Kids Behaving Badly Around Service Dogs

I've heard plenty of stories from people with service dogs about kids in the community behaving badly around their dogs.  Not all kids, of course, but some.  And in many cases, it really seems to be a matter of parents not supervising their children well or parents not exercising basic good manners.

Today, I heard a story about a woman that went to Walmart with her service dog.  While she was standing in line with her dog to buy a phone card, a small child with a cowboy hat took off his hat and began waving it in her dog's face.  She asked him to please stop.  His mother was standing nearby and she did not say anything when the kid began doing this, but when the woman with the dog asked the child to stop, the mother glared at the women with the dog.

The little boy then wandered away and the dog was lying down, waiting patiently and watching a little girl in the next aisle that was bouncing a ball.  The little boy came back over to the dog and stomped his feet very loudly right next to the dog's paws.  This startled the dog so that he quickly sat up and let out one bark.  The dog's handler immediately told him to be quiet and he did not bark again.

Again, the little boy's mother did not say anything to her son about his behavior, but she glared at the woman with the dog.

Now, why on earth would you allow your child to bother someone's service dog, especially after the dog's handler has already asked your child to stop doing that?  Why would you allow your child to bother anyone, disabled or not, person with a service dog or not?

Apparently, this is not uncommon, however.

Another person told me that she once told a small child that he could not pet her service dog.  It is considered inappropriate, by the way, to pet a service dog without permission, and in general you shouldn't try to pet someone's service dog or expect someone to let you pet his or her service dog, because it distracts the dog from his work.  The child was disappointed at being told he could not pet the service dog and started to throw a tantrum.  The child's mother then began to yell at the service dog's handler, telling her that now her child was going to have a big tantrum and she couldn't control her child's behavior and it was all the disabled person's fault.

Another person told me that she was at McDonald's with her service dog and a preschool-age child came up to her service dog and tried to stuff French fries in the dog's mouth.  The child's parents were standing nearby, watching.  Why on earth would you let your child approach a strange dog and try to stuff food into its mouth?  Do you want your child's fingers to be bitten off?  Yes, a well-trained service dog would not bite your child even if your child sticks her fingers into his mouth, but these parents had no way of knowing how well-trained this service dog was.

So, parents.  What do you do if you and your child see a service dog?

Explain to your child that the dog is doing a job and helping a person that needs extra help.  Tell your child that he or she should never pet a strange dog without asking permission, service dog or not, and should not try to distract the service dog in any way because the dog needs to pay attention to his job.

If your child would like to pet the dog and the person with the dog doesn't seem to be in a big hurry, it is OK to let your child ask if he can pet the dog.  If the dog's handler says no, your child should say OK and leave the dog alone.  Don't be offended or angry if the handler doesn't want your kid to pet her dog.  There may be all kinds of reasons she said no and it doesn't mean she wants to upset your child.