Animal admittance policy, including dogs.
The purpose of the animal admittance policy is to inform building users of which animals are permitted in the building and when permission is required.
Overview
- Assistance dogs are permitted in Duncan Place without prior arrangement, please see below.
- Service dogs are permitted in Duncan Place when accompanied by their professional handler from their associated organisation, please see below.
- Therapy animals might be permitted in Duncan Place by prior arrangement, please see below.
- Emotional Support Dogs are not permitted in Duncan Place, please see below.
Policy
Assistance dogs are trained to aid disabled people to allow them to carry out their day-to-day activities.
They are classed as auxiliary aids, much like a wheelchair. Assistance dogs are fully protected under the Equality Act 2010. They do not need to be trained by an organisation, or be state funded, to have these protections.
Examples of Assistance Dogs are Guide dogs, Hearing dogs, medical alert and response dogs, Allergy detection dogs, Mobility assistance dogs, Autism assistance dogs and Psychiatric assistance dogs.
Some dogs may be trained to cover multiple types of assistance dogs, so these dogs are called multipurpose assistance dogs. All types of assistance dogs are valid and as important as each other.
Service Dogs are not assistance dogs. They are dogs that are aligned with an organisation and trained in tasks to protect the public/provide a service for the public’s safety. This includes police, body detection, fire, and drug detection. This does not include privately owned 'protection dogs'. Service dogs have their own set of laws protecting them and are only allowed in public areas when accompanied by the associated organisation.
Therapy animals, including dogs, are not assistance animals and so, we are not legally required to admit them. However, we recognise that some of our building users:
- Benefit from the presence of their therapy animals.
- Experience anxiety due to the presence of animals.
- Suffer allergies due to the presence of animals.
In developing this policy, it is impossible to please everyone. Our current policy is to not admit therapy animals. This can be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. If you would like to attend with a therapy animal please email info@duncanplace.org with at least 10 working days' notice. Please state the date, time and event you hope to attend, along with details of the animal. We can then review who else is likely to be in the building at that time and if the presence of your animal is manageable. Whilst we may explain our decision, we are under no obligation to do so. The decision of Duncan Place is final.
Emotional Support Animals, including dogs are not legally recognised in the UK. If a dog is trained to aid a disabled person, they are classed as an assistance dog and they are an auxiliary aid.
