When the Service Dog Sneaks a Sniff

Yesterday while my car was at the tire repair place, Isaac and I walked over to a convenient store to get some coffee. 

While I was trying to get the lid on my coffee cup, Isaac tried to sneak a sniff of the woman standing next to me, getting her coffee. I corrected him and she said, "Oh, he probably smells my dog." I said I was sure he did, but he knows he's not supposed to sniff people in stores, he can sniff at home.

About that time, an employee approached me and asked if he was a SD. I said he was and she said "I wasn't sure since I didn't see a tag, but he is so well-behaved I thought he must be." 

I said, "he's well-behaved except for sneaking a sniff," and she laughed and said she once saw a drug dog hit on a lunch box because there was beef jerky in it. She said "That just goes to show you, they are still dogs."

I was thinking either there was something else in that lunch box with the beef jerky or else that drug dog needs retrained, but I just said "My dog would probably alert to beef jerky in a lunch box too!"

You Can't Pet That Dog!

Today at the grocery store there were two young girls, maybe 8 and 10, doing cartwheels in the frozen food aisle. When Isaac and I walked by them, I heard one of them say "Oh, look at the dog!"

The other girl spoke right up and said "You can't pet that dog, that's a service dog!" I love it when kids know that.

Although I do think the frozen food aisle is not the best place to do cartwheels.

Can He Talk?

Today at the food pantry, a little boy about three years old asked me, very politely, if he could pet Isaac. I said he could and told Isaac "go say hi," which is the command that lets him know it is OK to socialize.

When he heard me tell Isaac to say hi, the little boy's eyes got very wide and he asked, sounding awestruck, "Can this dog talk?"

What Would Happen?

At the doctors office the other day:

Another patient in the waiting room (reading the "please don't pet me, I'm working" patch on Isaac's vest): What would happen if I pet him?

Me: I would tell you to knock it off.

Other patient: Oh.

Guy at the post office: What's your dog's name?

Me: Isaac.

(really long pause)

Guy: I take it you're a Christian?"

Me (confused): Huh?

Guy: I take it you're a Christian?

Me (caught off guard and fearing he is going to try to save me): Um, no...

Guy: I just thought, you know, Isaac is a Bible name.

Me: Oh! Yes, it's Hebrew. It means "he laughs."

Guy: My mom has a dog named Brewski.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Random Guy at the Food Pantry Today: What's your dog for?

Me: He's a service dog.

Random Guy: Yeah, I know. But what's he for? Like is he for seizures or...?

Me: I don't share personal information like that with people I don't know.

Random Guy: Oh, I know. I was just curious. Do you have epilepsy?

Me: Look, I'm not going to tell you what's wrong with me and I won't ask you what's wrong with you.

Random Guy: Oh. OK.

This is Why I Don't Tell People at the Dog Park He is a Service Dog

Isaac got to play with a 9-month-old black lab puppy named Cricket today as well as with a German shepherd-lab mix named King. We went to a new dog park because it is near my doctor's office and I had an appointment and wanted to give Isaac time to run around and get tired before the appointment.

No one was there when we arrived but Isaac was happy to sniff all the new smells and pee on all the new places. Then Cricket arrived and they had fun chasing each other. Then King came and they are regulars are our regular dog park so it was a nice surprise to see them today. King and Isaac wrestled and Isaac made a few attempts to hump him but King refused to cooperate.

I was explaining to King's mom why Isaac and I were at this park instead of our regular park and she said "Oh, he goes to your appointment with you?" And I explained he is a service dog so he goes pretty much everywhere with me.

Then I followed her gaze over to where Isaac was attempting to hump her dog. When King refused to be humped, Isaac sat down and began licking himself. This is why I usually do not tell people at the dog park that Isaac is a service dog.

A Place I Can't Take My Service Dog

Tomorrow I am going on a tour of the Gentle Barn. If you're not familiar with the Gentle Barn, it's a rescue for farm animals and it's very awesome. On the tour, you get to cuddle cows and play with various rescued farm animals. I am super excited.

