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How should a service dog act in public?

 

Grimm, a german shepherd service dog, sits tucked between two chairs looking up at the people in the chairs(not pictured). He wears a black and white galazy print vest with various service dog patches themed after toothless the dragon.

I'd like to start out by listing things that are legally required of a service dog while in public then go from there. (ADA PUBLIC ACCESS LAWS FOR SERVICE DOG TEAMS)

  • The dog should be under the control of the handler at all times(ex. not wandering off lunging at people, etc...) 
  • The dog should not be disruptive(ex. barking excessively one bark to alert is acceptable, growling, breaking property or merchandise.) 
  • The dog should be potty trained. 
If a dog isn't following these guidelines they can be asked to leave your place of business. 

HOWEVER, despite being highly trained these dogs are still dogs. They will do dog things. 

So here are some things you CAN'T kick a service dog out for doing
  • Sniffing things, dogs will sniff it's how they process the world. Unless the dog is trying to eat things or pressing its face on something it doesn't really matter. 
  • Yelping if they get hurt. I have mobility issues and I have stepped on my dog's foot more than once. He's going to make a noise when I do that. It hurts! that doesn't make him a badly behaved dog. 
  • Ignoring a command. Occasionally dogs don't do exactly what you want, even service dogs. Its also possible that a dog ignoring a command is intentional because a handler is ignoring an alert. My dog will ignore all my commands if I have ignored an alert long enough and if my issue keeps getting worse. 
  • Pulling ahead of the handler. Some dogs are trained to pull ahead of handlers to help with mobility or to guide. And sometimes dogs just don't walk in a perfect heel. 
  • Licking the floor. Its not great and most handlers will get upset and correct a dog who tries to lick the floor but it happens. 
  • Jumping on their handler. Many dogs are trained to jump to alert, or in my case if I ignore his alert to me getting close to passing out he will jump up to try and get me on the ground safely. 
I always say you can't tell a fake service dog team by the dog's behavior, only by the handler's behavior. A real SD team where the dog is having a bad day will leave the location or take action to get the dog under control. In a fake team, the handler will ignore it. 

I hope this will encourage store owners to know when they are allowed to ask a team to leave or when they should leave a working team alone. I also hope that this has comforted some service dog owners who have imperfect dogs like me and can sometimes get in their own head about it. 

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