25 years experience here. The trainer of my 1st two guide dogs always said "it's not a matter of if your dog fucks up, it's a matter of when, and how you handle it." That statement lives rent free in my head.
This is weirdly comforting. I just started training my PTSD service dog with the help of a trainer and even though my trainer says she’s doing great I’m so anxious about being confronted about her not acting perfect all the time. She is labeled as in training but the things iv seen online still make me super anxious
@@sarahr4855 If it makes you feel better, there are times when my service dog is supposed to "misbehave" in order to get me to leave a situation if he thinks I need a break, and in the 3-ish years he's been doing it I've never had anybody say anything to me about it. (We don't talk about the time when he was still training that I caught him very gently licking a block of cheese... [don't worry I bought the cheese, I didn't leave it there with dog germs on it.] Honestly that was my mistake, not his; cheese is obviously the best food so in his little Lab brain he was being completely reasonable. We work together to make sure it won't happen again.)
ooooo yess!!! such a different thing, but my music instructor told us this about performing, and to “not practice for perfection, practice so you can fix the mistakes you’ll inevitably make” corny but, changed my whole outlook on life tbh!
As a service dog handler what annoys me most is those that think service dogs have to be practically perfect in every way. They're dogs first not robots. I certainly have my friends in the service dog community, but for the most part I stay away from most service dog groups
Yeah, they have to have training the same as we do for jobs. ♥️ Just witnessed a service doggy in training the other day at the gas station, and he did good! Only got distracted once that I saw, he seemed young. 😊 The owner was very clear with people he was in training. Had the full getup on and everything.
This is so important. People with disabilities need to have each others backs or we will never effect change and get accomodations we need. Last week I got attacked online for my comments on the attached photo. Picture description- theatre or stadium seating. A standard chair is 4 steps down from the top row. It has the international symbol of access on aka the wheelchair symbol. To me this aisle chair represents the accomodation I need. It is easy access as a part time wheelchair user or rollator user. Full time wheelchair users got angry that “their” symbol was used incorrectly as the chair wasn’t accessible to them. This chair provided the option and access that many of us need and it doesn’t take away wheelchair accessible spaces. It doesn’t stop them getting what they need. In fact I’d argue it frees up those spaces for those who really need them. It felt like there was from many full time users a hierarchy of needs. If you don’t need a wheelchair accessible space then you can sit anywhere and don’t need accommodation. I explained that people with continence issues, ambulatory users, those with autism all might appreciate an easy access and exit seat. The easy access seats in Australia also have additional room in from for service dogs but this picture didn’t. I can’t work out why people where so upset that the international symbol of access was used to accommodate other people with disabilities different to that of a full time wheelchair user. If you need a bright green chair to sit on, you need a bright green chair to sit on. It’s not stopping me sitting where I need.
yeah, I hate more when people are peer pressured to wash a beloved dog they worked so hard to get so far with. Especially when they seem to give in and actually do it. It's heart breaking. We need to have each others' backs and our dogs'. I see this especially in groups towards different breeds then the "fab four" or toward younger dogs usually under 3 that make more mistakes.
@@karenshine2925the are too many people who think that disabled seating, parking, etc are only for those in wheelchairs because of that symbol 😕 I live in Western Australia and here most people believe that guide dogs are the only service dogs and that they are the only ones with public access. I’ve also been verbally abused and interrogated for using a disabled parking spot even though I have a lifetime parking permit. There’s so much ableism where I live and it’s really sad 😞
The discrimination with using a guide dog is becoming unbearable. It's seemingly growing worse. So many people relocating in rural areas from urban areas... it's frustrating. Adults grab his harness or collar. I have tripped and fallen. I have very little sight. If I tell them no don't pet.. they go into hostile mood. I end up saying loudly 'great, let's bully the blind person.' Sometimes it sinks in. Big hugs to all visually impaired with guide dogs!
My Service Dog In Training is a pitbull. Try that one on for size. I had someone with a golden retriever service dog tell me pits can't be service dogs because of their nature. I corrected him
I work in a museum & I was shocked by how relieved a guest was last week when she entered with her very obvious guide dog, & I didn’t give her a hard time. She started to explain & seemed so nervous, I told her of course we were happy to welcome them both, and that I could see he was a working dog. I could tell she had prepared herself for a potential argument. we’ve had fantastic experiences with our guide dog guests & ofc welcome them eagerly. Tbh it makes us look good & it communicates our inclusion when residents of our community see people with disabilities using the museum. In this case, it was clear the dog was very well trained and that the human was low vision or blind, and we just welcomed them with no questions (we have to ask the 2 allowed questions if we have concerns, people in Montana think pet dogs belong everywhere). We had a Deaf guest in a wheelchair at the same time, I was pleased as punch we could accommodate her mobility needs & communicate through my beginner sign, gestures, & lip reading. We’ve been on an accessibility glow up so very happy to see word is getting out!
