More than 10,000 people in Europe use an assistance dog; consider guide dogs for the visually impaired, hearing dogs for the hearing impaired, medical response service dogs and psychiatric service dogs.
Under UN approval and Dutch law, these dogs are welcome in stores, hospitals and other public places. However, in practice, many assistance dog users and their dogs are routinely rejected. In the Netherlands, four out of five dog users report having regular problems with this.
Hygiene reasons are often cited as the main argument for refusing access to assistance dogs. Research by Utrecht University now shows that Assistance Dogs ‘paws are cleaner than their users’ shoe soles, so paw hygiene is not a reason to ban assistance dogs from hospitals.
To investigate this, Jasmijn Vos, Joris Wijnker and Paul Overgaauw from Utrecht University’s Faculty of Medicine took samples from the paws of 25 assistance dogs and the soles of their clients ’shoes. For comparison, they also studied an equally large group of pet dogs and their owners. Vos and her colleagues examined the samples for poop bacteria (Enterobacteriaceae), which are very common outdoors, and for important diarrheal bacteria (Clostridium difficile).
“Dog’s paws turned cleaner than shoe soles,” says Jasmijn Vos, a Masters student at Utrecht University. “This makes the hygiene argument that is often used to prevent assistance dogs from public places illegal.” Moreover, the diarrheal bacteria did not occur on the dogs’ paws at all, and only once on a shoe.
81% of assistance dogs are rejected
Dutch assistance dog users were also surveyed about their experiences. 81% still refuse to enter public places with their dog on a regular basis, even though this is prohibited by law. This is largely due to a lack of knowledge of the person refusing entry: a lack of knowledge of what a support dog is, how to identify it, and of the rules of the law.
The study also shows that assistance dog users make up only a small proportion of the total number of patients in Dutch hospitals. If they decide to support the dog in hospital, or elsewhere, this should be made possible; assistance dogs are usually well trained and pose no greater hygiene risk than humans!
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Magazine Reference:
Jasmijn Vos, S., et al. (2021) Pilot Study of Contamination of Support Dog Paws and Soles of Consumers with Admission to Hospitals and (Internal) Visible Disability. International Journal of Environmental and Public Health Research. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020513.