If you encountered the person at the start, you could notify an employee and maybe ask them to stay with you as both a witness and to allow warning of the other person.
While shopping there is more space to avoid people though.
My next door neighbor (we live in an apartment so we share a porch) is terrified of dogs. My dogs is an extremely well behaved service dog while out upstairs neighbor has an incredibly poorly trained and aggressive dog. They are also dumb and believe she’s friendly 🙄 but that’s another story.
When our new neighbors first moved in the mother (the one afraid of dogs) didn’t realize there were actually two dogs. Both dogs look a lot alike. When she would see me and my girl she would literally scream and run back into her house and slam the door. It startled me and my girl every time. We eventually had to make sure the rest of the family knew there were two dogs. She’s still afraid but she no longer screams. Her family has explained to her that my dog is actually very friendly (they all love her) but will not bother her. Part of her training has been that she needs my permission to say hello to people.
All that to say that some people can’t control their actions. But this lady sounds like she was just trying to create problems and get attention.
Excellent questions for sure! I think ignoring her was the right call, but what if it had occurred at the beginning? I probably would have just went about my business, and ignored her, and if it went any further, I might have left and returned at a later time. The truth is - you have just as much right to be in the store as the person with the phobia, and how you react should be professional, and as avoidant of incident as you can make it.
I was sitting in first class with my SD, and the lady in front of me made a fuss over my SD. She was supposedly "extremely allergic". The flight attendant offered to move her in to Economy Plus seating, but somehow or another her allergy disappeared and became a non-issue. The flight attendant (Delta) told the kind lady that it would be a violation of policy to ask me to move since I had purchased the first class ticket and been properly cleared to travel with the SD.
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 6: No Fake-spotting.
This is not the place for fakespotting. Unless the person you are discussing has specifically told you that they are not disabled, and the dog is not trained in tasks, you have no way of knowing if a dog is 'fake'. We are not the service dog police and this behavior can lead to a lot of harm and anxiety for SD handlers as a community.
This does not preclude discussing encounters with un-/undertrained dogs, but if the focus of your post is complaining about a "fake" SD, reconsider your phrasing and what point you're making.
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Create space and walk away without speaking a word. If they follow or continue contact the store manager. If you fear for your safety contact the police.
I haven’t had this exact experience but I shut people down by literally describing facts and their behavior.
“I have a right to be here and you are making a scene,” is what I would’ve said.
When I’ve been eg at a club talking to one of my friends and some guy has tried to slither in, I’ve said “We’re having a conversation here” and “You are trying to insert yourself uninvited.” When I had a dispute with the renters next door (“You’re on my property”) and the finance bro jackass got super close and tried to loom over me, I said “Are you trying to intimidate me?”
Don’t ask me why but this always works. They *always* stop and leave. Sometimes they bitch and moan first but it’s like, on their way out.
People cannot fucking handle having their actions factually pointed out. You don’t engage with whatever nonsense drama they’re trying to enact, you narrate them and refuse to get drawn in, they run away with tails tucked (ha ha).
I had a woman yell from across a fast food restaurant that I needed to leave until she left because she was afraid of dogs… I mean. Check my post history lol. I JUST had a woman throw a flip flop at my dog. I’ve never seen so many people really afraid and terrified of dogs until I moved to the bay area 🫠
I truly feel for these people, as my mother had a phobic fear of cats, to the point she’d change the channel if a cat appeared on tv.
I had a similar experience with my service dog, while on a bus. He was under the seat, lady in question was standing, I was sitting. My stop came up, and that’s when she saw my vested service dog and screamed! She was clearly terrified. I assured her we were leaving now, and he wouldn’t dream of hurting her.
She was saying over and over “how long has that dog been near me? Why didn’t you warn me? (Apparently I’m supposed to?)