@@BarbaraWilson-gs2cs you were automatically going to have more questions and problems if you have a pitbull. I’m sorry, but it’s just the truth. I have a German Shepherd so I have the same problem, but to a lesser extent I think. unfortunately it’s what you have to deal with with certain breeds.
@@BarbaraWilson-gs2cs LOL. Because pit bulls in fact can't be service dogs. Breed traits are a real thing. There's a reason that ZERO legitimate service dog training agencies use pit bulls. Pit bulls were bred for bloodsport and are very low biddable dogs. Get real. Unless the "service" your dog provides is ripping up other dogs and small children.
@@BarbaraWilson-gs2cs I also have a pit bull I am training to help me with certain tasks. He was a pet first, I became disabled second but he's so eager to please and so smart I think he'd enjoy having a job like that. I want to be able to take him in public to help/protect me since I am a female in a wheelchair who goes out alone but he needs a lot more socialization before I can be confident of his manners. I hate when people take their untrained pets places and try to pass them off as a service dog.
Just a thought I didn't hear you mention. I raise puppies for one of the guide dog schools in the the US, and they use the treadmill during harness training, to teach the dog how to pull into the harness, hold a steady pace, hold a straight line of travel, and/or I don't know what else. From what I could see, that young dog in the video was just excited and trying to get up on the treadmill with her, which would make sense if he had used it in his own training. A lot of dogs that are treadmill trained really love it, so that would be a potential high level distraction to work through, for a young guide dog who is just starting his career.
That's an excellent point! Dogs don't always immediately get the context difference with that sort of thing, like what counts as a "ball" that's acceptable to play with, since there's a lot of round objects.
My thought was just how it needed a lot of work on basic commands because sit, lay, stay.... none were being responded to properly. It could also be she wasn't being confident enough in her handling making it worse or she wasn't using the proper commands it was trained to use. But that's because we trained all our dogs to the point a silent hand single they follow even so if it was needed, we had the extra cue for the dog. Saying the dog needs more work in training, especially with it being young, is just likely reality. But I question why she started with a treadmill when he gets excited there. That is a human setting up the dog for that behavior.
If we, in the service dog community, call out ''fake service dogs,'' then how can we expect the general public not to? We don't know the dog or the owners life or circumstances
@@regulusmasamuneryuku8657Maybe people should instead call out if someone's service dog is behaving inappropriately for a service animal? They're required to be non-destructive and non-aggressive and such, so if someone has a dog that's peeing on everything or lunging at people, or otherwise not listening to the handler at all, then they need to train the dog elsewhere. It'd be like someone using a motorized wheelchair (maybe for the first time) and driving into people with it, or destroying products or something. The motor chair isn't the issue, it'd be the person's usage of it.
@@qa377 Obviously yes. And those people need to reevaluate their dog or training methods. Those aren't little mistakes. Those are major behavioral issues. The ADA actually gives businesses the ability to ask people to leave if their dog is behaving in this way. The things I see called out as faking are usually, like: 'their dog sniffed my service dog, therefore their dog isn't a service dog.' We shouldn't decide if a service dog is fake based on our 5 seconds of seeing their handler or dog. It's unfair. We don't know that team's story. The current assumption the community is making is 'oh, that dog sniffed at the ground for five seconds. They are faking.' When it should be 'Ah, they are doing their best.'
Funny handler screw up story: I thought it would be exciting for my service dog to go to a local botanical garden... so I bought a yearly pass. On the first trip... I learned - BAD idea!!! It turned out to be a squirrel "petting" zoo!!! My service dog's jaw was shaking with the environment. Soooo I apologized, worked with my pet communicator and Tellington Touch expert and learned that I must think of her instincts first, honor them, and make an environment that respects them.
I appreciate and respect you so much for acknowledging your dogs needs. Ill never forget someone online whos service dog was a husky in arizona, and she said the reason she doesn't put a vest on them is because he will overheat. Beyond the fact that thats the wrong environment for a husky, what she said was she uses no vest, not that she uses a cooling vest.
