Hey guys! Riot, here. Many people know that when it comes to training Service Dogs, socialization is HUGE. But, what does it exactly entail? My dad and I have people coming up all the time to ask about my training. We aren't going to get into how annoying that can be (it really is). But, rather, get into the issue about why you can not pet me.
A lot of people get upset or offended when told that I am working and can not be pet.
"But he's just too cute."
"He's not doing anything right now"
"Aren't you supposed to socialize him?"
That last one there is the catch. Socialization is not just letting me run up and meet everyone and everything. That teaches me bad manners! A big part of socialization is teaching me that I'm not going to be allowed to stop and meet every humans person I see. I have to understand that my dad is my handler and he is the one I am supposed to focus on while I work.
When people stop my dad to talk to him, this is great practice for me. Because my dad is ignoring me and focusing on someone else, this means I have to focus on him without being told or reminded.
By ignoring a service dog in training, whether you are talking to the handler or just passing by, you are helping so much more than you know!
Pets Being Misrepresented as Service Dogs
You see it everywhere. The number of people who routinely bring their pets into a non-pet friendly store or building claiming them to be service dogs has been increasing at an alarming rate. These dogs are all too often disruptive to other patrons of the store and cause a grievance for business owners everywhere. Because they claim their dog is a service animal, business owners and employees avoid throwing out the misbehaving dogs for fear of possibly being slapped with a lawsuit or fine.
Men and women of all ages cause this discourse. They all feel entitled to bring their pet with them everywhere. They bring their pets into places like grocery stores, shopping malls, restaurants and other places of public accommodation that are not pet friendly.When threatened or asked to leave, they simply pull the 'service dog' trump card.
These fakers are a huge pain in the neck, not just for businesses, but for legitimate service dog teams as well.
"What? But, I'm not harming anyone by taking my dog with me!"
Oh-ho, but you are! Fakers often do not see the ramifications of their actions. The majority of those people who choose to misrepresent their pet as a service dog do so to gain access to non-pet friendly locations. They want to bring their pet everywhere with them, but unfortunately, they do not see that the entire service dog community can suffer from their actions.
Fake service dogs compromise the public opinion of all service dog teams. Legitimate teams follow an unspoken code of etiquette where in which they avoid causing any disturbance in the places they go. Pet owners tend not to use this etiquette. When business owners, employees and the general public start to doubt the legitimacy of a service dog team, a ripple effect is created. By misrepresenting a pet as a service dog you become responsible for the prevalence of access challenges to legitimate service dog teams. Access challenges create an unnecessary amount of stress and anxiety to legitimate teams.
Because of these fake teams, legitimate ones face an increased degree of discrimination, in forms beyond access challenges. Business owners, employees and gatekeepers are likely to expect the same awful behavior of legitimate services that they've seen of pets who have been misrepresented as service dogs. Some examples of these other forms of discrimination are:
- Isolating service dog teams. For example, seating a team in a part of a restaurant where other patrons are not being seated.
- Providing less service to service dog handlers than to other patrons. For example, a sales person pointedly ignoring a service dog handler, while other patrons are receiving consistently more attention from sales staff.
- Treating service dog teams as if they cannot be trusted. For example, following a service dog team around a store, in an attempt to identify anything that may warrant telling the team to leave the premises
It is already challenging enough to go out as a legitimate service dog team. One must fend off the curious general public in an attempt to achieve what they left the house to do. While access challenges have always been a problem, the increase of fake service dogs has led to an increase of these challenges. By trying to pass off your pet as a 'service dog' you are contributing to the discrimination against the disabled community.