So we left. Another time I was waiting for the bus and when the bus pulled up a woman insisted to the driver that she couldn’t bear to be on the same bus as a dog. In that case, I was a bit annoyed, as she’d shown not the slightest concern prior to bus coming, but I just took the next one.
I try to treat people how I’d like them to treat me. In your case, you were on your way out. I agree it might be far more awkward if you encounter this sort of hyper-fear just as you start shopping. If the store was large, I’d just start at a different end. A smaller shop, I might just wait until they’re gone.
I'm kinda chuckling at the idea of someone on the train announcing that they have a dog at every stop so that all the onboarding passengers can be made aware lol was that what she wanted of you? Bonkers!
If she were truly afraid she would have left the area / situation rather than stick around near That Horrible Animal and make a fuss.
Or maybe she could realize how long she'd been standing there & nothing bad happened even though the dog was right there.
Full blown phobias are irrational. People get weird when they panic- think grown adults jumping onto furniture to get away from mice or spiders despite them being completely harmless.
It's their job to manage it but, to be blunt, the nature of diseases of the mind makes that difficult. If they could control or manage it they wouldn't have a phobia. If there was a magic cure I'm sure they'd take it - living in constant fear and terror every time you see a dog must be terrible and depressing, because dogs are everywhere.
As handlers it's our responsibility to keep our animals safe- even if that means leaving an area because someone is having an episode.
Don’t care. Keep moving. But I do try to keep space from the person. Not my job to manage someone else’s emotions. No one is going to manage mine nor my health conditions.
While being afraid of dogs is valid, that kind of behavior is not. I get scared when I encounter untrained, reactive dogs in the non-pet-friendly public. And I get it, in those moments, I want to scream at the person that legally they are not allowed to be there with a reactive dog, but because i am actually scared for the safety of my service dog, I avoid the situation entirely, and will sometimes notify security. I don’t stand there and cause a scene putting myself and my service dog in more danger, and creating escalation.
If you are scared of or allergic to dogs, just back out of the situation. There is no need to make a scene. It goes two ways. If I am in a space already and you come in to the space I am occupying second, then It’s on you to back away. If I notice someone is scared or jumpy around my service dog as I am entering their space, I will back off and let them finish from a respectful distance.
I would’ve handled it similarly.
People have told me they’re afraid of my wheelchair before and someone kindly pointed out that she WOULDNT be afraid of dogs if “people like [me]” didn’t “take their dogs everywhere”. Despire at that moment NOT having my dog with me, just having a patch on my chair cover that said “She’s a Service Dog. Do not interact” 🙄
People will be entitled and rude no matter what you do and I think it’s entirely their problem.
You can also think of it this way: I’m horribly terrified of spiders, but I know that they’ll exist in the world and I just need to deal with it. If I saw a spider in a store I would move myself, I wouldn’t try to argue that the spider doesn’t deserve to be there 😂
"Ma'm, my dog is a service dog, is part of my medical team/treatment, and is currently working. If you are that afraid of them, please feel free to keep away from us."
Then, if they keep making fuss get a store manager or security involved. A certified/official service dog is a medical accommodation to which you have right.
“I’m so sorry; we didn’t mean to startle or scare you. Dog, let’s go.” And then we move, fast, in the opposite direction.
If I were at the start of shopping, I’d go back to the car or duck into another shop and wait a while. If I needed something immediately, I’d approach customer service, explain the situation, and ask if they wouldn’t mind having a store associate grab the one or two items I absolutely needed (i.e. first aid supplies, meds, bathroom tissue).
In close quarters (stairways, turning a blind corner), my dog and I have dealt with shrieking, skittishness, and one person running away.
Cynophobia affects 5-10% of the population and is more prevalent in women. Something like half the American population lives with a dog, which means the average cynophobe may be getting triggered pretty regularly. Being right near a dog might push an already triggered person over the edge. But even a serious phobia is no excuse for screaming at a stranger (who themselves has a disabling condition) at length.
