I notice that the family was unable to walk the dog or exercise consistently.”

“They were unable or unwilling to pay for dog walking services or accept respondent’s offers to attend playdates or let a high school student walk the dog, and ultimately the applicant’s family withdrew from the accommodations process by failing to communicate with” National Service Dogs to Discontinue. .

In its complaint to the tribunal, the family also alleged that the organization had removed the dog without any notice or alternative support, and had failed to accommodate the girl with ASD.

Despite testimony from doctors to the contrary, the tribunal concluded that the service dog was not an “essential accommodation” for the family and denied the application.

Within a month of Sammy being removed from the home, the dog had lost 8 pounds and was working toward a goal of getting back to a normal weight.

Due to repetitive stress injuries resulting from the extra weight, the decision was made to retire the dog from service.