Entourage

When you travel with a service dog and a wheelchair you pretty much make up your own entourage (or as my sister likes to say, a dog and pony show). It's nearly impossible to be unnoticed and in fact you are usually guaranteed to be on the receiving end of multiple comments and questions about either your dog, your disability or both. After 10 years using a wheelchair and working with a service dog I am used to these realities and barely even realize how much more attention I attract than the average person.

Last week my boss and I went to Phoenix for a conference. Once we got settled on the plane my boss said "Is it always like this for you? You'd think none of these people had ever seen a dog before!" I laughed as I then started noticing how many times people made a comment to me about Morey. The comments are usually the same and I have developed my standard answers (see below) so I don't even have to think about my responses.

Top 5 Questions/Comments about Morey

1) What's his name?
2) Is it a boy or a girl?
3) That's a good looking dog
4) Can I pet him?
5) I wish my dog were that well-behaved

My Top 5 Responses

Q. What's his name?
A. Usually this answer is pretty straightforward: Morey. However, when you tell people your dog's name they then say it which in itself can be a distraction. So sometimes I give a code name and they never know the difference :)

Q. Is it a boy or a girl?
A. Obviously my answer to this will be "boy". Two notes about this question- I don't like Morey being referred to as an "it" and second, you'd be surprised at how many people will lean over to peer at his privates to try to answer this question themselves. Rude!

Q. That's a good looking dog
A. This comment doesn't always require a response, especially if it is made as we are passing by. My most common responses are "thank you", "he sure is" or simply a smile of acknowledgement.

Q. Can I pet him?
A. My response to this will vary quite a bit depending on where I am and what I am doing. If we're just waiting in line somewhere sometimes I will let them pet Morey. If we are on the move I am not going to stop just so you can pet him. If we are in a crowded place I usually say "no" because if I let one person pet him we'll soon be swarmed by people wanting their turn (and yes, I am speaking from experience!).

Q. I wish my dog was that well-behaved
A. This might be one of the most irritating comment to me. My response is usually something like "Well, Morey has spent hundreds of hours being trained to act like this." I want people to realize that service dogs aren't just born perfectly trained- it takes a lot of time and effort. While not every dog is cut out to be a service dog, most badly behaved dogs would be a lot better behaved if their humans would invest time and effort into training them. The dog trainer is me wants people to realize that they don't just have to throw up their hands and accept a wild ruffian of a dog- they could do something about it. Unfortunately, I doubt my two minute lecture makes a difference to them. Sigh.

I guess the moral of this blog post is that if you add a service dog to your life you better be prepared to attract a crowd of paparrazi wherever you go. I normally don't mind but there are definitely times when I leave Morey at home because I want a break from dealing with all the comments, stares and questions. I wonder if we will ever get to the point where seeing a handsome, well-trained working dog won't be such a cause for attention?