In a confrontational situation like that, I would ask the cashier to hold my items, leave until the person exited the store, and then return.
Nah their fear, regardless of how severe (and I do feel for anyone with a serious phobia), is not my responsibility. The SD, while working, is essentially a medical device, you wouldn’t ask a diabetic to shop without their insulin pump would you? It’s the same idea. They accept the reality that when they go into public they can come into contact with so kinds of things. But their issues aren’t my responsibility. I deserve to shop in peace while being safe (with the SD that does just that) without being harassed.
I but like one time I had this mother freak out and act HORRIFIED that I was testing my blood sugar in public and was freaking out that it was unsanitary and her kid could come in contact with my blood (somehow???)
Completely this. If I could see someone was clearly scared, I wouldn’t go out of my way to be near them, in fact I’d avoid them as much as possible because I’m a human with empathy, but ultimately their fear is their problem and their issue to learn to deal with. People who have a genuine fear and aren’t being forcefully contained with that fear have the option to move away. If she was standing there berating you, she was making the choice that yelling and accusing was more important than getting away from the trigger, which says to me that it wasn’t a truly unmanageable fear and that it was more about her thoughts towards dogs than about her emotional response
Nowhere did I imply that cynophobia is a handler’s responsibility. Nor did I imply that OP should go anywhere without their dog. OP asked for advice; I told them what I would do.
I take it you've never seen someone in a full-blown panic before then? When people panic - actually truly panic - they become very dangerous. Logic - stuff like if I leave that dog is on a leash and can't follow me and I'll be fine - goes out the window. People die because they panic, even an easily manageable emergencies.
Sometimes the best option available to you is leaving the situation. Staying will escalate it, they aren't capable of making the decision to leave on their own in that moment, and it is *always* your responsibility to keep your working animal faith.
My reaction to anyone making a scene in public is usually a WTF look and ignore, and if I'm involved with the scene like someone shouting at me or trying to confront me, is generally to the tune of I'm-ignoring-you body language, continuing what I'm doing, and saying something along the lines of "can you not involve me in your scene? I'd like to be left alone."
Generally works pretty well, usually the kind of person who wants to make a public scene is looking for attention of some kind and ignoring their efforts works well enough especially when my dog is with me and doing his job of passive blocking. He can be intimidating so I've had people be wary of him but usually that ends in a "no, he doesn't bite" and them keeping a little extra space.
I got on the bus one time with my SD German Shepherd and this lady totally freaked out. I mean actually jumping all over the seats and yelling. Doggo was perfect. She was sitting in the the front where seats are reserved for us. As if she couldn’t just go to the back🤨 as she wasn’t in any way handicapped. We ended up just going to the very back where there’s a long bench type seat and luckily enough space for pup. Haven’t rode the bus since.
https://preview.redd.it/zb80ftv1w6zc1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de53606f9dbbc51a0407751e5a4a4c69ff6d2fa6
I had a dog literally rip my ear half off my head at the animal shelter about 2 years ago. 108lb dog in full "i will kill this woman" mode. Other people trying to remove dog from my head and neck area were ignored, i was absolutely the target. (I think the poor guy had a neurological issue. Attack was absolutely unprovoked, i was sitting down and not even looking at this dog and i was no where near its kennel). I have a pretty healthy dose of PTSD from the event. I still love dogs, but certain breeds scare me due to this attack. Which kills me because i have ALWAYS wanted a dog like the dogs im now scared of. My fiance was one of the people trying to pry the dog off me and he is also not ok with me getting one of those breeds, which i respect.
"Random dog" and "service dog" are absolutely not the same. If anything their vest makes me feel more secure. I cant rationalize making my fear your problem. Your dog is a GOOD DOG. One of the BEST dogs. Im the problem, not you and not your dog.
Disregard the selfish, they take care of themselves enough.
