Service dogs are NOT here for your enjoyment

[DesignFox]

...If they didn't put the dog down, animal control was going to take it away and the lady was going to sue my neighbor for lots of money.

Sometimes, I feel like people like THAT should be "put down."

And then a I remember what my mom told me, "two wrongs don't make a right." But grrr... it frosts my cookies...

[blas]

I know, it's so sad. The only good thing to come of it was that family moved out into the country shortly after, and I'm sure they never had a problem like that ever again.

Forgive me for the thread hijack. Back to service dogs and respect, now.

[iradney]

I always have the utmost respect for service dogs. Just going up and mauling them is the same as mauling a cashier. The dog is busy working. He doesn't have time to play!
As for the people trying to lead him away from your wife, maybe next time she should scream "HELP! STOP THIEF!!!" They didn't ask permission to take the dog, that's thievery. End of story.
Pets to your hard working pups!

[PepperElf]

People, would you even think of trying to pull someone's cane out from under them?

well i did once go up to a guy on crutches and kicked his crutch. i think i was 2 or 3 years old and mom was furious with me.


i haven't really encountered any service dogs actually, other than in passing, but yeah... i can understand the concept of "leave the doggies alone." Same as when I see the cop dogs... sure they're cute and I call the giant beasts "doggies" but they're not to be touched unless the owner/trainer says so.

that's just manners
and common sense... Gee this doggie has teeth that could really rip my skin off. I think i'll go shove my hands in its face without talking to the owner first. (rolls eyes)

[rerant]

This summer I met a married couple who trained small breed service dogs for those with severe epilepsy, the elderly, and other miscellaneous necessities.
I was amazed that the dogs were so smart and so helpful that they would go so far as to retrieve specific items from shelves, could activate emergency systems if need be, and some other mind-blowing tasks I can't remember.

While we were chatting they had one of the dogs there who was in the process of being trained, and a small boy was trying to pet the dog and play with it and this dog would just stare at the boy when he tried to play and walk away and move to the trainers when the boy tried to pet him.
Clearly this dog was having none of the boy's antics.

[Bagga]

I must admit that I am not a pet lover, so maybe I am missing a vital point. But regardless of whether or not it is a working animal, why is there such a desire to pet someone else's pet? You don't know it, it's a total stranger, so why do you feel the need to touch it? Would you want to hug a total stranger's child? Without asking permission first?

Of course, sometimes the pet will deliberately invite such behaviour (cats are notorious for this) or maybe you will admire the pet, and the owner will invite you to touch it, but that's a different matter.

Admittedly a pet is an animal, but it is also a possession, and would you feel comfortable going up to someone and using one of their possessions without asking first? If you see a child playing on a DS Lite, would you wait for the child to finish a game, take the DS off them, say "can I have a go?" and proceed to play? Someone has finished their newspaper and is drinking their coffee - would you pick up the newspapar and start to read it? I don't think so!

So for me, it boils down to "It is not YOUR dog. LEAVE. IT. ALONE!"

[Retail Associate]

I have a confession to make. First off, I love dogs, especially big dogs and they usually love me, too. German Shepherds, Labs, Rotweillers (sp). I find them irresistable and just wanna squeeze 'em. I can honestly say I've never met a dog I didn't love.

Anyhow, 6 or 7 years ago when I worked in the pet dept a woman came in one day to get some fish. She was in a wheel chair and had a beautiful golden Lab with her. Out of ignorance, I automatically reached down and scratched the dog behind his/her ears. I honestly don't recall the dog's reaction but I did receive a cold stare from the woman in the wheel chair. She never said a word but I knew that I had made her angry and really didn't understand why.

About two years ago the same woman was in the store again with a golden lab. (I believe it was the same dog.) I was working with a younger co-worker who approached the woman and asked her if she could pet her dog. The woman's answer was, "No."

I didn't know until that time that it was inconsiderate to pet a working dog. I had never encountered one before and just didn't know. I felt pretty stupid.

.

[draggar]

It is scary what some adults and other adults will allow their childten to do. We actually had one little shit at Bush Gardens SPIT on MacLeod. We ripped into him and his parents, of course they acted ignorant of the whole situation. Zorro (malinois) and Kiki (German shepherd) do not even get 1% of the attention that MacLeod (collie) does but I bet that's because he's a collie or a "Lassie dog" as everyone loves to call him.

She kept on veering to the right (I was walking on his right) and I had to keep telling him we were veering into the road. He explained she was trying to protect me too . She did get excited when a bush rustled. I guess you can't take the dog out of the service dog eh? She was very well behaved and quiet... old too. white muzzle and that.

MacLeod does the same thing. We have to walk with him in between us or he might try to also pay attention to me thus throwing my wife off a little.

I hope the service dog in this story isnt going to hate kids for that.

That is not possible. Nope. He loves children. My cousin's children used to climb him, fall on him (accidentally pulling his fur, too). They never intentionally hurt him but they did hurt him (stomp on his feet by accident) and he didn't react negatively at all, if anything, if one fell on him, he'd look to make sure she was OK.

The kid's parents were going to sue. I mean, I was just a kid myself at the time, but I saw the cops over there and animal control. If they didn't put the dog down, animal control was going to take it away and the lady was going to sue my neighbor for lots of money. And this was BEFORE all the recent shenanigans with pitbulls and other dog bites you hear about. This was back in like, 1995.

There was actually a case last year where a pit bull attacked a child but no chargers were pressed (or they were dropped) when it was found out that the kid was harassing the dog by throwing things at it, hitting it, etc..

