SC's and service animals

[XCashier]

They start off yelling "What's that dog doing in here?" and get ignored. They raise their voice and try to tell us no dogs allowed. We be nice and tell them its a Seeing Eye Dog.
Thats not good enough. This is a restraunt and dogs aren't allowed. Our patience is ended, my friend pops off with "They let you in here didn't they?"

How'd that dog get in here?

Again someone being an ass about guide dog in public. We're in line to pay for our food and a man stands 10 feet back and screams at us "How'd that dog get in here" over and over. My friend replies "Through the front door. How about you?"

To use an internet phrase, your friend is made of WIN!

And kudos for pressing charges against the morons who harrassed you. Some people will only learn their manners when they have to go to court and pay a fine for their rudeness and stupidity.

[Akasa]

My internet has been down for a few days. I've just moved and internet is unstable.

Akasa, would it be considered rude for your friend if I said "good dog" or some such praise while it was waiting for its "friend"?

That's fine.

[pacman]

It's interesting how people don't notice harnesses or dark glasses or anything referring to a disability and automatically suppose a dog is just a fur-coated friend that is not allowed inside grocery stores or such. And even if you try to explain things to them they don't want to understand.

I knew a blind lady and her seeing eye dog from our church when I was a little girl. He was a black labrador retriever and the most wonderful, peaceful animal I'd ever met. The owner told things about the dog and as she was listening to the pastor preach, I was allowed to sit quietly next to the dog and pat it and such. We became best friends with the dog, but whenever I noticed he was guiding his owner I didn't interfere.

Oh, and I suffer of the "flufffyyyyyy, can I pat it, pleeese!" syndrome too.

[Dreamstalker]

There's a lady around town who is sighted, yet has a service dog (Standard Poodle; seizure response dog). I'll see adults and kids going up to the dog, and saying "I don't see anything that says I can't" when asked by the owner to stop (hi, red cape saying SERVICE ANIMAL). Peet's will let her bring the dog in, but Starshmucks won't.

I tend to get glomped by large breeds; it is the weirdest experience being pounced by a Great Pyrenees (BIG, weirdly slow-moving mountain of fur).

[Misanthropical]

I suffer from two affictions:

1) the "PUPPY!" syndrome

2) "ZOMG HUMAN CHEWTOY!!" syndrome (Also known as "GULLIBLE written in invisible ink across my forehead that only Dogs can see").

I spaz out over dogs and dogs spaz out over me (and Mom, I seem to have gotten it from her). Ya know the kind of spazzing some dogs do....the whole run-and-take-a-flying-leap-to-cover-you-in-dog-smoochies kind of spazzing.

I've been knocked down so many times it's amazing I haven't broken anything yet.

I have the same thing, which is not good when you have a child afraid of dogs. So, I will have a dog wanting me to play with them while my little guy is trying to hide behind me. *sigh*

I can't believe people are so stupid about service animals. Didn't their parents teach them anything about not touching or interfering with a service animal? My mother told me when I was little and I have told my children about it.

It's too bad you can't have the doggie sic the annoying asshats.

[LewisLegion]

My ex was blind and had a service dog. The entire time we were together I never saw anyone make a negative comment though we did get people a few times sneaking up to try and pet her. He had no problem with you petting her if you asked first, but he preferred to be asked.

It’s not just federal law now about people interfering with service dogs. Before I met him he could barley leave his house because the neighbor let their dog roam loose…and the dog would go after his guide dog whenever he tried to leave the house. He complained to the neighbors several times but they refused to do anything about it. It got to the point he couldn’t go to work unless he just took a cane, because his dog was getting injured and traumatized to the point she was refusing to leave the house.

So he got a law passed, named after his guide dog, that prohibits not only people interfering with guide dogs but also holding owners responsible if their loose pets interfere with them. The owner of the loose dog ended up slapped with a huge fine after the law passed (I’m talking in the thousands). This was shortly before I met him…and often, going to his house to pick him up, I still saw the dog running loose and had to run interference for him just so he could leave the house.

[sprocket79]

Peet's will let her bring the dog in, but Starshmucks won't.

She can call the ADA about Starbucks. Any registered service dog - it doesn't matter if it's a seeing eye dog or not - can go anywhere with their owner.

My friend has a whole host of health problems that aren't visible. As in she can walk and see and looks "normal" from the outside. But she has a registered service dog who alerts her to things like her blood sugar and will go get her husband if she passes out or something. The dog is insanely zen and nice. When we go out to eat she just sits by the table without moving. People pet her and she doesn't move. Once a waiter accidentally spilled ranch dressing on her and she didn't so much as shake her head. The dog has a vest with the service dog patches, but my friend has gotten so much of the DOGGIE!!!!! reaction, she has a patch that says "Ask to pet me" which people do. It's ok for kind of service dog. On the other hand, my former employers trained guide dogs and we could NOT play with or pet them because they were being trained.