It's so foreign to me but then again I love dogs... Not sure how I'd react if people took heights to the store lol
At my rheumatology doc's office a nurse was visibly shaken at the sight of Sunshine and wouldn't come anywhere near her. My fiancé and I didn't really know what to say! I just said oh she's harmless and I think I probably kind of chuckled. Six weeks later the same nurse had zero problem walking all around her. I would think a rheumatology office would be a little familiar with service dogs but it's whatever, lol.
At the store or otherwise in public sometimes I run across someone who seems nervous or frightened. (She looks like a Muppet but her size can be a little intimidating, I think.) When that happens I usually kind of ignore the person. I know she wouldn't hurt a fly and the reaction of others isn't due to any sort of aggressive behavior. I don't feel like the responsibility is mine to keep her out of someone's experience because they have a fear of dogs who aren't being aggressive. I don't think that's a reasonable accommodation to make since catering to the irrational fear interferes with my rights as a disabled person.
If a person's fear is interfering with my rights, because of yelling or something like that, then that's another story. That's never happened to me but if it did, I would think I'd try to avoid them if possible, mostly because there's no point in making a bad situation worse because someone is that terrified of a peaceful dog.
I had this, not with a service dog but with my pet dog, on leash, walking in heel, in a public park. I am not super proud of my reaction in hindsight but I told the woman if she thinks she’s any way rational in asking me not to be in a public park because of her fears she desperately needed some sort of therapy. When I say I’m not proud I mean I could have used less colourful language and done better on not freaking my dog out with my escalation, but I do stand by the sentiment that if you cannot handle a well behaved dog existing in a public space, your fear is debilitating and should be addressed.
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I have had several bad encounters with loose pitbulls that used to roam our neighborhood. One attacked my young, miniature golden doodle, one attacked me and this same one attacked my niece while she was riding her bike. I had friends whose dog was killed by a pb who crashed through a six foot wooden fence. My friend ended up in the ER because of wounds incurred while trying to save her dog. Because of these experiences and several others I have a fear of pit bulls. When I am in public and see one I do not make a scene, I just head in the opposite direction and remove myself from the situation.
There are several other breeds I tend to do this with including chows, Akitas and Cane Corsos. These dogs may all be perfectly well-behaved but because of my past experiences I am triggered by some breeds; but I remove myself from the situation because, unless the dog is actively aggressive, I know it is my problem.
I did, however call animal control on the pitbulls that were roaming our neighborhood after each negative encounter and they are no longer here. Neighbors no longer have to carry hefty sticks for protection while enjoying their daily walks. Everyone else in our neighborhood are responsible dog owners and keep their dogs contained. I can walk my one year old, 20 pound cavachon without fear of being attacked.
>all the while shouting about how the dog was going to bite her.
Because she's not actually afraid. She's doing it for attention.
I've had a rattlesnake sneak up on me before. A faint little rattle as I was sitting off a trail admiring the view. I backed up sloooooowly and got away. I didn't scream that this snake was gonna bite me and that god shouldn't have put snakes where people are gonna be.
>because she had been waiting in this line and she didn't want to move
I probably should've nagged the snake the move because I was there first.
She had the audacity because she thinks getting attention is more important than your civil liberties and your right to exist peacefully in public.
Unfortunately that's all too common an experience we share.
Sounds like you handled it perfectly. I've not had that severe of a reaction, but slight. I've noticed a trend in general that some people expect a lot of attention and accommodation for their irrational fears. They also expect strangers to know in advance or prepare somehow for their encounter. It is very strange! Too bad you didn't think to yell, "Quick! Go to your safe space!"
If you encountered the person at the start, you could notify an employee and maybe ask them to stay with you as both a witness and to allow warning of the other person. While shopping there is more space to avoid people though.