@@dismurrart6648 I'm learning about predation substitution training as another tool for those super high distraction situations. T touch really helps me and my dog stay connected in those situations too.
aw :( I recently took my dog to deep sea world, I was terrified it would be a problem for my dog but that's why I went, as part of ensuring she was trained for all different environments. thankfully she behaved perfectly, but they still said I couldn't take her near the seals 🤣😭😭🤣 she wasn't remotely interested in any of the things we saw there, she was probably more focused on me than she's ever been ❤ she's not great with cats or birds yet though, she stares HARD 🤣
@@dismurrart6648I’m worried about that poor huskies paws are like , Arizona heat pavement is hot enough to cook eggs and melt shoes , I know there’s things as “paw barriers” but , I wonder how she actually protects a HUSKIE from that if she can’t get a cooling vest
A big problem with disability in general is it feels like alot of people expect that if you have the same disabled you have the same needs or do things the same way. Or that you’re needs will be the same day to day. For me with my pain some days i need a wheelchair some times i need a cain some times i need neither.
Exactly this. I'm an ambulatory wheelchair user too and the judgemental looks I get in public is astonishing. I feel like the hyper critique culture is a parallel to the nondisabled obsession with catching us 'faking' & these then bleeds into the community itself making more doubt. I have arguments with my wheelchair & my car all the time. (In UK disabled people with the motability component of the PIP benefit can avail of a car. I'm on my 4th whose called medusa) my day wheelchair pandora sometimes doesn't cooperate getting in and out of the boot of the car so I'll usually argue with her. Because it relieves the stress & makes my aids feel more personal. That's why my chair is called Pandora cause, she perfect in my eyes yet society views her as a curse or bad thing. "Oh id die if I had to use a wheelchair" much love everyone ❤️
Exactly! My disability affects my short term memory, long term memory is excellent, but because I have the short term memory issue, people assume that I have to be reminded of things all the time. It makes me feel stupid when I'm not. On the flip side, my long term memory is so good that a lot of my family members and friends tell me I'm very smart and a lot of people can't tell I have short term memory issues. It definitely makes me feel like an imposter.
@@callumwarren115Yeah the ableism doesn't suddenly stop the moment one becomes disabled, so it's super rampant throughout the community. I love the way you help support yourself mentally and emotionally. ❤
Having a service dog and having anxiety is a crazy ride. I know some with anxiety that have chosen not to continue with another service dog for their disability because of how bad it can be for anxiety. Not because of the dog but because of the judgy people.
I am autistic, ADHD, and OCD and the cherry on top of all of that is that when you combine Neurodivergency with a massive traumatic brain injury it causes my brain to not always know what vertical is. I face plant a lot. I had a service dog 12 years ago. I have been waffling back and forth as to if I want to get a new service dog. The constant judgment, and then the access issues that I see Molly and Paul Castle have.
That is ashame you face people's judgments. If you need the assistance the dog provides, just get the dog. Do what you need to live your best life and try to ignore the haters.❤
I’ve actually been trying to save up for a service dog in part for anxiety, but a big part of that is the panic attacks I’ve had in public tend to involve freezing up, not being physically capable of moving or speaking or asking for help, etc. And it’s happened in some really dangerous situations, hence the consideration of getting a service dog to help with that.
@@cecyanaa Me too! Unfortunately, every time I manage to save up a decent amount for the initial costs, something goes wrong and all that savings disappears to something else.
Hey Molly and Sadie! I love you both and I love everything that you guys are doing. Keep up the great work speaking up for so many of us who do not have the gifts that you do. Much love Tricia from Blind Girl Designs
exactly. that treadmill video is something I definitely never have posted if it was me, but we shouldn't have to feel like that! dogs are guna make mistakes at times, especially young dogs ❤
Hi Sadie, I thought you were an incredibly responsible handler and I loved your video. I too have an incredibly rambunctious guide dog, and I must keep track of her when we are in environments outside of our home. Have you seen the giant carabiner clips at the container store? I have one, take it with me everywhere, because it is one of the most inexpensive and useful items I’ve ever purchased. You can clip it around your dogs, leash, and an object in your environment. You can also clip it to yourself. OK, no judgment, but I have clipped my dog to myself when I needed both hands to perform a task. 13:28
My biggest annoyance is that everyone seems to think the USA is the entire world and their laws and only their laws apply everywhere. I live in Ontario we have to have a doctor's note and every time I talk about it or say "documentation" I get screamed at that my service dog is fake.
