Perspectives

Today is the first day of my spring break. I spent it just like almost every other college student would. Traveling. My method of travel home is by train. It's free (thanks to my moms Amtrak rewards), more comfortable than flying, and I don't drive.

While I was boarding the train I noticed a very nice dog in a service dog harness walking with his person on the platform. I was traveling completely dog-less as I have been for the past year now. It's very different to hear people around you that start talking about service dogs after seeing one. Here's what I noticed; As soon as the team was out of ear reach people immediately started talking about SD's. Two or three people said, "did you see the guide dog?". Someone else said, "did you know that if you have a disability your doctor will just give you a dog? I could tell them that I'm sick and need a dog and they would just give me one". And last but not least I herd the typical one, "that persons not blind.". As a bystander I wasn't even sure how to react to these people. I wanted to stop them and say look, these are the different types of service dogs, these are the laws, and this is how much money it cost to train one of these dogs, they aren't free. Not because I was upset that they where making comments but more because I felt bad that they hadn't been educated on service dog basics. But in the end I couldn't bring myself to say anything to them. If I had a dog with me I would expect to hear these things but being a bystander in a SD situation, something I rarely am, It gives me a completely different perspective of how the world views our dogs. Has anyone else been in this situation before? What did you say to the people around you?

Another situation. Yesterday I was waiting for the shuttle back to my college from the hospital. There was an older dog-less blind lady sitting at the stop next to me, and I started talking to her. She was saying how nice I was to sit and talk, most people ignore her. I started talking about my experience working with blind people because I raise guide dogs and how I understand that sometimes people try to avoid them for some reason. We got to talking about her visual impairment and she was telling me about her trouble crossing the busy streets and how one time a car almost hit her. I asked her if she had ever considered getting a dog  and she just said that she didn't want the extra responsibility. Of course I explained that dogs aren't right for everyone. Then somehow she started talking about a retirement community she had lived in a few years back that pets weren't allowed in. I guess that there was a lady who was diabetic who lived there who had a diabetic alert dog. She said, "they kept taking that dog into the dining area" and kept insisting that the no pet policy still applied to the dog since it wasn't a guide dog. She went on to say that the management made it so uncomfortable for the lady that she was forced to move somewhere else. I felt like it would be rude for me to say anything to the blind lady but it pointed something out for me.

 In general, anyone over about 40 has the view of  "a guide dog is the only dog who has any kind of permission to do anything". It got me thinking. What can we do to educate the older population about service dogs? Anyone born before the ADA service dog laws where passed has very different views on service dogs than most younger people do. The consensus I have come to is that we have to continue to educate young people about service dogs. Especially in school. By educating school aged children about service dog basics, they will go home and tell their parent's and grandparents. It's a rippling affect. I think we need to encourage kids to share what they learn with other people. What do you think needs to be done to educate people who where born before ADA service dog laws?

Not being able to raise a puppy and not having the time/physical ability to help train dogs for other programs currently has been extreamly frustrating for me. But, something good comes out of everything. I would never have gotten this view of how other people view service dog teams. It's interesting and I hope that I can use it to continue educating people. If I understand what peoples views are than it's easier for me to find more effective ways to educate. In some ways, going through the puppy raising withdrawal thing has actually helped me a lot, and I'm thankful for that.   

Kyia