Thursday, September 29, 2011

There ought to be a manual

If you or someone you know has a food allergy, that's okay. There are about a hundred sites that'll tell you what to do. They'll give you recipes and activities and ideas that'll work for everyone, and they'll explain in detail exactly why all of that is necessary.
If you or someone you know has a service dog, that's a bit problematic. There aren't any rules for that.

Okay, so there are a lot of different kinds of service dog and a lot of different kinds of training and no two dogs are alike, but surely we all have some things in common? Like small children. We should be told how to keep a small child from touching our service dog. Or, there could be a chapter on restaurants. Restaurants are fraught with peril for service dog owners. Table or booth, which has more room for a dog? Do you let your dog eat the food on the floor or does that look unprofessional? Should you wait in an awkward silence while the waitstaff coos over your dog or is it okay to ask them to knock it off and pay attention to their customer? What if someone at a table near you starts complaining about unsanitary dogs? Do you ignore them or defend yourself? And what if there's a hyperactive child?
Or, there could be a list of tactics for diffusing a situation where someone won't let you in because they don't know about service dog laws. That's always a horrible situation and I'd love some tips on how to get through it.
There could be a chapter on traveling! It could give advice about flying with a service dog, and about hotels, and playing tourist. It could help you plan for your dog's needs, like how to get dog food through airport security or keeping your dog calm on a long bus ride.
Seriously, why isn't there a manual? I know I could have used one. For about a month after I got Poodleface I was playing it by ear and desperately trying to remember the few days of instruction I'd had from his trainer. A manual would have been a wonderful lifeline.

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