Christmas Eve Service

Isaac and I ended up going to a candle light service at 11 pm last night at a nondenominational church with Mike and his mom.  It's the church Mike usually attends and he asked the pastor if it was OK for me to bring Isaac and the pastor said it was.

Isaac and I went for a walk in the morning and he took a dip in a lake and got all wet and muddy and smelly, so he had to get a bath.  I also brushed him well because he has been shedding like crazy lately and I brushed his teeth.  He was all prettied up.

He was snoozing when I announced it was time to leave for church because he tends to go to bed early, but he was happy to get up and go somewhere, anywhere, so off we went.  We got to the church a little early and I chose to sit near the back, at the end of a pew near the wall.  But there was room to get in and out of the pew by the wall.  I just didn't want to sit on the center aisle.

Isaac lay down by  my feet, partway under the pew in front of mine.  It didn't take long before he was sprawled out on his side, snoozing away.  When the service started and everyone stood up to sing, he lifted his head and started to get up, but I gave him the hand signal for "lie down" and he went back to sleep. 

At one point during the service, he moved closer to me and rested his head against my leg.  But he was quiet and unobtrusive and the people in the pews in front of and behind mine didn't even know he was there.

At the end of the service, a few people noticed him as we were exiting the pew and the leaving the church.  But I think most of the people in the church never even knew there was a dog there. 

I'm not positive the pastor even realized Isaac was there, even though he'd told Mike it was OK for me to bring my service dog.  Before the service started, the pastor was going around shaking hands with people and he reached around Mike to shake hands with me, but I'm not sure he noticed Isaac lying on the floor at my feet.  If he did, he didn't mention the dog at all.

The music was nice and candle light was lovely.  It's a really beautiful, ornate church, with stained glass and stuff.  It was gorgeous in the candle light.

There was no need to be in special seat or anything like that. 

Isaac was very, very tired when we got home.  He went directly to bed and actually let me sleep until 7:30 this morning, which is most unusual for him.

Midnight Mass, Round Two

Last year I posted about how I was thinking of going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve but was unable to find a church where I could take Isaac.  It wasn't that I found a bunch of churches that said no service dogs allowed, it's that I wanted until the last minute to call and then either no one answered the phone in the church office or the person that answered didn't know if they allowed service dogs or not and the person that would know was not available to ask.  I called six different churches and then gave up. 

I live in a pretty rural area and there are only so many Catholic churches within a reasonable driving distance.  There is actually only one Catholic church in my entire county, and of course, not all Catholic churches have midnight mass and I really wanted to go to midnight mass, not an earlier service. 

I don't want this post to be about religion, but I will say that I am not Catholic, I am not even Christian, but I have always thought it would be interesting to go to midnight mass on Christmas eve.  I just wanted to see it.  And I've heard the music is lovely.  I do not support the Catholic church for many reasons and certainly would not donate any money to them.  But I'd like to go to midnight mass one time.

So anyway.  I decided to plan ahead this year.  I started making phone calls today to find out where I might be able to attend midnight mass with my service dog.

And no, churches are not required by law to admit service dogs.  They are exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act, which means they are permitted by law to discriminate against people with disabilities.  Some churches welcome people with disabilities, including those with service dogs, but they are not required to by law.  It is up to each church.  If you want to read what the U.S. Department of Justice says about why that, you can read it here.

A Catholic acquaintance tells me that the American Council of Catholic Bishops has made some sort of statement that service dogs should be welcomed in all Catholic churches, but I don't have a link to that statement so I can't verify it.  It's probably true, though.  But probably not all Catholic church employees or volunteers are aware of it.  So some would probably tell me I couldn't bring my service dog and maybe I'd have to produce the statement from the Council of Catholic Bishops and try to convince them they are wrong.  And this is not a battle I want to fight since I'm not Catholic and do not want to attend church on any kind of regular basis.

So anyway.  I decided to plan ahead this year and started making phone calls  to find out where I might be able to attend midnight mass.

I called the first church on my list, whose website stated they have midnight mass on Christmas Eve.   The women that answered the phone did not know if I could bring my service dog or not and put  me on hold.  When she finally returned, she said I could, but she needed my name so that they could reserve a special seat for me.  I asked why they needed to reserve a special seat and said I did not need a special seat.  She said they had to reserve a special seat up front since I would have my service dog with me.  I told her I was uncomfortable with that, that I did not need or want a special seat up front, and that if they would insist I sit in a special seat, that I would just check with another church.  She said OK.  Apparently it was just fine with her if I did not attend.