Because of the nature of the place, I called them to ask if it would be OK to bring my service dog or if it would be better not to bring him. Isaac would be fine there, I am sure, but I didn't know about all the farm animals there. The woman I spoke to told me everyone there loves dogs, they love all dogs, and she assured me that she was sure my service dog was very well behaved, but said that some of their rescued farm animals are not comfortable around dogs and so she thought it would be better not to bring him. 

I am fine with that. That's why I called to ask. And I understand how the presence of a SD might alter things at this type of organization and so it might be appropriate and legal for them to deny access. That's why I called to ask.  

I normally do not call places in advance to tell them I am bringing my service dog or to ask if I can bring him.  If it's a place the Department of Justice has already stated (in the Americans with Disabilities Act) that service dogs are allowed, I don't ask if I can bring him.  I don't need to.  But this is one of those exceptions.

Isaac will be spending the day at a nearby doggie daycare instead. I'm sure he will have a good time there and I cannot wait to cuddle some cows!

Dogs Don't Talk

Lady in the waiting room at the podiatrist's office: I'm not allowed to pet you, am I?

Me: No, you are not allowed to pet me.

Lady: Um, I meant the dog.

Me: He doesn't talk.

Fed Up

Today at the library I had a woman do that thing where they go, "Oh no! That dog scared me!" This is not the first time this has happened.  It is kind of common.  My dog was doing nothing but standing there quietly. And she wasn't scared of him or she wouldn't have hung around acting scared, you know?

So I said to her, "The dog is not doing anything but standing here."

She said, in a kind of rude tone of voice, "I didn't say the dog was going to do anything, I said he scared me."

So I told her it was kind of rude to look at someone who is disabled and say they are scary. She harrumphed.

I just feel all fed up with people these days. Usually I ignore people who say things like that but I'm just tired of it. It wears on me.

Service Dogs and Funerals

A couple weeks ago, a good friend of mine died in her sleep.  Some of my readers may have been familiar with her - she was my accountant as well as my friend and she wrote the article about tax deductions for service dog-related expenses here on my blog.

A couple days ago, I traveled out of state to attend her memorial service.  But before that, I had to check with the church where the service would be held to make sure I could attend with my service dog.

Churches, you may already know, are exempt from the Americans with Disabilities Act.  I don't think they should be exempt, I don't think it should be legal for churches to discriminate against people with disabilities, but that is the law currently.

I resented the fact that I had to look up a phone number for the church and call them to ask if I could attend my friend's memorial service.  Of course, the person who answered the phone did not know.  Remember a couple years ago when I wanted to attend midnight mass on Christmas Eve and kept getting people answering the phones at churches that did not know if I could attend or not?  So I had to leave a message for the person who would know.  Fortunately she called me back the same day.  And I was able to attend with Isaac.

But I resented having to call.  It was two days before the service and I needed to make plans because it was a six hour round trip for me to go and I had to reschedule a medical appointment and I needed to know whether or not I would be allowed to attend.  And someone who is grieving should not have to deal with calling to ask, "Hey, can I come to the funeral or do you prefer not to have disabled people in your church?"  That's not the way I phrased the question, but that's basically what the question is.

Service dogs are permitted in funeral homes, by the way.  Churches are exempt, but not funeral homes.

Get It

Isaac and I were at the dog park and were getting ready to leave. His friend Clyde was leaving at the same time. 

 

Now, Isaac acts like such a labradork at the dog park, I usually do not tell people he is a service dog. I told his friend Iris's dad and he looked at me like he did not believe me. Probably because I'd just gotten done yelling at my dog to come back as he swam around the divider into the other section of the dog beach. Or maybe he because he still thinks Isaac does not know "drop" since he won't drop a ball so you can throw it for him.

Anyway. I pulled my car keys out of my pocket and my glove fell out.

 

Clyde's dad said, "I think you dropped a glove." 

 

I looked down at it on the ground, pointed at it, and told Isaac, "Get it."

Clyde's dad kind of chuckled, like he thought I was joking. 

 

"No," I told him, "He'll get it." 

 

Meanwhile, Isaac was trying to sniff Clyde's butt. I got his attention, pointed again, and said, "Get it for me." And he did!

Clyde's dad was suitably impressed.