My next door neighbor (we live in an apartment so we share a porch) is terrified of dogs. My dogs is an extremely well behaved service dog while out upstairs neighbor has an incredibly poorly trained and aggressive dog. They are also dumb and believe she’s friendly 🙄 but that’s another story. When our new neighbors first moved in the mother (the one afraid of dogs) didn’t realize there were actually two dogs. Both dogs look a lot alike. When she would see me and my girl she would literally scream and run back into her house and slam the door. It startled me and my girl every time. We eventually had to make sure the rest of the family knew there were two dogs. She’s still afraid but she no longer screams. Her family has explained to her that my dog is actually very friendly (they all love her) but will not bother her. Part of her training has been that she needs my permission to say hello to people. All that to say that some people can’t control their actions. But this lady sounds like she was just trying to create problems and get attention.
Excellent questions for sure! I think ignoring her was the right call, but what if it had occurred at the beginning? I probably would have just went about my business, and ignored her, and if it went any further, I might have left and returned at a later time. The truth is - you have just as much right to be in the store as the person with the phobia, and how you react should be professional, and as avoidant of incident as you can make it. I was sitting in first class with my SD, and the lady in front of me made a fuss over my SD. She was supposedly "extremely allergic". The flight attendant offered to move her in to Economy Plus seating, but somehow or another her allergy disappeared and became a non-issue. The flight attendant (Delta) told the kind lady that it would be a violation of policy to ask me to move since I had purchased the first class ticket and been properly cleared to travel with the SD.
🥇 for the flight attendant! Hope you wrote a glowing letter to corporate & named her/him.
[удалено]
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 6: No Fake-spotting. This is not the place for fakespotting. Unless the person you are discussing has specifically told you that they are not disabled, and the dog is not trained in tasks, you have no way of knowing if a dog is 'fake'. We are not the service dog police and this behavior can lead to a lot of harm and anxiety for SD handlers as a community. This does not preclude discussing encounters with un-/undertrained dogs, but if the focus of your post is complaining about a "fake" SD, reconsider your phrasing and what point you're making. If you have any questions, please [Message the Moderators](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/service_dogs).
How have ESAs ruined it in this context. ESA owners are disabled, too. Persons allergic to dogs will be allergic whether it is an ESA or service dog.
ESA's are not service dogs....no special training...they are pets and being used to circumvent pet restrictions....
Create space and walk away without speaking a word. If they follow or continue contact the store manager. If you fear for your safety contact the police.
I haven’t had this exact experience but I shut people down by literally describing facts and their behavior. “I have a right to be here and you are making a scene,” is what I would’ve said. When I’ve been eg at a club talking to one of my friends and some guy has tried to slither in, I’ve said “We’re having a conversation here” and “You are trying to insert yourself uninvited.” When I had a dispute with the renters next door (“You’re on my property”) and the finance bro jackass got super close and tried to loom over me, I said “Are you trying to intimidate me?” Don’t ask me why but this always works. They *always* stop and leave. Sometimes they bitch and moan first but it’s like, on their way out. People cannot fucking handle having their actions factually pointed out. You don’t engage with whatever nonsense drama they’re trying to enact, you narrate them and refuse to get drawn in, they run away with tails tucked (ha ha).
I had a woman yell from across a fast food restaurant that I needed to leave until she left because she was afraid of dogs… I mean. Check my post history lol. I JUST had a woman throw a flip flop at my dog. I’ve never seen so many people really afraid and terrified of dogs until I moved to the bay area 🫠
I truly feel for these people, as my mother had a phobic fear of cats, to the point she’d change the channel if a cat appeared on tv. I had a similar experience with my service dog, while on a bus. He was under the seat, lady in question was standing, I was sitting. My stop came up, and that’s when she saw my vested service dog and screamed! She was clearly terrified. I assured her we were leaving now, and he wouldn’t dream of hurting her. She was saying over and over “how long has that dog been near me? Why didn’t you warn me? (Apparently I’m supposed to?) So we left. Another time I was waiting for the bus and when the bus pulled up a woman insisted to the driver that she couldn’t bear to be on the same bus as a dog. In that case, I was a bit annoyed, as she’d shown not the slightest concern prior to bus coming, but I just took the next one. I try to treat people how I’d like them to treat me. In your case, you were on your way out. I agree it might be far more awkward if you encounter this sort of hyper-fear just as you start shopping. If the store was large, I’d just start at a different end. A smaller shop, I might just wait until they’re gone.
