A friend texted me this morning about his Labrador retriever:
"Rogue's got some itchy skin for a couple days now. Could it be from swimming in lake/river or I think she just gets seasonal allergies. Or a combo of both. Bath with hypoallergenic or oatmeal type shampoo should make it better right? It shouldn't take away too much of her good or needed skin oil?"
Here in the southeast, allergy season is in full bloom. If your dog is itchier than usual, check out Dr. Karen Becker's blog post "If your dog is itchy or your cat is wheeze, you need to read this."
The dog's vest says in big, bold letters: Service Dog, Do Not Pet. And yet, person after person approaches with words like "I know I'm not supposed to ..." as they reach out to engage with a dog who is trying to do his job. If you don't understand why it's not okay to pet a service dog, I'd like for you to meet three of my clients.
Angel
Angel may not look like he's working but he is. One of his jobs is
to block people from invading 13-year-old Sara's personal space. Sara's Mom puts it this way: "When we are in public as a trio, I am responsible for
both my daughter and her service dog. When someone distracts her dog, her
anxiety level rises. Best case scenario, we are able to regroup and carry on
with our outing. Worst case, we spend 10 to 15 minutes in a quiet area
recovering. When Angel is distracted, the trio fails." Below is a video of Sara during a recent public access training session.
When you see a service dog, please admire him from a distance.
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Molly
Molly is in training to be a service
dog for Collin, a teenager with down syndrome. In the picture above, Collin's
Mom (and Molly's primary trainer) is working with Molly in public, teaching her
to focus - totally ignoring what's going on around her. Below, Molly lays (and stays focused) beneath the table at McDonalds, quietly waiting for whatever
comes next. Among other things, Molly helps Collin with transitions (stop doing something he's enjoying and start doing something else) like leaving McDonalds to go to the car. Focus is key in these kinds of transitions: focus from Mom, Molly and Collin.
When you see a service dog, please admire her from a distance.
* * * * *
Eclipse
Eclipse is six months old and has been embedded with his family since he was 11 weeks old. He's learning how to be a service dog for a child with a seizure disorder, cerebral palsy, autism, and a number of other disabilities. When you see a puppy with a "service dog in training" vest, don't assume he is being handled by a puppy raiser for a big organization. Some families - like the three in this blog post - choose to train their own service dogs. That means that interrupting puppy training is as inappropriate as interrupting adult dog training. This puppy is learning to ignore the rest of the world and focus on his boy. Please help him succeed by admiring the process from afar.
It takes hundreds of hours to train a service dog. Thank you for respecting them and their people.
