Woman kicked off lingerie photo shoot because of service dog
May 10, 2016 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
by: Jason Stoogenke
Updated: May 9, 2016 – 6:30 PM
CHARLOTTE, N.C. —
The owners of a North Carolina bed-and-breakfast have apologized to a woman after asking her to leave the premises because of her service dog.
“Invisible illnesses are very, very real,” Nici Leenerts, who has brain and muscle disease, told Action 9 reporter Jason Stoogenke said. “Don’t judge a person by their looks, a book by its cover.”
She has seizures, so she has a service dog, Phoebe, a Yorkie who goes where she goes.
Leenert’s friend, Kelsey Chapman, is getting married and they wanted professional lingerie photos of themselves.
Chapman wanted to give hers to her fiancé.
“(I) got hair, makeup done, bought all kinds of lingerie outfits,” Chapman said. “Just to feel pretty because I have no self-confidence by myself with scars all over me and a tube in my stomach. So yeah, I was going to feel pretty for once.”
They said they went to the Kerr House Bed Breakfast in Statesville, which doesn’t allow dogs. Halfway through the shoot, they said staff members kicked them out.
They complained, and shortly afterward, the BB posted a lengthy apology on Facebook.
It doesn’t go into much detail, but appears to be directed at Leenerts. The BB said it “failed miserably,” was “ashamed,” was “wrong” and “made a mistake.”
“I forgive them,” Leenerts said. “I mean, I told all my friends, you know, ‘I forgive them. It’s just the principle. I don’t want other people to be treated the way they treated me.”
A service animal must be a dog or a miniature horse, trained to perform a task that its owner can’t perform, and it must be under the owner’s control at all times. If the animal misbehaves, a business can kick it out but can’t kick out the owner.
Officials said the owner should have the dog’s paperwork at all times.
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