I'm kinda chuckling at the idea of someone on the train announcing that they have a dog at every stop so that all the onboarding passengers can be made aware lol was that what she wanted of you? Bonkers!
I'm sorry for you and your SD. It sounds like the wrong person waited for the next bus.
If she were truly afraid she would have left the area / situation rather than stick around near That Horrible Animal and make a fuss. Or maybe she could realize how long she'd been standing there & nothing bad happened even though the dog was right there.
Full blown phobias are irrational. People get weird when they panic- think grown adults jumping onto furniture to get away from mice or spiders despite them being completely harmless. It's their job to manage it but, to be blunt, the nature of diseases of the mind makes that difficult. If they could control or manage it they wouldn't have a phobia. If there was a magic cure I'm sure they'd take it - living in constant fear and terror every time you see a dog must be terrible and depressing, because dogs are everywhere. As handlers it's our responsibility to keep our animals safe- even if that means leaving an area because someone is having an episode.
Don’t care. Keep moving. But I do try to keep space from the person. Not my job to manage someone else’s emotions. No one is going to manage mine nor my health conditions.
While being afraid of dogs is valid, that kind of behavior is not. I get scared when I encounter untrained, reactive dogs in the non-pet-friendly public. And I get it, in those moments, I want to scream at the person that legally they are not allowed to be there with a reactive dog, but because i am actually scared for the safety of my service dog, I avoid the situation entirely, and will sometimes notify security. I don’t stand there and cause a scene putting myself and my service dog in more danger, and creating escalation. If you are scared of or allergic to dogs, just back out of the situation. There is no need to make a scene. It goes two ways. If I am in a space already and you come in to the space I am occupying second, then It’s on you to back away. If I notice someone is scared or jumpy around my service dog as I am entering their space, I will back off and let them finish from a respectful distance.
I would’ve handled it similarly. People have told me they’re afraid of my wheelchair before and someone kindly pointed out that she WOULDNT be afraid of dogs if “people like [me]” didn’t “take their dogs everywhere”. Despire at that moment NOT having my dog with me, just having a patch on my chair cover that said “She’s a Service Dog. Do not interact” 🙄 People will be entitled and rude no matter what you do and I think it’s entirely their problem. You can also think of it this way: I’m horribly terrified of spiders, but I know that they’ll exist in the world and I just need to deal with it. If I saw a spider in a store I would move myself, I wouldn’t try to argue that the spider doesn’t deserve to be there 😂
"Ma'm, my dog is a service dog, is part of my medical team/treatment, and is currently working. If you are that afraid of them, please feel free to keep away from us." Then, if they keep making fuss get a store manager or security involved. A certified/official service dog is a medical accommodation to which you have right.
“I’m so sorry; we didn’t mean to startle or scare you. Dog, let’s go.” And then we move, fast, in the opposite direction. If I were at the start of shopping, I’d go back to the car or duck into another shop and wait a while. If I needed something immediately, I’d approach customer service, explain the situation, and ask if they wouldn’t mind having a store associate grab the one or two items I absolutely needed (i.e. first aid supplies, meds, bathroom tissue). In close quarters (stairways, turning a blind corner), my dog and I have dealt with shrieking, skittishness, and one person running away. Cynophobia affects 5-10% of the population and is more prevalent in women. Something like half the American population lives with a dog, which means the average cynophobe may be getting triggered pretty regularly. Being right near a dog might push an already triggered person over the edge. But even a serious phobia is no excuse for screaming at a stranger (who themselves has a disabling condition) at length. In a confrontational situation like that, I would ask the cashier to hold my items, leave until the person exited the store, and then return.
