Do Not Distract

When you see a Service Dog, they often have on some sort of vest even though they aren’t legally required to be labeled. This is because a vest provides very important information.

I always have Cassie labeled with a vest that says either “do not pet” or “do not distract” and a “service dog” or “working dog” patch.

These are pretty common phrases and most people know not to pet a Service Dog but they don’t always know why, so I wanted to explain! (It’s not because we’re trying to gate-keep our dogs from the public and be rude).

Service Dogs are dogs, not robots. This means they can make mistakes (I don’t mean aggressive biting and misbehaving mistakes, I mean getting distracted pulling ahead on a leash, forgetting to auto-sit, etc. ). My dog is more prone to mistakes when people call her to them, make kissy noises, pet her, or kneel in front of her.

Now some of you may be saying “So what if she gets a little distracted” and here’s the answer.

Service Dogs are the handler’s lifeline. If a dog misses an alert it can put its handler in danger of a variety of medical episodes. This is the main reason but it could also set back an in-training Service Dog. It could make the handler uncomfortable. And frankly, it’s annoying to have to get a dog to refocus on you after someone disrespects your boundaries.

I often give out a fake name such as Jane, Linda, Steve, or Kevin because not only does it prevent Cassie from getting distracted when the person calls Cassie to them, but it also shows them that my dog is working and not interested in them as well as kinda funny when my dog does a better job ignoring the public than the public ignores her.

I apologize if today’s blog came off as punchy, but I want to reinforce the importance of not distracting a Service Dog as a Service Dog is there to mitigate an individual’s disability, not for the public’s amusement.

I hope you have a better understanding of why not to distract a Service Dog, feel free to spread this knowledge :)