That's a Well-Trained Dog!

I had to go to the ER today for a cut that I thought needed stitches (ended up with just steri-strips instead). Isaac was lying on the floor beside the gurney when the doctor came in.

The ER doctor said hello to Isaac and held out his hand for Isaac to sniff him. Isaac just looked at him.

The doctor said "Are you shy?" and of course Isaac did not respond.

So then the doctor said to me "Is he a little leery of strangers?"

I said "No, he's just not supposed to say hi unless I tell him he can." And then I told Isaac "You can say hi" and Isaac jumped up, tail wagging, and sniffed the doctor good.

The doctor was like "Oh, that's a well-trained dog!"

I'm like, well, yeah, he's a service dog. It always makes me wonder what kind of service dogs they are used to seeing.

Off Days

I often hear people talk about how dogs are not robots and they can have off days. That's true (although if a dog has a lot of off days, the dog might not be suited to be a service dog). I think the important thing as a service dog handler is how we deal with those off days.

Today Isaac had an off day. I had a doctor appointment first thing this morning and as I was stepping onto the scale to be weighed, he tried to sneak a sniff of the medical assistant's feet. He doesn't do that often, but it happens occasionally. What was different about today, though, is that he did not leave it immediately when I told him to. 

I stopped everything to deal with my dog. When I first got Isaac, I would have felt rushed by the MA waiting for me to get on the scale and felt like I should put off dealing with my dog and just get the weigh in over with. But I've since decided I have to deal with dog issues right away. So I put him in a down stay, while the MA was saying "Oh, it's OK, I don't mind, he smells my dog," etc. Once he was lying down, I got on the scale.

And then he got up before I told him to. He never does that. I was getting concerned, but the rest of the appointment went OK. Had he continued to sniff and not follow commands fully, I would have rescheduled the appointment and left.

When I got back home, I had some cleaning to do. He was whiny and kept asking for attention while I was cleaning, which is not really like him. I had planned to run some errands later on, but decided not to since he was clearly having an off day.

 I don't know why he was having an off day. He does this sometimes when he hasn't had enough exercise but he's had lots of exercise the last few days. He has a minor ear infection, so maybe his ears are bothering him. I don't know. But I decided not to take him on any errands since he was indicating he would have trouble behaving. Instead, we went for a long walk.

If I hadn't been able to put off my errands until tomorrow, I would have left him at home. And if he still seems off tomorrow, I think we'll go see the vet to make sure his ear infection hasn't gotten worse. He can't tell me when he doesn't feel well or needs a day off, except with his behavior. It's up to me to pay attention to that and make sure his needs are being met.

Another Cute Encounter

Today I had to go to my doctor's office for my weekly allergy shot (I can't do the shots myself at home in case I have a severe allergic reaction, so I have to go to the office once a week, which is a pain). I am working Isaac naked because I left his vest in my van, which is in the shop.

There was a little girl about three or four in the waiting room and she informed her dad, "There's a dog. I like dogs."

Her dad said, "Yes, but we can't pet that dog. He's working," which was especially nice since Isaac was working naked. I've found people can often tell he is a service dog by how he acts, even if he doesn't have his vest on. And Isaac knows he is working even if he doesn't have his vest on, based on where we are and how I am acting, I think.

I asked the little girl if she'd like to say hi to Isaac and she did. She sat down on the floor and petted his head very gently and spoke softly to him and it was really sweet.

Her dad told me she is learning about service dogs and that if she sees dogs in places where there usually are no dogs, they are working and she shouldn't pet them unless she asks first. I reminded her that she should always ask if it's a dog she doesn't know, even if it's not a service dog, just to make sure the dog is friendly and wants to be petted.

I almost asked if I could take a picture of the two of them, they were so cute. Isaac had his head on the floor, relaxing, and she was just stroking his head and talking really softly to him.

And then the medical assistant opened the door to the waiting room and called my name. Isaac has learned that when she calls me name, we get up and go into the back. So she called my name and Isaac jumped to him feet, all ready to go. Practically ready to go without me, he jumped up so fast. Sweetness over.

Watch Where You're Going

So a kid tripped over my service dog today.

