Hello everyone! Saint and Dusty here.
Today, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on something that happened this semester. While Mummy was with her students and her focus was on their work, we experienced abuse from a student we had thought was a friend. We are very good dogs and would never do anything to make a scene such as barking for Mummy’s attention while in a meeting. In fact, service dogs like us are trained not to bark and we take that training very seriously.
So, when a student came up to us and tied one of our gentle-lead-nosepieces to one of our vests, we became stuck together in an awkward position until the end of the meeting. We might have been stuck for a longer time if a couple of Mummy’s other students had not stayed behind and realized we needed help. Mummy was very upset that we had been treated that way because she knew we did not do anything to the person who tied us together.
We decided that we should share what happened to bring some awareness to the issue. As services dogs, we will not defend ourselves, so unfortunately this means people could get away with abusing us. It hurts knowing that people might abuse us because we love everyone so much. If it can happen to us, then it can happen to any service dog. Even though there is an ADA law that protects us, abuse can still happen. We feel grateful that Mummy was there and that the abuse did not escalate any further. Other service dogs may not be as lucky. So, Mummies and Daddies, please be aware of the company who is around your service dog or fur baby because we cannot tell you if they harm us.
Here is a picture of the newly broken plastic hook on our vest that the gentle lead was tied to.
Until next time. Take care. Be well. Hugs and wags.
Saint and Dusty