04/12/2022
I mean every word:
*Why your pretend service dog hurts me as a real handler.*
You have this dog, and damn he's cute. You really want to take him everywhere, because you want to share him with the world, right? Maybe you saw a real service dog working, and you thought it looked like fun. Maybe you just heard about how fun and cool it is to take your puppy everywhere. So you go online and buy a "registry", and you get a vest and some paperwork. You can bring your puppy everywhere now, too!
Except what you don't see is how horribly damaging, even deadly, what you just did is. When you walk into a store and someone asks if your dog is a service dog, you flash your new ID and say "yep, he's a registered service dog!"
You just taught that business that service dogs are registered. They aren't, and no real team uses a fake registry.
I walk in a few weeks later, and someone asks if my dog is a service dog. I answer "yes, he is", and I'm told they need to see his registration, which of course doesn't exist and I do not have. I have to try to explain that the last person did not have a real service dog, demanding registration is illegal, and real teams don't use that. But thanks to you, I'm hassled, threatened, or kicked out like I'm the criminal when you're the one who broke the law.
You walk your dog around in stores, thinking how cool it is and how cute he is. But he isn't trained like a service dog is, so he barks, begs for food, wanders around grabbing at items, maybe he even pees or defecates in the store.
I come in later, and I get glares from employees and customers, because it's one of "those" dogs again. Thanks to you, I'm guilty by association because I have a service dog, and to the general public, so did you. I have had businesses ask "that dog isn't going to s**t in here like the last service dog did, is it?"
You are walking with your dog, and we actually meet. Your dog, untrained of course, starts screaming and pulling towards my dog. My dog goes into defense mode, and is more focused on protecting himself than monitoring my health. He misses a cue.
I have a seizure. I have a cardiac episode. I have an asthma attack, my blood sugar spikes, I pass out. He walks me into a wall or trips me over an item, he isn't staying at my side and I end up falling and becoming severely injured. In the mayhem, maybe his paw gets crushed by my wheelchair, maybe he gets tangled and pulls me out of my wheelchair. You get to walk away with your barking puppy, your pretend service dog. I need an ambulance, or worse. I might be dead.
I really, really hope that your selfish want to bring your puppy along was worth my life.
- Service Dog Handlers