We were at the Medicaid office and they were very busy so there were no chairs free. So I was standing beside a row of chairs, trying to be out of the way, and Isaac was lying down right up against my feet.

This little kid, about three or four, was walking backwards for some reason, so not looking at all where he was going. I was looking at the window I was going to, trying to figure out how long a wait I was going to have, so I didn't realize the kid was going to walk into my dog until it was too late. If Isaac had not been there, the kid would have ran into me. He walked (backwards) right into Isaac, tripped over him, and fell down. Kind of on top of my dog.

Isaac did not mind. He just looked up like "Wha? That woke me up."

I apologized to the kid and his mother, although I don't think my dog was really in the way. I mean, he was as out of the way as he could be. But I wasn't watching so I didn't stop the kid before he tripped over my dog.

The mother apologized to me, the kid apologized to my dog, and the mother scolded the kid for not watching where he was going.

Meanwhile, Isaac just went back to sleep.

But You Can See OK, Right?

You know how they ask to see ID along with your insurance card at doctor's offices sometimes? So I was seeing this new doctor today and he has my driver's license in his hand.

He looks at Isaac and asks, "Is that a work dog?"

I don't know what he means by work dog but I say, "He's a service dog."

The doctor says, "But you can see OK, right?" and hands me back my driver's license.

I'm like, "Yeah. They don't give you one of these if you can't see." I guess they didn't cover that in medical school.

Why Is There a Dog in the Store?

Today I was shopping for canning jars at Meijer, at a location I don't usually shop at.

There was this little boy, maybe five years old, who asked his dad, "Why is there a dog in the store?'

The dad said, "That dog helps her."

Either the little boy didn't understand or he wasn't sure his dad was right, because he asked his dad again, "But why is the dog in the store? Dogs aren't allowed in the store." His dad assured him this dog was allowed but the kid kept asking why.

I stopped and said, "He's a service dog. He helps me with stuff. That's why he is allowed in the store. He had to go to school for almost two years to learn to be a service dog so he could be allowed in stores."

The dad thanked me for explaining.

I guess the kid was satisfied or he believed me more than he believed his dad, because I didn't hear him asking anything else.

Someone Will Be Getting Some Remedial Training on "Drop It"

Isaac was a real butt at the dog park today. He embarrassed me. There were a couple other dogs, including his friend Josie, playing fetch at the lake. They were nice enough to share their balls with Isaac. Only Isaac would fetch the ball and then refuse to give it to a person to throw it again. He wanted to play tug with the ball, which does not work very well. He knows the commands "give" and "drop it" and simply refused. Usually if I refuse to play tug when he does this, he quickly loses interest or his attention is caught by something else and he drops the toy. But not today. He kept bumping the ball against my legs and hips, trying to get my attention.

As if that was not bad enough, one of the dogs had this fabric toy that floats that you can fetch and Isaac talked his friend Quinn into playing tug with that. Well, you can guess what happened. It started to rip. Quinn's dad told him to drop it and he did. But not my dog. Instead, he kept shaking it in Quinn's face, trying to get him to tug some more. And then he put the toy on the ground, stood on it, and pulled on one end with his teeth, ripping it good.

I apologized and asked the owner of the toy if I could replace it for him. He said that was OK but I don't feel OK about it. I came home and found it on Amazon and ordered one, along with some balls to take to the lake with us. The toy Isaac ripped belongs to a black lab named Iris and we see her at the dog park almost every morning, so we will give her the toy when we see her again.

Things like this are why I do not tell most people at the dog park that my dog is a service dog.

Three Old Men and a Dog

Isaac and I are at McDonald's and three old men (think country-farmer-type old men) are having a discussion about service dogs.

Old Man #1: She's got that dog really well trained.

Old Man #2: It's got a thing on its side that says Please Don't Pet Me, I'm Working. It's a service dog.

Old Man #3: I bet she gets a lot of unwanted pets.

Old Man #2: Probably. But you ain't supposed to pet them.

Old Man #1: My dog wouldn't lay down like that.

Old Man #2: Your dog ain't a service dog.

Old Man #1: Good thing.

Old Man #3: I bet everybody wants to pet that dog.