"Do"s and "Don't"s of Encountering a Service Dog Team

Having worn my vest in various places for the last week or so, I have encountered many people and their strange behaviours.  People never fail to surprise me with how they interact with a SD team, for better or for worse.  To help my readers understand the etiquette of interacting with a SD team, I’ve compiled my observations of people’s interactions with Mom and me, as well as with other SD teams, and I’ve included a list of Dos and Don’ts below.  Enjoy!

DO

·      Focus on a SD’s handler, not the SD him or herself.  You should be talking to the handler, not the dog.  Please respect the handler—if it helps, pretend that the SD is a wheelchair or a blood sugar monitor, because a SD does a similar job but just has four legs and a tail.

·      Try to refrain from asking to pet a SD.  Everyone wants to pet a four-legged friend, which is understandable, but can you imagine how many times a SD handler receives that question on a daily basis?  An SD handler is just like a normal person and wants to go about his or her day, even if he or she appreciates that you are taking the time to ask to pet.

·      Ignore the SD.   While it may seem harmless to you to look at, touch, or talk to the dog, it is vitally (and I mean vitally, in that it is crucial to the handler’s life) important for the SD to remain focused on its job.  For example, a Seizure Alert Dog needs to remain focused on its handler in order to warn the handler of an impending seizure and handle the aftermath.  Ignoring the SD means keeping the handler safe.

·      Keep your pets and your children at a distance.  Both children can be a well-intentioned but dangerous distraction to a SD team.  Again, a SD needs to remain focused on his or her handler, because that focus is crucial to the handler’s safety.  SDs are well trained, but they aren’t completely bombproof—sometimes even the best SD can find a pet or child distracting.

·      Let the SD do his or her job.  Usually, a SD has been trained rather rigorously—it knows how to do its job.  It is not your job to “help” a SD with its job, because your help could really be a hindrance.  For example, a Guide Dog has been trained to recognize the signs of safe street to cross, so yelling out your car window or honking your horn to let the handler know that it’s “safe” just serves to interfere with the SD and could actually place the team in a dangerous situation.

·      Trust the SD to do his or her job.  This is similar to the point above.  SDs are usually highly trained and know their tasks like the back of their four paws (I’m already learning Pressure really well).  You may feel like the SD handler needs help, but sometimes a SD is actually trained to get help if the handler needs it.

·      Read the patches on the SD’s vest.  Let me repeat that: READ the patches on the SD’s vest!  The patches are there for a reason—they aren’t just decoration.  They have important information for the public to know, especially before interacting with the SD team.  Mom and I have already encountered this dozens of times, and I really wish people would read the “Do Not Pet Me” patches on my ESA vest because it’s so distracting when they pet me!  Just to reiterate: read the patches on the SD’s vest.

·      Take care not to step on the SD.  This sounds obvious, but I have seen a SD get stepped on by a careless individual before (luckily it has yet to happen to me—it almost happened once though!).  Please be aware of where the SD is, so you can avoid injuring him or her.  Make sure to watch out for tails, too!

DON’T

·      Pet or touch the SD in any way.  Please do not assume you can pet or touch the SD just because it is well-mannered and cute.  When the SD is with its handler, it is on duty and must remained focused on the handler at all times in order to ensure the handler’s safety.  Petting and touching serves as a distraction and can even lead to dangerous situations for the handler.  Please always ask before you pet an SD—but please refrain from asking or petting if a patch on the SD’s vest asks you to.  Note: this also refers to kicking a SD—please never kick any dog, whether a SD or not!

·      Make noise at the SD.  This includes, but is not limited to: yelling, kissing, saying the dogs name, barking.  Again, the dog must remain focused on his or her handler for the handler’s safety.  Your noises, even if you think they are innocent or well intentioned, are not appreciated and can actually harm the SD team.

·      Feed the SD.  Again, this relates to the dog’s focus and the handler’s safety.  No matter how well-trained a SD is, it can still become distracted by food.  However, this point also related to the health and safety of the SD: some dogs are actually allergic to certain foods, and so your feeding the SD could actually have very serious health consequences for the dog him or herself.

·      Insist on helping the SD team.  While some SD teams will appreciate if you offer your help in a certain situation, insisting upon helping them is not appropriate in most situations.  An SD handler, while disabled, can often determine whether or not he or she can handle a given situation.  While your help is kind and well intentioned, please ask first.

·      Ask personal questions or questions about the handler’s disability.  Did you know that it is not legal for the people in charge of places of public access to ask what a handler’s disability is?  And from anyone (including the general public), these questions are very uncomfortable for the handler to answer, and they are invasive and oftentimes rude, even if they are not intentionally rude.  Please be considerate of the handler’s rights to privacy regarding his or her disability and personal life.

·      Ask to have the dog perform his or her trained tasks.  It is not your place to dictate when and if a SD performs his or her tasks.  The tasks are designed to mitigate the handler’s disability or disabilities, so it can be inappropriate for the SD to perform the tasks when the handler does not need assistance.

·      Draw attention to dog.  Yes, I am a dog; yes, I am cute—I’m pretty adorable and irresistible, or so I’ve been told.  We are all aware of this, yes?  Okay, let’s move on, then.  We don’t have to point out that I’m present; we don’t have to point out the dog by saying “Look, a dog!”  The appearance of a dog in a public place can be a little strange or startling for people, but neither the handler nor the SD needs the distraction or extra attention—the handler is already dealing with a disability, so why emphasize the fact that the handler is “different” from everyone else?

·      Separate the SD from his or her handler, especially in an emergency.  Do not take the leash; do not call the dog to you.  The dog needs to stay with his or her handler—he or she can be as important as medication to the handler.  If the dog needs to find help or be separated from the handler for whatever reason, often it will be trained to do so.

·      Give the SD commands, even when he or she is technically “Off Duty.”  Even an SD “Off Duty” is essentially always “On Duty,” because the handler can’t control when he or she has a seizure, has a drop in blood sugar, has a panic attack, etc.  The dog still needs to respect the handler and be focused on the handler.  Please always ask the handler first before giving commands to the SD, even if it’s something that seems innocent, like “Shake”—it can mean the difference in the handler’s safety.

·      Complain about the presence of a SD.  The SD is allowed to be there with his or her handler—this is the law, not an opinion.  Please don’t discriminate against those with disabilities.  Many people with SDs are already harassed by store owners, hotel managers, etc. who aren’t as aware of the law as they should be, so adding complaints to this trouble can be overwhelming for a handler just trying to buy milk from the grocery store. Exception: under the law, a person with a disability cannot be asked to remove his service animal from the premises unless: (1) the dog is out of control and the handler does not take effective action to control it or (2) the dog is not housebroken.  This can actually be an indication that the SD is not a real SD—it might even be a fake (check out my post on fake SDs and how they harm legitimate SD teams!).  So, if you encounter this behaviour, you can complain.

Sometimes you might know a SD when it is off duty because you are the handler’s friend, family member, partner, etc.  However, this does not necessarily give you special rights to the SD, especially when the SD is on duty—just because you might have more access to the SD when it is off duty does not mean you can ignore my Dos and Don’ts list.  This is still proper etiquette for encountering a SD team, whether you have known them for a moment or an eon.

SD DO: nap under the table at Starbucks!

I know this is more serious than most of my posts, but I felt like it was really important to share!  Thank you for listening, and please educate others on this important topic!  It really makes life easier for SD teams everywhere.

All my appreciation,

SD DON'T: carry a stick larger and pokier than you!

Kelsie Iris