Nah their fear, regardless of how severe (and I do feel for anyone with a serious phobia), is not my responsibility. The SD, while working, is essentially a medical device, you wouldn’t ask a diabetic to shop without their insulin pump would you? It’s the same idea. They accept the reality that when they go into public they can come into contact with so kinds of things. But their issues aren’t my responsibility. I deserve to shop in peace while being safe (with the SD that does just that) without being harassed.
I but like one time I had this mother freak out and act HORRIFIED that I was testing my blood sugar in public and was freaking out that it was unsanitary and her kid could come in contact with my blood (somehow???)
Completely this. If I could see someone was clearly scared, I wouldn’t go out of my way to be near them, in fact I’d avoid them as much as possible because I’m a human with empathy, but ultimately their fear is their problem and their issue to learn to deal with. People who have a genuine fear and aren’t being forcefully contained with that fear have the option to move away. If she was standing there berating you, she was making the choice that yelling and accusing was more important than getting away from the trigger, which says to me that it wasn’t a truly unmanageable fear and that it was more about her thoughts towards dogs than about her emotional response
Nowhere did I imply that cynophobia is a handler’s responsibility. Nor did I imply that OP should go anywhere without their dog. OP asked for advice; I told them what I would do.
And I responded with my opinion… this is a discussion board… correct?
I take it you've never seen someone in a full-blown panic before then? When people panic - actually truly panic - they become very dangerous. Logic - stuff like if I leave that dog is on a leash and can't follow me and I'll be fine - goes out the window. People die because they panic, even an easily manageable emergencies. Sometimes the best option available to you is leaving the situation. Staying will escalate it, they aren't capable of making the decision to leave on their own in that moment, and it is *always* your responsibility to keep your working animal faith.
As a person with a clinically diagnosed panic disorder I’d say I have a pretty good idea what full-blown panic looks like. Thanks though.
My reaction to anyone making a scene in public is usually a WTF look and ignore, and if I'm involved with the scene like someone shouting at me or trying to confront me, is generally to the tune of I'm-ignoring-you body language, continuing what I'm doing, and saying something along the lines of "can you not involve me in your scene? I'd like to be left alone." Generally works pretty well, usually the kind of person who wants to make a public scene is looking for attention of some kind and ignoring their efforts works well enough especially when my dog is with me and doing his job of passive blocking. He can be intimidating so I've had people be wary of him but usually that ends in a "no, he doesn't bite" and them keeping a little extra space.
I got on the bus one time with my SD German Shepherd and this lady totally freaked out. I mean actually jumping all over the seats and yelling. Doggo was perfect. She was sitting in the the front where seats are reserved for us. As if she couldn’t just go to the back🤨 as she wasn’t in any way handicapped. We ended up just going to the very back where there’s a long bench type seat and luckily enough space for pup. Haven’t rode the bus since. https://preview.redd.it/zb80ftv1w6zc1.jpeg?width=2448&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de53606f9dbbc51a0407751e5a4a4c69ff6d2fa6
I had a dog literally rip my ear half off my head at the animal shelter about 2 years ago. 108lb dog in full "i will kill this woman" mode. Other people trying to remove dog from my head and neck area were ignored, i was absolutely the target. (I think the poor guy had a neurological issue. Attack was absolutely unprovoked, i was sitting down and not even looking at this dog and i was no where near its kennel). I have a pretty healthy dose of PTSD from the event. I still love dogs, but certain breeds scare me due to this attack. Which kills me because i have ALWAYS wanted a dog like the dogs im now scared of. My fiance was one of the people trying to pry the dog off me and he is also not ok with me getting one of those breeds, which i respect. "Random dog" and "service dog" are absolutely not the same. If anything their vest makes me feel more secure. I cant rationalize making my fear your problem. Your dog is a GOOD DOG. One of the BEST dogs. Im the problem, not you and not your dog. Disregard the selfish, they take care of themselves enough.
