Calling all Service Dog Owners!

[Ms_Butterfly]

This group finally decided that the dogs were blind and they needed my friends to lead them around.

Funny!

 

[Nalla]

We've had people approach us while we were shopping. They wanted to know how they could get Fido certified as a service dog so they could bring him shopping. After all, Fido only rarely goes potty indoors. I always sweetly say, "Oh, are you disabled too?"

I've had plenty of people come up to me and say "I wish I could bring my dog everywhere!". I like to ask them if they wish they had the disabilities that make people need SDs as well. Although I must say, the other day at the book store someone actually made that realization on her own. She said "I wish I had a service dog... actually no I don't. I just wish I was allowed to bring my pet dog more places." I was like WOW, I like you. Lol.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

That's awesome that the bookstore lady made her own realization!!

I can't recall anybody ever telling me they wish their dog was an SD or that they could bring their dog everywhere, though a few ppl have said the best part must be bringing my SD everywhere/it must be cool to bring my SD everywhere.

Of course, I've had some ppl say, "I didn't know dogs were allowed!" Then they feel dumb when I explain she's my SD (even though it is pretty obvious with the mobility harness and pack that says "service dog"...), LOL.

 

[dclfun]

Whenever we are out there are always some people who make rude loud comments to assure themselves that I can hear them or loudly proclaim information about SD's to their children- accurate or not. I try to ignore all but the most rude and ignorant but sometimes I'll pursue someone to give them a piece of my mind. The lady who accused me of killing my dog in the heat at AK ( "you horrible woman...your dog is going to DIE!!" ) comes to my recollection as she felt it was quite okay to run down the trail and scream at me ( my dog had ice packs in her vest and was more hydrated than I was at the time). If she had actual concern for my dog, she could've offered water vs. accusing me of neglect. Oh well, it just goes along with the territory. For people who think it's fun or easy to have your dog with you at all times- it isn't. We are ambassadors for other SD teams, our dogs must exhibit exemplary behavior at all times, and we are responsible for their health and well being, curtailing our own plans if need be to keep our dogs safe and comfortable. As one SD owner told me before I got mine.."it isn't an easy life", but one that many of us could not live without the help of our wonderful SD's.---Kathy

 

[LauraVV]

Whenever we are out there are always some people who make rude lou As one SD owner told me before I got mine.."it isn't an easy life", but one that many of us could not live without the help of our wonderful SD's

Kathy, we recently had our agency's annual certification. This is something our agency requires for the first few years. I was asked when I was going to break down and get a service dog for myself. Frankly, I'm not ready. It's bad enough having people stare at us with two dogs. I can't imagine three. It's a huge deal and it changes your life. It's a lot like having a young toddler.

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

For people who think it's fun or easy to have your dog with you at all times- it isn't. We are ambassadors for other SD teams, our dogs must exhibit exemplary behavior at all times, and we are responsible for their health and well being, curtailing our own plans if need be to keep our dogs safe and comfortable. As one SD owner told me before I got mine.."it isn't an easy life", but one that many of us could not live without the help of our wonderful SD's.---Kathy

Exactly. Ppl who want to take their pets places - if their pet was sick that day, they'd simply leave their pet home (or at the vet's, if they are really sick) and go do their normal stuff without problems. If our SDs are sick, we're homebound (or at the vet's), too. If their pet couldn't go somewhere easily or they thought it would be a hassle, they'd just leave their pet home and go on with their day. Not so for us; we have to make it work or lose out. If they just feel like not taking their pet somewhere or want a day to themselves or don't want to stick out with having a pet or whatnot, they can do so no problem. Not so for us; our SDs are our daily partners through it all.

That's terrible about the idiot lady who yelled that you were killing your dog! I can't believe somebody would do such a thing!! The right thing to do would be to ask the person if their dog needed water or a mist from a mister or something. Some people!!