One quick story about my friend and her service dog. She went to go visit her husband at his new office and went in through the front. Got a pass from security, went to the elevator and there were a whole bunch of people going, "What a beautiful dog!!!" So she wasn't hiding the dog at all. When she leaves, the same security guard who gave her her pass started yelling at her and accusing her of sneaking in her dog. So my friend is understandably bewildered because everyone was making such a huge deal about her dog when she went in that she couldn't see how the security guard would have missed it. It's a chow chow, not like a chihuahua that goes in your purse! So the guard is yelling at her and my friend is explaining that her dog is a service dog and shows her the vest and takes out papers from the ADA that basically spell out that service dogs are allowed basically anywhere. The security guard was having none of it though, so my friend asked to see the building manager. The building manager, having a brain, immediately told the security guard that the dog was a service dog and was welcome any time. She's no fool! She knows that she could get fined. The security guard was REALLY angry about it and was going on and on about how if my friend can bring her dog then she wants to bring her dog to work. Talk about someone who doesn't get it! She's still mean to my friend every time she goes to visit her husband.

BTW - 1st post! Yay! Long time lurker

[Akasa]

That dog running loose is a threat to my well being. I would have constantly been calling animal control about it. After all a dog running loose is against the law.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

I don't really care to pet any dog in public, unless it's a rottweiler. I have a passion for that particular breed. I always ask before I pet them, and I never bother a service dog. However, I've never seen a rottie service dog. This is a shame because rotties have the perfect temperment to be a sevice dog.

BTW: Proper rottie temperment is a wait-and-see attitude. Not the typical junk yard attacker you see portrayed by the media.

[Gabrielle Proctor]

That dog running loose is a threat to my well being. I would have constantly been calling animal control about it. After all a dog running loose is against the law.

That's what BB guns are for. It doesn't hurt the dog, but it's enough to scare them away. If you read my previous reply, you will see that I have a really big dog. She unfortunately sees the neighborhood dogs as a threat ever since one of my cats was attacked and my rooster was killed by the same said dogs(she has a good memory).

I figure a couple shots in the ass is better than letting Sammy have her way.

[Namrepus221]

I go to a local wrestling show every few months (whenever I get a day off and they are holding a show)

And a family always comes in with a service dog, a big black lab. The father is almost legally blind and his daughter takes something like 300+ photos of the event that he looks at after the show. It's really kinda touching.

I did kinda commit a faux pas once when I meet them. I had lent them my video camera for something (their camera broke some how...it was a sony. It just died for some reason when they were using it)

The dog came up to me standing next to his master and I extended my hand and was letting him sniff. I know enough to not pet him. But the wife did say "please don't pet him" I said I wouldn't and was just letting him sniff cause I have a dog of my own which is probably why he was moving towards me in order to see/smell what it was.

I should've told her that I have my own dog and asked if it was ok if I let him smell my hand.

[Namrepus221]

That's what BB guns are for. It doesn't hurt the dog, but it's enough to scare them away. If you read my previous reply, you will see that I have a really big dog. She unfortunately sees the neighborhood dogs as a threat ever since one of my cats was attacked and my rooster was killed by the same said dogs(she has a good memory).

I figure a couple shots in the ass is better than letting Sammy have her way.

Shooting a dog with a BB gun is the same as shooting him with a real gun.... You're still shooting an animal.

[Ratha]

That's what BB guns are for. It doesn't hurt the dog, but it's enough to scare them away. If you read my previous reply, you will see that I have a really big dog. She unfortunately sees the neighborhood dogs as a threat ever since one of my cats was attacked and my rooster was killed by the same said dogs(she has a good memory).

I figure a couple shots in the ass is better than letting Sammy have her way.

BB guns can kill animals- I had a cat that was killed by one. And I agree with Namrepus221, shooting an animal with a BB gun is still shooting an animal, and considered animal cruelty and could get you in trouble.

[AdminAssistant]

Back home (on da farm) we get packs of strays that come into the yard. We do use a BB gun - on the ground. I'd never shoot a dog, stray or no (well, maybe if it came after me or was rabid or somesuch) but you can shoot at the ground and it will scare them off.

Hazard of living in the country....

[Broomjockey]

Okay, let's get away from the BB gun topic. Now. It's not appropriate for this board, since we don't condone violence or illegal actions, which it is possible that using a BB gun on a dog could be taken as. And I don't want debate about the legality of it now either.