I know, I know, it's hard to read sometimes, especially when a cute dog is just ASKING you to pet them. However, just because they're "asking" for it, doesn't mean that you should do it. These dogs are in TRAINING, this means that they don't know everything that they're supposed to do, even when they are fully trained and placed with clients, they still will ask you to pet them; however, this doesn't mean that you should pet them. It distracts them from their job, which may be life-saving, especially when you're talking about a medical alert dog. These dogs alert their partners to changing body chemistry that they can smell or detect and can help to save their partners lives, however, if you're distracting the dog, the dog can't do it's job and it could have devastating consequences. It also makes it really hard to train the dog because even if someone pets the dog ONCE, they are reinforced for not paying attention to their handler (or partner) and they will keep trying this until they're reinforced again, which makes it really hard to train the dog to focus to the handler. I know, I know, they're really cute and JUST like your dog at home and you just miss them so much, but is your wish to pet this dog worth that person's life and health? I don't think so. Another way to think about it is that this dog does the same thing for someone with a disability as a wheelchair or diabetic meter. Would you go up to someone's wheelchair and start to stroke it and ask if you can take it for a spin down the hallway? Probably not, right? Only if you were REALLY close to that person would you do that. I want you to start thinking about service dogs in the same way, please, for the sake of the dogs and the clients, don't pet the dog. Even a quick little pet lets the dog know it's okay to seek attention from other people and not focus on their handler (which is a huge issue), so please look at the vest and read the "DO NOT PET" or "STOP." Thank you.
Another point on service dog etiquette, please treat them like you would a wheelchair or a hearing aid. If the dog barks in public, yes it's not normal, you can turn and look to make sure that the dog's partner is okay, but beyond that, PLEASE don't stare. It's already embarrassing enough that your dog barked in public, they don't need anymore attention. If you're concerned that the dog may be alerting to a medical issue, I can be 99% sure that it is not, most alerts done by these dogs are silent and not very noticeable by those around them because most clients don't want the alerts to draw anymore attention to them in public (I mean, they already have an assistance dog, how much more attention do they need). So if the dog makes noise, just glance, make sure that the person is alright and then go about your normal business.
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