You do not know me. You likely have never met me. But let me speak to you, if only for this moment, to explain why so many service dog handlers are “so defensive and gatekeeping”.
Disability is not a social game, or a place, or an activity. Neither is having a service dog.
I have often heard from those who believe that I am just being grumpy that I need to calm down and that I am being selfish by having my own dog and not letting others have theirs. This is simply not true. I am sick. No, not a cold, or the Flu, or even a curable illness. I have chronic illnesses.
They don’t go away, and though I look fine right now, there are days where I cry from pain, where I can’t physically get out of my bed because of the exahustion( oops spelling sorry). There are days when I go out in the heat and pass out because my blood is not like yours, for I have much less of it and it doesn’t know to stay up in my head and arms. I have had more needles in my arms in the last month than you’ve probably ever seen in your life.
But I don’t know you. You could have a disorder, or an illness that disables you. But there is more to a service dog than JUST having tasks, or being with you. I have put blood, sweat, tears, scrapes, pain, and a ton of time into my dogs training. I remember my first outing with Hero I was so nervous because I was afraid he would sniff someone or something and I’d get kicked out (he did not of course). But I quickly learned than the social parts of our country know nothing of the laws, and the ones that do think they can abuse that system.
So I ask you, fake service dog handler, have you ever had a syncope so dangerous that you had to be hospitalized? Have you ever had a migraine so bad that it had the potential to damage your brain? Have you ever had a migraine that madeyour entire left side go numb, including your lungs? Have you ever had scar tissue over your veins so thick that a stick hurts so bad you started to scream? Have you ever had to look down and see your hairbrush filled with hair that is falling out from being malnourished? Have you ever, at any time,had a flashback to when you were beaten, or in war, or attacked by the one person you though you could always count on? Have you ever gotten so overwhlemed by the different smells, sights, sounds, and touches that make you want to rip your head off or bang it against a wall, or that cause you to shut down completely?
I have.
And while I may not look it, my service dog is the only thing that keeps me out of the hosptial, that keeps me from livign the rest of my life in my house, bound to it because I would not be allowed out otherwise. He is my rock, my love, my guide, my alert system, my emergency responder that stays with me 24/7. He loves his job, and went through over 500+ hours of training to become the well behaved dog he is today.
I have nothing against you personally, other than your dog not supposed to be in here. I only ask that if you were to do one thing today, it would be to think about what I have said to you, and to think about the laws that are in place.
Those laws, the ADA, are not in place to allow for healthy people to take their dogs wherever they want. It is there because when you are disabled, when you have nothing left in life but the decline of your health, then the joy that we get comes from our dogs. Our dogs that pick things up for us, our dogs that tell us so that we can take our meds to abort an ER trip, our dogs that guide us, that get help, that help us change, and do laundery and walk, that help us cummunicate, that help us overcome nightmares and keep us grounded.
I do not doubt that your dogs brings you joy. But these laws are here to protect me so that I can live the same amount of life as you do without your dog. Whereas you have the choice of taking your dog with you, I am forced to, out of the will and desire to simply remain alive. I may not look sick, but that is due to my dog, and you are using the laws that protect me, to gain what to you seems tiny.
But its an insult to me, and offends me, that you do no training and just bring in your ntrained dog, when I have worked tirelessly to make sure that my dog is trained to standard for his type of job.
So please, I ask you, try to see it from my view. When your dog sniffs and narks and pees on the floor, it shows the public an idea of what they thin ka service dog is, and gives the impression that we are an obnocious comminuty. We are this way out of fear, out of a need to protect our dogs. We spend every minute in ublic hoping that we do not come across an agressive untrained dog. I have had to take Hero out of work, making me homebound, because he has been attacked. We are the way we are because we are ill, and we are sick of being treated like we have it easy, or that we are “lucky” to get to bring our dog everywhere. I am not lucky, and while I am honored and overjoyed to have my partner in crime (Hero), I am constantly in pain, constantly nauseous, contantly battling myself. I ask you to not abuse the system desinged to protect me, and I ask you to understand my defensiveness. I do not look sick, but I am constantly fighting to maintain stability. Your dog being in here puts me in danger, and puts a stain on the service dog name. Please respect us.
Please leave your beloved pet at home, and if you need a service dog… please properly train or get a program dog.
Sorry to interrupt my normal content, but this is important. I’ve had to wash my service dog from work because of people being ignorant and feeling entitled to bring their pets with them everywhere. I never post about having a service dog on this blog, but I’m salty as fuck and hurt. My dog is my literal lifeline and because of self entitled idiots, she cannot work for me anymore. I’ve put thousands of hours and dollars into her training so that I could become more independent and get weaned off some medications, and that’s all now gone down the drain.
Please for the love of god think twice before trying to bring your pet where it is not allowed and especially think twice before slapping a vest on them and claiming them as a service dog just so you can feel exhilarated by taking Fido with you everywhere. It is a federal offense and punishable with fines and even jail time, depending upon where you live. Not only that, but you put legitimate teams in danger and also put businesses in danger because you’re violating health codes. My service dog is not a luxury, she is a piece of medical equipment. She is legally considered medically necessary like a wheelchair or oxygen tank. If you feel the desire to pet her or distract her in any way, you are putting my life at risk. If you feel entitled to bring your pet with you because you think it’s harmless or you won’t get in trouble, you are putting not only my life at risk, but the safety and life of my highly trained piece of medical equipment. Because people felt the need to interfere with my service dog, which includes allowing their dogs to interfere with her in places where pets are forbidden, I have to retire my service dog and she just turned 3 a few months ago—she should’ve been able to work until she was 7-9. I am forced to limit my outings because I cannot go out alone (thanks PNES and PTSD) because my service dog is now incapable of working for me. And now I must shell out more money for a new prospect pup AND pay for thousands of hours of task training for the new pup and pray to whatever deity will listen that idiots don’t ruin the hard work I put into gaining back my independence (again).
I’m sorry (not really) to be up on my soapbox about this, but it needed to be said. You might think you’re not hurting anyone by distracting a service dog or bringing your untrained pet into stores while parading around with a fake disability (because you ARE faking a disability when you try to pass off your pet as a service dog), but you’re causing so much trouble and hurt for the service dog and disabled community. You make things infinitely harder for us. You wouldn’t ask to use someone’s oxygen tank or ride around in their wheelchair, so don’t ask to pet a service dog and for the love of god do not fake your pet as a piece of medical equipment. It’s illegal, it’s immoral, and it makes you look like an asshole.
With that said, if you are legitimately curious about anything related to service dogs, feel free to send me any questions you have and I will happily answer you or direct you to some great resources that can more efficiently answer your questions.
