Pet Expo

Yesterday, Dad and I took Juno (off duty) and Kaline (on duty) to a pet expo in Santa Clara. As an expo it was kind of disappointing, but as a training challenge for Kaline, it was awesome. We went for the distractions, and they were everywhere! There were a ton of dogs, since the event was pet-friendly, and though none of them (to my surprise and delight) were reactive or aggressive, many were very friendly to the point of being a bit rude. And owners were mostly letting them greet any dog around. Kaline did a really nice job of ignoring the many noses in his face and up his butt!

There were also several demonstration areas running. One had flyball, which was the most difficult for Kaline to ignore. If you don't know, in flyball dogs race over a series of hurdles, pop a ball out of a box, then run back over the hurdles as the next dog in their relay is coming. It's action packed, to say the least. Everything else, even if Kaline did get distracted, he was very easy to refocus. This included the obedience/protection demo with two awesome, high drive Malinois. The OB is pretty easy to ignore, but Kaline had his “meh” face on even when one of the Malis was sent on a bark-and-hold—go find the decoy and stand in front of him barking until the handler calls the dog off. He wasn't even that distracted when the Malis got sent on bites! (I was. I was totally entranced.) The miniature horses also posed something of a challenge. So cute though.

After the obedience demo we were allowed to take our dogs on the obstacle course. Juno just took everything in stride with Dad. Kaline was a little more ... eccentric. I'd lead him onto an obstacle, say the ramp to a catwalk, or onto a teeter-totter. He'd just go the first time. Then he'd hit a certain point where he'd get a look that said, “What am I doing?!” and that would just be the end of it. I'd take him back and try to get him to go on again, and he'd look at me like, “Ha, you're not tricking me with that again.” The best was the A-frame. He eagerly went to the top at my urging, then had no idea what to do once he got there. He sure as hell wasn't going down the other side ... but he didn't really want to back down the side he'd just come up either. Silly, silly dog. For going through and giving my email, we get a free class with this training group, so I'll try to take advantage of it (location could be an issue). I think it would be a great confidence builder for Kaline.

Toward the end we met up with new and old friends: a brand-new SDIT handler and her beautiful Doberman, Bruce, along with her wee pittie puppy, Ember, both wearing gorgeous Paco collars that had me drooling; and our friends Amie and Matt from Growing Up Guide Pup, with Eli, Ricki, and Ozzy. I was all over Ricki because I am her fangirl, basically; lucky for me, she loves everyone and I am included in that! Kaline and Ozzy hit it off great—Ozzy doesn't even mind being smacked in the face by enormous Doberman feet! I let Kaline be off duty to hang out with our buddies, and then we all just went home and crashed.

We had an uneventful Sunday of PA work today, phew. I also got a nice return email this week from Penzey's corporate, saying that their policy is indeed in line with federal law and does not allow for employees inspecting SDs for acceptable identification. Education will happen. That's a win in my book!

After our errands, Juno, Kaline, and I did a bunch of Rally and crate practice (whoever wasn't practicing Rally got to work on quietly chilling in our pop-up crate). Kaline did nicely on learning his left about turns (also known as the Schutzhund turn) and with Juno I practiced things like the moving stand and down, pivots, and finding front. They both did a lot of work with pivots and finding heel, as well as doing finishes in both directions. I used Kaline's newly learned finish right for our trick of the week—I joined a Facebook group where the challenge is to teach your dog a new behavior every week. I will probably end up doing some known behaviors, just cause I'm not sure if I can think of 52 new things to teach Kaline, much less Juno, but it'll be fun regardless. Keep us sharp and all.

Last week's “trick” was retrieving keys, which has been a seemingly unattainable goal for Kaline for a while, until Sonja's magic. Here are videos for the first two weeks.

Education

Educating the public about service dogs can be one of the most trying parts of being a service dog handler. Sometimes it's fun, when you meet someone nice who is interested in your dog's job. But with gatekeepers—people who can try to deny you access with your SD to a store or other public place—educating can be uncomfortable and downright confrontational.

Sunday is my big public access practice day with Kaline. We frequent most of the same places every Sunday. Yet today, at two of my favorite places, we were confronted by unfamiliar employees who were clearly very misinformed about laws regarding service dogs.

