He's Trained

Someone asked me today if Isaac was in training.  I get asked that all the time.  I mean, almost every time I go someplace new with him, someone asks.

I'm not entirely sure why that bugs me so much but it does.  I think it feels kind of insulting to me.  I know people don't mean it that way.  I know why they ask.  I know why, because for a while, every time someone asked me that, I asked them why they were asking.  Mostly it was because I don't look blind.  Therefore they assume I must be training him for someone that is blind.

So it seems like it shouldn't feel insulting to me, but it kind of does.  Isaac is highly trained.  He's had a ton of training.  He was trained for about 18  months before I even got him, but I do ongoing training with him all the time, too.  He's had tons of training.  So I think it feels like they are minimizing that or downplaying it or something, even though I realize that's not very logical because they have no way of knowing what kind of training he's had.

He behaves like he's well-trained, though.  Some people notice that.  Sometimes people comment on how well-behaved he is.  Well, dogs just don't naturally behave like that.  They behave like that when they've had a lot of training.

I try to understand why people ask if he's in training, and I do understand, but it still bugs me.