So I called the next church on my list.  They do not actually have a midnight mass but one at 10 pm.  Which Isaac would actually prefer, because he does not like staying up late.  The woman that answered the phone said she was pretty sure it would be OK but asked me to hold on while she checked to make sure.  She came back and said it was fine.  She said she hoped she'd see me there.

Isaac's Holiday Gift

Here's what Isaac is getting for the holidays.

It's a training kit to teach dogs to hunt for shed antlers.  I dunno if he'll learn to do it or not.  I hope so.  I think it would be fun.  He really likes finding bones when we go hiking.  Why not antlers?

He is not actually a big fan of antlers for chewing.  Apparently he is one of the few dogs in the world that doesn't like to chew on them.  But he could still hunt for them and enjoy finding them.  Then I can give them to friends that have dogs that actually like to chew on them.

Isaac at the Halloween Store

I just realized I forgot to post about our trip to the Halloween store!

I took Isaac to the Halloween store so he could experience something new and to practice working in a challenging, distracting environment.  Isaac did great!  I expected he would; if I thought he wasn't ready for something like this, we would not have gone.

When we first arrived, we paused right inside the door so Isaac could get used to the lights and sounds.  Then we slowly approached a display of large decorations.  It was set up so that when you stepped on a certain spot, which was clearly marked, a display item would turn on.  The witch would cackle, the eyes of the monster would light up, whatever.  A friend was with me, so I asked him to step on the spot to turn on the decorations while Isaac and I stood back a bit.  That way we could see what was going to happen without being too close.  That way Isaac was less likely to be startled.

I then allowed Isaac to approach the displays, gently encouraging him but not making too big a deal about it, and offering yummy treats.  Isaac did not seem concerned about the decorations or displays.  He was interested in treats, though!  One easy way to see if a dog is getting too stressed is to offer a treat.  A dog that is stressed out will not want to have a treat.

This three-headed dog or wolf or whatever it was had eyes and mouths that lit up and smoke also came out of the mouths.  Isaac wasn't worried about that at all.  He was happy to take a treat that I held right beside its foot.

This witch cackled and talked.  Isaac was happy to take a treat that I held right beside her hand.  He was very happy that I allowed him to sniff her hand.

Halloween Season

It is Halloween season, or will be soon, so I thought I’d talk a little about some seasonal issues and service dogs.  Some of this even applies to pet dogs, as well.

Haunted Houses

The ADA does not specifically mention service dogs and haunted houses, and legally you could probably take your service dog to one if you wanted.  They might give you a hard time and not want to let your dog in (which actually makes sense because it isn’t a good idea at all to take a service dog to a haunted house), but legally, you may have the right to take your dog.  The Dept of Justice has not said anything addressing this specific issue.

That said, it would be a very bad idea to take a service dog to a haunted house.  People often find them frightening and we know it is all pretend.  A dog has no way of knowing the threats are not real, that no one is really attacking anyone or going to hurt anyone, or that the people screaming are having fun even if they are scared at the same time.  At best, you would be confusing your dog and causing him significant stress.  At worst, he would feel he needed to protect himself or protect you and bite someone he thought was a threat.  It would be unfair to a dog to put him in that position. 

Halloween Stores

Halloween stores can be good places for training dogs in really distracting environments full of things they’ve never seen before.  They can also be really stressful for dogs.  I would only take a dog that has been really well-socialized and demonstrated the ability to handle stressful, distracting environments.  If your dog has never seen someone in a costume before, a Halloween store would not be a good place to start.  If you’re not sure what signs of stress look like in your dog, don’t go someplace that might be very stressful.  If you do go, make sure you are prepared to leave right away if your dog shows any signs of stress.  Let your dog decide how quickly to approach displays and let him watch things that suddenly more or pop up from a distance first.

Note that the ADA does give you the right to take a service dog to a Halloween store.  You just shouldn’t do it unless you feel sure your dog is ready for it.

Costume Parties and Trick or Treat

Like with Halloween stores, if your dog has never seen someone in a costume, a costume party full of people in weird outfits would be too much to start with.  Start small.  And don’t take your dog trick or treating if he’s never seen people in costumes before, either.

Finally, here's a good article with more information about Halloween safety for dogs.