Restaurant Owner Arrested After Refusing Woman With Service Dog

Hrachya Avagyan (Courtesy of The Sun News)

A South Carolina restaurant owner who allegedly refused service to a woman with a service dog didn’t just get a slap on the wrist from law enforcement. He got arrested.

Myrtle Beach restaurant owner Hrachya Avagyan was charged with interfering with the rights of a blind/disabled person when he refused to allow a service dog of into Seafood World, according to The Sun News.

The woman told police Avagyan said the restaurant was private property and that he doesn’t allow dogs. The woman said she tried to show him her certification for the dog (not required, as readers have noted in the comments), and to explain the law, reports Carolina Live. The dog was wearing a service animal vest. It did no good.

For his refusal, Avagyan has so far spent one night in jail, according to the latest update.

As more people become familiar with service dogs and the Americans with Disabilities Act, flat-out refusals like this are happening less frequently, says Marianna Thompson, who works with a group that places service dogs with disabled people in the Carolinas. Unfortunately, not all business owners are on board.

“Not everyone feels that an animal should be in a restaurant and it’s something that it’s just going to take time to change,” says Thompson, who uses a service dog herself.

Judging by past responses to similar articles, a good number of Dogsters have service dogs and have had similar issues. Have you noticed the problem decreasing over the years? What have you done when someone has tried to restrict you and your dog? And what do you think of the restaurant owner being arrested? Was that over the top, or a good example for others who might try to deny access to people with service dogs?

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Landlord Arrested for Throwing Dog Poop into Tenant’s Home

Anytime there’s an odd story about dog poop, I have to bring it to you, Dogsters. I think we can all usually identify with one side or the other each time. Here’s an odd little Monday morning addition to our growing Dog Poop Hall of Fame.

An Ohio landlord is chilling out in jail after getting hot under the collar about poop left on the flat rooftop porch of a tenant with six dogs. Apparently the tenant “walks” his dogs on the rooftop. When the landlord saw large amounts of trash on the roof, and piles of poop everywhere, he became upset. The tenant says the garbage was strewn around because the dogs broke into the garbage bag, and that the poop had been hidden in the snow, and was only obvious because the snow had melted.

According to reports, the landlord started yelling at the tenant, who called police. They came by, and told the landlord to leave, saying  he had no business there, even though he owned the property. According to the Morning Journal, the tenant called police 19 minutes later, saying the landlord threw dog poop into his home.

Police  found the landlord on the rooftop with a shovel, throwing garbage cans, loose trash, and poop, the Morning Journal reports. They arrested him and charged him with all sorts of things. Scooping the poop was not one of them.

I would not like to be a landlord whose roof was covered with dog poop, and to be told by cops there was nothing I could do about it. What do you think, Dogsters? Did he overreact? Can you understand his frustration? What should he have done?

View the original article here