Question for the Service Dog People on Here - Page 6

Thanks for the support, Blitzen.

Sadly, it's not the fakers who do the most harm (although they are contemptible). It's the bigots. Some of them use the fakers as an excuse for being bigoted, but it's just an excuse.

You know where I get the most harassment about my service dog? In the hoity toity places like fancy department stores and ritzy shopping malls. If I walk into Joe's Garage with my service dog, the people there are delighted to see him. Bookstores like Barnes and Noble and (alas, now gone) Borders have also been very welcoming. The first time I took my service dog into a Borders bookstore, with his backpack clearly labeled "ASSISTANCE DOG," a customer indignantly marched up to the service desk and shouted, "There's a dog in the store! A dog!" "Yes, I know," said the salesman with a huge smile. "I said there's a dog in the store!" the customer yelled. "Yes, isn't it wonderful?" the salesman replied. He laughed quietly as the customer stormed out.

I really appreciate the good guys like this. Change is hard and it takes too long and we have to keep fighting for it, but it is coming. Discrimination against disabled people used to be completely legal, and service dogs had no access rights unless they were guide dogs for the blind. So things are a lot better than they used to be.

When I was doing a search for Migrane Alert Dogs, I searched both Yahoo and Google. One of the things I noticed was the paid ads that were things like get your service dog kits now. Never be turned down in businesses again. Kits included ID cards and vets. That just disgusted me and is damn sure a slap in the face to the REAL service dogs whose owners MUST have them. And what is beyond my understanding is WHY people want to do this. I know we all love our dogs but I can live without mine long enough to go to the store or the library or even to be gone 3 hours to go to class and back and forth. And if it is for nothing more to tkae your dogs places then why would you do the fake service dog thing. I don't think people realize that crap like that makes it hard on the people who are for real. Or maybe they do know and don't care.

Has anyone ever seen this show on National Geographic channel called Taboo? Well I never got to see the episode but I saw the previews being advertised for a woman who wanted all kinds of surgeries to MAKE HER DISABLED and in a wheelchair. Is that not the most ridiculous thing in the world? I mean really what is wrong with people? Is it to get attention--and I don't think they realize they might not like the attention they will get.

Susan I am so sorry to hear about what you sometimes have to go through just to function as normally as possible. Just to want to see a dress up close you might have seen in a window or go into Borders and check out a book you are interested in sometimes turns into a big todo. My heart goes out to you because that could be anyone of us.

And if any of you people reading this are one of those who are faking just to take your dog places STOP IT. There are places dogs are allowed and if you are that desperate to take your dogs places, take them to those places. And without pretending they are what they're not. And you are what you aren't. There is enough disabled people and sickness without having to pretend you are.

I have 4 grown dogs and a puppy. Living in a podunk town, there are many places I can take my dogs and believe me I am proud of my dogs. BUT there are also days when I want a break from them............they don't have to be with me every second to know they are loved and appreciated...........................

I guess I'm not shocked to hear where your service dog receives the most negative comments. It reminded me of a story that may give you a big grin. A friend is checking into a swank hotel with her GSD next to her on lead. Not a service dog, she had her on a show circuit. When she and the dog approached the service desk to check in,  a woman  wearing very expensive looking white pantsuit was giving the clerk a hard time yelling at the top of her voice. She took a look one look at the dog and  yelled- get that stinking dog away from me. By that time quite a crowd had gathered. The dog was one of those dogs that, well I can't put it delicately, she loved to sniff butts and armpits. As the woman was screaming at the the clerk to get that filthy animal out of here, the dog leaned over and ran her wet nose up the entire length of that woman's butt crack LOL. She shrieked like a banshee, ran out of the lobby and the dog received a big round of applause from the crowd and a nice treat from the desk clerk.

OMG, Blitzen, I love stories like that, I'm just HOWLING over here! 

Anyone faking a service dog should definetly be ashamed. I fully agree with that  I want the fakers stopped. I live in a larger city and there are many fakes here and I am tired or people with horror stories of past service dog experiences in their businesses upon meeting my service dog and I. They are either rude at the onset because they think they have no rights towards service dogs because the past bad handlers have threatened them with federal statute and lawsuits or they at least give my dog and I the time to show them a well behaved and well trained team then they talk to me respectfully about the past issues. Businesses and employees need more ducation as part of the issue. They need to feel less helpless by knowing their rights and what rules handlers are to follow as well.  I have encountered three service dogs that were ill behaved while I was out at businesses. One had a toy something in a bag in shopping cart with a service dog patch on the bag and it was trying to tear its way out to attack my dog. One was a toy poodle in costco that lunged at the trouser leg of a customer and ripped it just for walking by and the dog was on long flexi lead not being reprimanded and was wearing a green vest. The last was a lab that was peeing as it walked down the ailse at the staples wearing a service dog bandana. The owner neither offered to clean it or acknowledged it just kept walking even when turning around stepped over the urine stream and kept going. After seeing this I have to feel, no wonder until a business knows my dog and I they are dreading seeing us come through the door. I do not shop anywhere  that I have not felt comfortable with my dog again. I avoid places where employees shriek and act stupid and they loose my business. I am grateful for the right to have a service dog and love being able to drive myself places again and having my dog to help me. I do not enjoy the stares or people grabbing my dog and other such situations that make you feel like a freak show out in public because of peoples reactions. I do not know how or why anyone would want to fake use of a service dog. I find here where I live, the higher end the shopping the better my dog and I have been treated. My husband and older son are out of town for my father in laws ill health/surgurey and tonight I will be taking my younger son to dinner so since I am driving I will need use of my dog and we are going to a high end seafood restaurant because he and I are the only ones in our family that enjoys this type cuisine. I hope I have not jinxed our visit saying I have had little issues in high end places lol. 

