Aurora Could Allow Pit Bulls As Service Dogs For People With Disabilities

AURORA, Colo. — Pit bulls will likely be allowed as service dogs in Aurora following a campaign by a Vietnam veteran to keep his dog.Allen Grider Sr. uses a pit bull service dog named Precious to help with his symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. But Aurora doesn’t allow pit bulls to be kept as pets.Grider fought the policy. The Aurora Sentinel reports that a committee of the Aurora City Council has suggested that the full council agree next year to allow pit bulls that help people with disabilities. changes to the policy could come as soon as next March.the American Disability Association ruled in September that pit bulls could be used as service dogs, even in cities like Denver and Aurora where breed bans are in place.Precious was confiscated for five and a half months while Grider battled in court to have her returned. Grider’s attorneys argued Precious was a service dog.”They don?t know the hell they put me through,” Grider told the Aurora Sentinel. “She?s my little security blanket.”According to the ADA website, service dogs, or service animals, are animals that are individually trained to perform tasks for people with disabilities such as guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, pulling wheelchairs, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, or performing other special tasks. Service animals are working animals, not pets.Pit bulls for non-disabled owners would still be banned unless the owners had the dogs prior to 2005, when the ordinance was passed. those pit bull owners can keep their animals as long as they pay an annual license fee.

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