The first place was Penzey's, the spice shop. It is an excellent place to work on leave it, since there are so many interesting smells everywhere. We've also worked on maneuvering in its small spaces. Never before had we encountered a problem. One of the guys who works there is a huge sweetheart and just loves to watch Kaline practicing his skills.

As we walked in, a guy I didn't know asked if Kaline was a service dog. I am always tempted to say something snarky, given that Kaline now wears the BLD harness, several SD patches, and I have a SD leash patch across my chest on my over-the-shoulder leash at all times. Nonetheless, I always restrain myself and just reply, “Yes.” New Guy took in my answer, then bent to peer closely at Kaline. In general, this is a stupid and extremely rude thing to do to a dog. But Kaline doesn't care, so I will usually let it slide. Then I heard the man muttering, “Is he wearing ... ? Yes, he is. You're okay.”

I have friends who work their dogs “naked,” for various reasons. The right to work your dog without identifying gear is protected by federal law. So even though I never work my dogs naked, I like to educate those who seem to think vests or harnesses are required. I calmly told this man that according to law, Kaline does not have to wear anything while working. He shot back, “According to the law, he does.”

Challenge me on a point of SD law and I will not back down. I pulled up the Commonly Asked Questions from the US Department of Justice and pointed out the section stating that not all service dogs wear vests or harnesses. I even used an example of a seizure alert dog, which requires no special gear to be able to help its handler (whereas a guide dog is pretty useless without a guide harness). His face closed and he replied that he had to follow corporate policy as well as local law. I informed him that corporate policy doesn't trump federal law. (Local, California laws, are in line with federal law.) He just said, “Thank you,” which really meant, “I am not going to listen to you anymore. This conversation is over.” Guess who will be contacting Penzey's corporate tomorrow!

Our second confrontation came at Trader Joe's. We have not missed a TJ's Sunday in probably over a year, except for when I've been out of town. Kaline is always extra on top of his game in there, for some reason. We used to have a nice buddy who was on the staff there, and I helped him out when he was unsure of the business' rights when someone brings an ill-behaved dog inside, claiming it's a service dog. This is another place where we have literally never had an issue with any employee.

When we walked in, I saw a Golden Retriever SD from a local program, which was pretty exciting. I was in the middle of praising Kaline for looking away from the dog when an unfamiliar employee came up and asked if Kaline was a SD. Yes. (Duh.) Employee then leaned into Kaline's face and began baby-talking him. Keeping my voice calm while I seethed, I said, “Please don't talk to him. It distracts him from his work.”

“Do you have his papers?”

“There's no such thing as ‘papers.’ You can get illegitimate certification off scam internet sites, that's pretty much it. It's illegal to ask for such a thing.”

“No it's not. It's a new law that went into effect January 1.”

“If that were a new law, I would know about it. Would you like to see the ADA?”

He said no and walked away. I had a panic attack so bad I could hardly breathe. There was no place to go for full DPT so I knelt in front of the cheese and Kaline pressed himself hard into my chest until I was at least somewhat okay again.

So we went to find a supervisor. With the ADA business brief on my phone, scrolled to the point about the two questions and how requiring papers, certification, or ID is illegal, I informed the supervisor about what his employee had said. I asked for a copy of this supposed new law. Ever so shockingly, the supervisor had no idea what new law the guy was talking about. (Could it possibly be because it doesn't exist?) I asked him to please educate his employees on the two questions, and to remember that if the two questions are answered properly, and the dog is not disruptive, unhousebroken, or vicious, they cannot have the handler remove it.

It was not a fun morning.

However, education is extremely important to me. Part of my job as a SD handler, as I see it anyway, is to make things easier for any team coming behind me. When people show ID, or fake certification, they make it harder for the next handler, who will now be faced with a gatekeeper who's learned that teams should be carrying those items. Educating businesses on their rights and SD handler rights can be extremely shitty and uncomfortable. I hate having to do it. But in my opinion, if you cannot handle advocating for yourself as a SD handler in some way, whether it's verbally or simply by handing gatekeepers preprinted law cards, then you probably should not be using a SD. Some people are better at handling issues than others, and of course it takes practice. I'm still not that good at it (see panic attack). It's very, very necessary though.

So, we'll finally be printing up some law cards (I've never really felt the need, until today). Hopefully our crap morning today will lead to easier mornings for other SD handlers.