Blitzen, that is too funny. A canine bouncer to non-violently discourage the riffraff!

The biggest problem I see as far as the dog angle is concerned is badly behaved dogs. It doesn't matter whether they're real service dogs, fake service dogs, or just regular dogs in places where dogs are allowed. An obnoxious dog--usually paired with an obnoxious owner--makes such a bad impression. Of course allowances have to be made for dogs in training, but the owner should be making a serious effort to get the dog under control and should immediately fix any problems the dog has caused by mopping up pee or whatever.

Still, things can happen. The rudest service dog behavior I ever saw came from a certified Golden Retriever guide dog from a guide dog school. My service dog and I encountered him at an airport, and I knew what was going to happen as soon as I read his body language when he saw my dog. I started to veer off to the side, but his blind owner couldn't see it coming, and was almost jerked off his feet when his dog lunged forward, probably just for an enthusiastic "Hi there!" To his credit, the owner corrected the hell out of the dog and that was the end of it.

On the original OP topic, the idea of training a dog to alert to seizures or migraines is interesting. I think I would prefer a dog that naturally alerted if I needed such a dog. Almost all dogs should be able to detect the odor that precedes a seizure or migraine, but relatively few dogs seem to understand that this is something bad that they should alert to. It seems to me that this sort of dog would be more reliable and easier to work with. For my mobility assistance dogs, I have always selected dogs with a natural off switch. When nothing is going on and I have obviously settled in somewhere, whether at a meeting, pausing on the street to chat, and so on, my assistance dog will, without any command, lie down. He will often fall asleep until it's time to go. This is not trained behavior but chosen by the dog. I could train a dog to lie quietly for a long time, but I would much rather have a dog who does it happily on his own. The reliability is just incredible, and it's very important to me that the dog love his work. However, since seizure or migraine alert behavior is fairly rare, I can understand the desire to train this behavior. I think it would be worthwhile to try breeding for it, just like we breed for other desirable canine behaviors such as tracking ability.

And Blitzen you always make my day with a big smile and that was definately it for today. Thank you.

And Newbie absolutely. And the part about the peeing in the store--I have found if you have an accident and offer to clean it up, people generally say oh no mam we'll get it. But to not even offer to is just out and out rude..Also got your PM and thanks.

Susan you must be reading my mind. I do know the dogs we have are super self thinking dogs. The original question I asked I have found a lot of info on migrane alert dogs--I say a lot because it is considering what I was looking for. I am hoping some of the info I found will help Mike. He did write me and tell me it was exactly what he was needing and what an awesome person I was.  But the bottom line is if this works out then I will try my best to figure out how to incorporate that detection sense into my breeding program. All in all as everybody knows, my goal is to produce working dogs with correct conformation and plenty of self thinking intelligence. My idea of the golden middle. Some people say there is no such thing but I believe there is.........................I already know our lines have produced many drug and certified SAR dogs, so the will is there, just tuning it up a little will make my day............ Maybe this is my way of giving back and helping people. I know a lot of people have helped me. Not only that but our breed must remain a working breed and if there is a way I can help you AND make sure my dogs work then my work is done--for a minute or so anyway. LOL...............

You are most welcome Vonissk. Dinner was wonderful. Cool temperature, nice setting, friendly staff. I have to laugh though because after we were shown to our table and seated an employee came rushing over to our waitperson saying she brought the braille menu :) I drove and arrived with only an 11 year old, someone overheard a service dog arrived and it was assumed...... We all had a good chuckle and she was so on the spot trying to help I sure did not wish her to become embarrassed so we all played it up well and laughed. On leaveing, I thanked them as usual when I have enjoyed my visit. 

GSDNewbie, that is funny about the braille menu. At least they were trying to help!

I've had similar things happen, especially when I'm in an elevator with my service dog. Nice people will often ask what floor I need and push the button for me, assuming that I can't see. I don't want to embarrass them when they're trying to help, so I just tell them which floor and thank them. That backfired once when a helpful lady and I got off the elevator on the same floor and went into the parking garage, and she saw me get into the driver's seat of my car. "Hey!" she yelled. "What the?!" So I had to provide a quick explanation about mobility assistance dogs.

Just for fun, here's a quick video about a blind motorcyclist (no service dogs in it, but a clever disability accommodation):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_SWFnZk1Ps


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lol I know what you mean... I was once crossing an intersection and some well meaning person grabbed my elbow and I was just froze trying to figure out exactly how I was supposed to respond lol