Also, it shows the importance of titling your dogs, even a basic CGC (Canine Good Citizen). This title shows that your dog is not aggressive and may win a few points with local authorities.

I am interested in getting a service dog for my daughter. I've found a few websites about training dogs for Autistic children. I'm not having 2nd thoughts about getting one, but now I'm having worries that the first person who tries to mess with the dog (if we get one) will not only have their ears blasted off with the choice words I'd have for them, but also they'd be missing a hand once they left my family's personal space.

You need one hell of a temperament for that. I can give you the name of our collie breeder, she's in NJ and breeds beautiful collies and incredible temperaments.

well i did once go up to a guy on crutches and kicked his crutch. i think i was 2 or 3 years old and mom was furious with me.

And I bet you hated your mom at the time for that but
1) Never did it again
2) Understand why she did it.

That's a sign of good parenting. Too bad its disappearing today.

This summer I met a married couple who trained small breed service dogs for those with severe epilepsy, the elderly, and other miscellaneous necessities.
I was amazed that the dogs were so smart and so helpful that they would go so far as to retrieve specific items from shelves, could activate emergency systems if need be, and some other mind-blowing tasks I can't remember.

My wife is training Zorro for that. She can tell him to go get her purse and he does. She's teaching him phone, too. Our old malinois (Mango) knew the difference between a "toy" (anything she can play with), a "ball" (any ball), "bone" (any bone), or "tug" (any toy used for tugging). Some breeds are extremely intelligent, some to the point of having problem-solving skills (not common in dogs, BTW).

The really odd thing about yesterday is that there was a border collie demonstration and they had their dogs out and about the crowd as an exhibit / showoff / Q&A. Most people ignored the dogs. I guess border collies don't look as friendly as a collie (well, what looks friendlier than a collie?)

[Seshat]

I didn't know until that time that it was inconsiderate to pet a working dog. I had never encountered one before and just didn't know. I felt pretty stupid.

How can you know what you'd never been told?

But yes, for future reference: a service dog in coat or a seeing eye/guide dog in harness and/or coat is working, and should not be distracted from their job. Always ask the handler before seeking any interaction with the dog.

In my experience, though, service dogs are beautifully trained and rather remarkable. I'm also working with my own dog towards her being a therapy dog. She needs to calm down before she qualifies, though - she's still very excitable. She's young enough that the excitability is understandable.

[Sandman]

I remember helping one customer who had a service dog. The dog was so well behaved, gave me a sniff to see if I was safe.

When I was done with the customer, I told her to give the dog a hug for me.

[Shabo]

Were those small dogs for epilepsy a terrier breed? They are incredibly intelligent and when they are working, they are working! Fun little dogs, but if you don't keep em busy, they'll give you something to do!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Malinois are so beautiful. I would like one someday, but I need to work on my dog training skills first. I would never dream of owning one until I had successfully trained a few dogs first, because I've seen what happens to good working dogs that were not owned by the right people. I think I posted on here a long time ago about a couple that used to come into my store with a border collie named Scooby, and by the time he was 2 years old, he had turned aggressive towards strangers and had to wear a muzzle when he went out. His owners took him out all the time, too, so it wasn't a problem with no socialization, just with his owners ruining a good dog because they didn't know how to handle him. So sad.

There was another couple that raised and trained Malinois, and when they brought their dogs into the store, the dogs were SOOOO well behaved, even the 6 month old puppy they had was perfectly behaved. They are truly amazing dogs.

[thegiraffe]

Draggar....I'm curious.

May I ask what your wife's dog is for? Collies aren't huge dogs, but they're strong...so they could be used for balance I suppose.

Also...Idrink,

I think a service dog would be EXCELLENT for Kelly. She's what...4ish now? She seems (based on your descriptions of her) to be more on the mild side of the spectrum. Dogs can do absolutely amazing things with children like her....allowing them to communicate through the dog in a non-threatening way (tell the dog what you want, he wants to know!), feel a sense of responsibility by feeding the dog (with help, of course!) and giving it water, and to be a companion. People on the Autistic Spectrum don't do so well with human relationships generally...animals sense that, and act accordingly.

I'm partial to labs, but that's because we have one who is absolutely incredible and amazingly gorgeous. Their temperaments can be a bit much to handle when they're young, but if they're trained right, they could be a perfect dog that can withstand ear pulling, poking, tail poking, fingers in the mouth/ears/nose/uh...there. Good luck! I think that sounds like an awesome idea

[Seshat]

That's what I also wanted to post!

My blind friend with the seeing-eye dog has an autistic/Asperger's son. (He's right on the border where autistic meets Asperger's.)

There is a strong and healthy bond between G (the autistic/Aspie boy) and the dog. I'm sure having the dog helps G.

[CaroPhoenix]

thegiraffe - yes, Kelly's 4 now. She's a handful. She has a good grasp on vocabulary & talking, but sometimes, she'll say something and even after her repeating it 4 or 5 times, I still can't get it. I have her on a leash and harness system right now, but I'm having nightmares when she's too big and she lets go of my hand to run into a crowded parking lot or into the street. She doesn't respond to me calling her name. I'm getting more grey hairs just thinking about it.

[GingerBiscuit]

The only time I petted a service dog was on holiday, when I got chatting to a woman with one. I asked before hand, and as we were all sitting down and everything she said I could.

He was an attention-whore anyway. When relaxed he lay there with his head across my lap giving me this big old grin. But when she started to get up , he was bolt upright, ignoring me, right at her side. ANd I left him alone.