 

[Nalla]

I need to rant a bit. I was at the grocery store today, and when we checking out I was surrounded by a bunch of employees (including the manager) and couldn't get out of the aisle because they were around me going "AWWWWW A PUPPY!" and petting her and stuff. I was having trouble seeing in there, and they were blocking Nalla from being able to move. I really hate people. And it's not like I can complain because the store manager was one of the idiots. grr.

 

[mechurchlady]

Nalla it does not matter if they are store managers. It is like someone walking up to a wheelchair then running their hands on the chair and talking about the chair so that the user could not move. People see DOGGGY and not EMPLOYEE. They just cannot grasp that the dog is off limits unless permission is granted. Your poor doggy. I hope your doggy did not get anything from them dog mashers, hrmph. You just going to have to learn to be assertive Nalla.

Big hugs and chocolates Nalla.
I love reading your posts
Hugs
Laurie

 

[Ms_Butterfly]

I need to rant a bit. I was at the grocery store today, and when we checking out I was surrounded by a bunch of employees (including the manager) and couldn't get out of the aisle because they were around me going "AWWWWW A PUPPY!" and petting her and stuff. I was having trouble seeing in there, and they were blocking Nalla from being able to move. I really hate people. And it's not like I can complain because the store manager was one of the idiots. grr.

Carry around some cards/brochures with info. on SDs and SD etiquette (such as not to pet/call to/etc. working SDs) and hand those out to such ppl if you have difficulty expressing out loud that your SD should not be bothered with. (Usually, I just say, "Please don't pet her, she's working," and ppl understand.)

Also, check your state's laws to see if they have punishments listed for ppl who interfere with SDs (i.e. misdemeanor punishable by [fill in the blank]). That way, you can gently inform ppl who try to interfere with your SD that they are breaking the law and what the punishment is for doing so.

You may want to get in touch with the regional manager or corporate of the store you were at to tell them what happened, send them info. on SDs, and request that they train all their employees (incl. managers) about SDs and the laws.

 

[Shanka]

We will be there in January and so I really appreciate this thred. For us, our service dog is a seizure alert dog. I don't mind people admiring the dog (who works for my 11 year old daughter) but would no like somebody asking too many personal questions. I want to forget my child is sick and just pretend the dog is our pet dog. KWIM?

 

[LauraVV]

I need to rant a bit. I was at the grocery store today, and when we checking out I was surrounded by a bunch of employees (including the manager) and couldn't get out of the aisle because they were around me going "AWWWWW A PUPPY!" and petting her and stuff. I was having trouble seeing in there, and they were blocking Nalla from being able to move. I really hate people. And it's not like I can complain because the store manager was one of the idiots. grr.

One thing to do in these situations is to loudly say, "Leave it!" to your dog. When the people don't stop petting you can say, "Sorry, pooch, you won't get your treat when we leave the store because you let the people pet you." People get the hint and they don't want to be responsible for costing a dog a treat.

 

[LauraVV]

We will be there in January and so I really appreciate this thred. For us, our service dog is a seizure alert dog. I don't mind people admiring the dog (who works for my 11 year old daughter) but would no like somebody asking too many personal questions. I want to forget my child is sick and just pretend the dog is our pet dog. KWIM?

We didn't have many problems with people coming up to us at Disney. We had a wonderful start to our vacation. We went to the Poly for a character breakfast and Pluto stole the dog. He ran off with Rebel. We got some wonderful pictures of the two of them. Pluto also took off his collar and put it on Rebel. Then he decided he wasn't a dog and didn't have Mickey as an owner. It really made my daughter (she was almost 10 at the time) comfortable having her dog at Disney.

 

[Nalla]

One thing to do in these situations is to loudly say, "Leave it!" to your dog. When the people don't stop petting you can say, "Sorry, pooch, you won't get your treat when we leave the store because you let the people pet you." People get the hint and they don't want to be responsible for costing a dog a treat.

