Service Dog Ambassador

Services dogs at rugby camps have a rough history. I have heard many stories of people bringing their dogs and letting them eat dropped food in the dorms, behaving aggressively to staff, and getting out of control in the airport. Some people with disabilities feel that if they have a disability, they can call their dog a service dog and get away with it (which unfortunately is often true). When I say I have a service dog I often get people who say “yeah, me too” even if their dog has no real training.

At the tournament, there were several dogs. A few were little pet dogs, but one was a black lab with a blue vest. I wasn’t familiar with the name of the program and it wasn’t clear if the dog was trained or in training. Either way, it was not a good example of a working dogs. The owner was letting kids walk it around the track, but the dog was really walking the kids. It was also dog reactive and when it saw Morey laying calmly on his bed, it barked and pulled toward him. I had to go help the girl distract the dog and pull it away. Morey acted like an angel, interested and alert, but not moving a muscle or reacting in any way. At one point when I was playing ball with Morey, the other dog pulled loose and went charging after Morey. I braced myself for the worst but when Morey saw the dog running after him he ran straight back to me. Morey reacted very neutrally and so nothing happened. They sniffed and although the other dog was stiff and barking, Morey just stood there. Someone else helped corral the other dog and we quickly left. You would think people with dog reactive dogs would keep a closer eye on them when other dogs are around! Since that’s not always the case, it just means that I need to be more proactive and always assume the worst in order to avoid the worst.

When I had initially inquired about bringing Morey to camp, I was discouraged because the past experiences had been negative. However, our team manager knew Morey and knew he would be fine so she gave me permission to bring him. And I have to say, Morey was the perfect service dog role model. He was unobtrusive, obedient, and generally just being his charming self. I have gotten comments asking why I would need a service dog, but when the guys saw what Morey can do they were very impressed and admitted that it would be nice to have a dog to do that for them. Several of the guys said they want to get dogs like Morey, but if they get dogs expecting Morey to be the standard, they have set their expectations pretty high! When we were leaving camp, several of the staff and team members told me that Morey has to come to every camp from now on. He really became a part of the team and was an excellent example of a service dog ambassador! Go Morey!