Conference Policies

The APDT Board of Directors established that personal dogs are not allowed at our Annual Educational Conference and Trade Show. This decision was based on concern for the safety and comfort of our canine friends and on our conference format. ​Service dogs are an exception to this policy. If you intend to bring a service dog to the conference, you will be asked to review the following information and indicate acceptance of our policies. Service dogs are covered by Federal Law under the ADA. The behavior of a service dog is the responsibility of the dog’s handler at all times and handlers must always be cognizant of their dog’s interactions with people and other animals. Service dogs are expected to be on leash, well-behaved and under the handler’s control, or if the handler is unable to control the dog for a time, under the control of a designated adult individual. If the handler’s disability precludes the use of a leash, harness or other type of tether, the dog must be under the handler’s control using voice cues, hand signals or another means of communication. Please be aware that if your service dog is observed demonstrating aggressive behavior toward a dog or person, you may be asked to remove the dog by the APDT and/or facility and it may not be allowed at the conference. The facility may be obligated to ask you to remove the dog to protect the safety of both people and animals. Aggressive behavior is defined as a constellation of behaviors including: • Hard stares • Hackles up • Pursed lips • Growling • Lunging • Biting Behaviors that may also lead to being asked to remove the dog are behaviors that may disrupt the facility’s ability to conduct business, such as uncontrolled barking, lunging and jumping on people, and bolting from the handler without the ability to be recalled. Service dogs must be house trained, and handlers are responsible for cleaning up after the animal at all times. Our policy allowing service dogs does not cover emotional support, comfort animals and therapy dogs, which are not defined as service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA. It also does not cover service dogs-in-training when the state laws of the conference location do not allow for service dogs-in-training to have the same public access as service dogs. Please review the state laws for this year’s location to determine if you are eligible to bring a service dog-in-training.