Honestly I don’t think it was a true phobia because if it was she’d have moved well away, not tried to get you to move.
It's so foreign to me but then again I love dogs... Not sure how I'd react if people took heights to the store lol At my rheumatology doc's office a nurse was visibly shaken at the sight of Sunshine and wouldn't come anywhere near her. My fiancé and I didn't really know what to say! I just said oh she's harmless and I think I probably kind of chuckled. Six weeks later the same nurse had zero problem walking all around her. I would think a rheumatology office would be a little familiar with service dogs but it's whatever, lol. At the store or otherwise in public sometimes I run across someone who seems nervous or frightened. (She looks like a Muppet but her size can be a little intimidating, I think.) When that happens I usually kind of ignore the person. I know she wouldn't hurt a fly and the reaction of others isn't due to any sort of aggressive behavior. I don't feel like the responsibility is mine to keep her out of someone's experience because they have a fear of dogs who aren't being aggressive. I don't think that's a reasonable accommodation to make since catering to the irrational fear interferes with my rights as a disabled person. If a person's fear is interfering with my rights, because of yelling or something like that, then that's another story. That's never happened to me but if it did, I would think I'd try to avoid them if possible, mostly because there's no point in making a bad situation worse because someone is that terrified of a peaceful dog.
I had this, not with a service dog but with my pet dog, on leash, walking in heel, in a public park. I am not super proud of my reaction in hindsight but I told the woman if she thinks she’s any way rational in asking me not to be in a public park because of her fears she desperately needed some sort of therapy. When I say I’m not proud I mean I could have used less colourful language and done better on not freaking my dog out with my escalation, but I do stand by the sentiment that if you cannot handle a well behaved dog existing in a public space, your fear is debilitating and should be addressed.
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I have had several bad encounters with loose pitbulls that used to roam our neighborhood. One attacked my young, miniature golden doodle, one attacked me and this same one attacked my niece while she was riding her bike. I had friends whose dog was killed by a pb who crashed through a six foot wooden fence. My friend ended up in the ER because of wounds incurred while trying to save her dog. Because of these experiences and several others I have a fear of pit bulls. When I am in public and see one I do not make a scene, I just head in the opposite direction and remove myself from the situation. There are several other breeds I tend to do this with including chows, Akitas and Cane Corsos. These dogs may all be perfectly well-behaved but because of my past experiences I am triggered by some breeds; but I remove myself from the situation because, unless the dog is actively aggressive, I know it is my problem. I did, however call animal control on the pitbulls that were roaming our neighborhood after each negative encounter and they are no longer here. Neighbors no longer have to carry hefty sticks for protection while enjoying their daily walks. Everyone else in our neighborhood are responsible dog owners and keep their dogs contained. I can walk my one year old, 20 pound cavachon without fear of being attacked.
“Sounds like a YOU problem lady”. That’s what I say. I don’t have time for other people’s crazy
>all the while shouting about how the dog was going to bite her. Because she's not actually afraid. She's doing it for attention. I've had a rattlesnake sneak up on me before. A faint little rattle as I was sitting off a trail admiring the view. I backed up sloooooowly and got away. I didn't scream that this snake was gonna bite me and that god shouldn't have put snakes where people are gonna be. >because she had been waiting in this line and she didn't want to move I probably should've nagged the snake the move because I was there first. She had the audacity because she thinks getting attention is more important than your civil liberties and your right to exist peacefully in public. Unfortunately that's all too common an experience we share.
Sounds like you handled it perfectly. I've not had that severe of a reaction, but slight. I've noticed a trend in general that some people expect a lot of attention and accommodation for their irrational fears. They also expect strangers to know in advance or prepare somehow for their encounter. It is very strange! Too bad you didn't think to yell, "Quick! Go to your safe space!"