I taught her "ignore!" instead of leave it. Doesn't mean anything different to my dog, but tends to get the point across to idiot people. It's not like my dog was going up to the people, they cornered us. It's so disorienting when I could barely see what the heck was going on. I like the idle treat threat though, I'll try that next time. It's a cool idea since the dog will have no clue what I said to her apart from "blah blah blah treat blah blah blah"

 

[mechurchlady]

Nala you will in time learn to be assertive. It was very rude of them and I know some people who would have very firmly said to them to back off. My dog Mandy was like a therapy dog for me and well trained. I taught her to only respond to commands. "Pizza, egg and bacon on the subway" would get no response but "What is the next command?" did, lol. Command as "come Man", that dog was smarter than me. She came and sat there with her bushy eyebrows waiting for a command. It reminds me of the movie Boys from Brazil. The doberman pinschers were trained to respond to the word pickle, lol.

I think you should write a letter to the corporate office of that store and tell them that they need to train employees on how to properly respond to service dogs. If not you then you parents could go to the store and ask for the highest manager and explain the fear of being nearly blind while your link to the world was being manhandled and fussed over. Nala the civil rights activist, I like that. I write companies and inform them about food allergies so you could inform companies about how to treat service animals.

I send you a lot of hugs and chocolates Nala.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Laurie

 

[denversees4me]

well it seems this stickey has taken a turn from a school project to a discussion forum for SD and GD users COOL !!!! my name is Cari and my guide dog is Denver from Guide Dogs of America. I am an anual passholder in CA so anyone needing ?s answered i can help for those parks. We took a DCL cruise in oct and are already booked for next Oct. I agree that the loud LEAVE IT command sometimes makes people back off.... i have never thought of the treat thing though i have to hand it to the person who posted about that... WAY COOL ... yes how sad it is when kids know more about SDs vs parents. will say either i got lucky or people who go on disney cruises r just smart i had NOT A SINGLE PERSON ask to pet my denver..... everyone knew he was doing his job and no one bothered me ... my other cruises not so lucky ... biggest mistake i made on other cruises was telling people my dogs name ... as if trying to pet isnt distracting enough how about when your blind and they call your dogs name out ... i mean come on are some people that dumb???? Thank god my dog just ignores them , but not always every good dog has a not so good day
cari and Denver

 

[Nalla]

Very true about the dog's name. My dog's name is Nalla, but if someone is going to start calling her name (and sometimes you can just tell) I say her name is Simba. Hehe.

 

[denversees4me]

yea sometimes i tell people the wrong name too !!!!! Where did everyone get their dogs from ?
cari and Denver

Denver is from guide dogs of america in sylmar ca

 

[Luv4Disney]

We were in the world from Dec. 6-14th and we saw 2 service dogs. One in AK and the other in DTD.

 

[cooper14]

Hi
I just got home from Disney World.This was the second time this year that we went and brought my sd with us. This time I saw 4 different sd's there. You will find many people know not to pet without asking but many have no idea what an sd is. there are many rides that I cant go on so I just wait for my wife and kids to go on the rides. I cant tell you how many times people will ask what the dog is for and if they can pet him. My sd is mainly to pick things up for me and also to bring things to me so its not life or death if he gets distracted. I ran into many people that said seeing my dog made them and their children miss their dog that they left at home. One woman was in tears because she had just put her Golden to sleep. She was hugging and kissing my dog for about 10 minutes.I cant bring myself to tell these people that they cant pet my sd.
If this is your first time at Disney with your sd you will want to get the booklet that tells you where you can take your sd for his bathroom breaks. I have found most of the cm"s to be very helpful and most are amazed when you bring your sd to a break spot and your sd waits till you tell him to go before he does his business.
Best of luck on your trip

 

[denversees4me]

hi
Denver and I are going to disneyland tomorrow !!!!! I am an anual passholher going to go hang out with mickey
cari and Denver