Tuesday, January 29th, 2008...7:49 pm
Not all service dogs are for the blind
My friend Tracy has a service dog named Tunkha. He goes with her everywhere, including M’Coul’s. So the other evening I was sitting with Tracy at the bar and noticed some men across the bar staring at her. She’s a stunning woman, so it wasn’t hard to imagine why the men were staring, I was just shocked at how blatant it was. After about an hour I went over to say hi to one of them who is a regular and he said, “You know I just cannot help but stare at your friend. She is so beautiful! There’s just something about her — I can’t take my eyes off her.” I agreed with him, “Yes, and she’s just as lovely inside.”
To which he responded, “Thank goodness she’s blind!” Then referring to the fellows sitting by him, “We can just sit over her and stare at her all night and she’ll never know!” The gentlemen next to him nodded in agreement.
“She’s isn’t blind.”
“What?! Sure she is. What’s the seeing-eye-dog for?!”
“He’s her service dog, but I assure you, it’s not because she’s blind.”
He was appropriately mortified…
The first time I met Tracy, I too was a little green on the service dog protocol and thought to myself, she sure doesn’t look blind. That’s because she isn’t. She has other medical conditions which make Tunkha vital to her day-to-day. But it never ceases to amaze me how rude people can be. We go places and people literally stare and point. Some will try to pet her dog, thinking she’s blind and can’t tell they’re petting her dog, and then lie about it!
So here’s some tips if you see a service team.
–Don’t stare. They aren’t always for the blind. And even so, it’s RUDE.
–Don’t ask stupid questions like, “is that a blind dog?” Come on, let them be in peace.
–Don’t ever pet a service dog in harness. And no, they can’t make an exception for you!
–No, you can’t give a service dog a treat!
–A service dog in harness is working. Respect that.
Tracy, if you read this, feel free to expand on it!
1 Comment
January 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Simonne..Thank you for writing about us! We are honored! I have a great story too……I was at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a woman was jealous that even blind, I could put my eye make up on better than she did!!!!! Service Dogs help those of us with medical and/or physical diseases. Service dogs can alert for seizures, cardiac illness, diabetes, and like for me, breathing issues. They are used for a variety of diseases.. Service dogs perform all sorts of tasks…they can open doors, push the elevator buttons, retrieve anything, help with stability when walking, provide a little pull when energy is low, they can help with getting their partner dressed or undressed, they help roll their partners in bed, pull wheel chairs…the list goes on and on! However, the biggest task they provide is confidence. These animals help their partners regain the indepence they had prior to being diagnosed with their illness. They even save lives…think about it, they can alert to a seizure up to 2 hours ahead of time. That means the person can get a safe environment, and potential calm themselves so much so they may not even have the seizure! Tunkha has saved my life…and several occasions, I stopped breathing and he went an alerted to get me help! If you are interested in knowing more, go to our website, http://www.k94life.org. Oh, and if you see a service team in the movie theatre, don’t ever say…”Oh, I didn’t know they made movies in brail..”
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