I recently moved to Ontario (2 years ago) from the US and mentioned to someone that documentation isn't required by law and was told, hey, this isn't America. Kind of shocked me to realize "oh yeah, this shit that's been drilled into my head online only applies in the US"
Actually I looked up about Canadians service dogs and only guide dogs have no iD (unless it comes from a school like Mira). All the other handlers have to a letter from the doctor
I was going to say the same thing. I just moved from Alberta to Ontario and in Alberta you need certification ID for ALL service dogs but in Ontario you just need a doctors note. People in Ontario ask sometimes for our “card” and I hand them my doctors note and the person is always satisfied with it so I think that’s what they ment by card
It’s the same in many European countries too, laws differ a bit between countries but shops are allowed to ask for an ID from ones training school or a training certificate when travelling by plane
Well sounds like America is better. In dog training a service dog is any dog that is taught a skill to aid their handler/owner to live their daily life. For example I get chronic migraines and my dog assists me when I walk sometimes for balance. Since I get bad Virgo I have a hard balance. Most people won't see that as a skill and will yell that my dog isn't a service dog. Actually it's not someone else's place to say if the dog helps you or not. Also in America we don't care what Canadians think. We are world war champions. We are the country that built modern day combat. Literally 90% of the tactics used by Canada was made by America. You follow and we lead. Trust me no American wants to go to Canada.
Thank you for mentioning different training for different needs!! My son is non-verbal autistic & he’s hyposensory (under-reacts to sensory input), so his service dog is trained to be a physical buffer in a crowd, to alert him to danger (ex. he’s not paying attention to a fire alarm or walking into the street), to herd him back of he elopes, and to be a social buffer - one of her commands is to “say hi,” so people greet her & then my son gets the chance to process & be social once he’s done stimming, etc. All of this is to say that our greatest challenge is people expecting all service dogs to be trained the same or to have the same skills. Because my son’s dog is trained for HIS autism, we do get folx who think she’s just our pet in a fancy vest 🤦🏼♀️
I'm autistic and one of my SD's tasks is to "say hi" because I also have hallucinations from PTSD and use it to make sure the person I'm talking to is real. I've personally noticed that less people bother me when I use a custom mobility harness than if I add a cape.
Exactly! My dogs are Chihuahua's, I'm on my 3rd Chi service dog. My girls are trained to detect high & low blood glucose for my type 1 diabetes. They have a different alert depending on what there alerting. They also detect Seizures, Strokes, anxiety attacks, PTSD, They will even wake me in the middle of the night and tell me I need to use the restroom, because I have nerve damage from the mid chest down, and have no sensation from mid stomachs dkwn, so I can't feel when I have to go. But they can. at least one dog, my current or my retired is with me 24/7. One won't leave me if the other isn't there to hold the fort......
@@beccamajor6239 We get less push back when my son & his dog are tethered, which we do in big crowds or long lines because my kiddo tends to wander. I act as her handler for the leash, but she paces with him even when they’re not tethered. I saw another video of a man who’s schizophrenic who has a service dog that does “say hi” or he tells to “greet” so that he can differentiate real people from hallucinations. It makes so much sense!
I’m autistic, too. And I’m a dog lover. My autism is mild and my independence is quite high for someone on the spectrum. I don’t qualify for a service dog, but I really want a dog, though. Not a service dog, but just a regular companion rescue dog. I know he’s non-verbal and, forgive me, for someone who’s on the spectrum, I don’t have too much knowledge on non-verbal autism, but please give him and his SD my best regards and maybe some extra treats/a toy/whatever they would both like from me.
THIS!!! I have stopped posting anything regarding my service dog on TikTok because I don’t like the idea that people will dissect the briefest moment in time and make wild accusations about me or my dog. That anxiety has really transferred to me being very stressed being out in public and has stopped me from utilizing my SD as much as I should. Thank you so much for talking about this ❤
THIS! I stepped away from making Service Dog content for a while because it was so toxic and overwhelming, my mental health needed a break. I’ve been introducing it back into my page and I was quickly reminded why I quit. But also all the negativity proves why it’s so needed
Remember that although there might be the odd person who is unkind in person, most of those who are happy to be so awful online, are not brave enough to say anything in person.
Oh ghosts same on the not going out very often thing. Esp cuz mine is for psychiatric disabilities, and mental health is not valued in my community. Like, I don't wanna get yelled at cuz my dog, who loves kids, looked at one for five seconds. Being prepared helps me deal with my anxiety. One of these days I'm going to make 'Service Dogs and the ADA' pamphlets. Hand those out to people if something comes up.
@@regulusmasamuneryuku8657you should look up how to make zines. They’ve gotten really popular lately as a way to make a little booklet to give out for people to read
both you and Lucy Edwards realistically talking about your guide dogs helped me when I was gathering information to train my own service dog. showing me that a $40,000 guide dog from a top training school still had bad days and could develop bad habits allowed me to not be too hard on myself when my own trained dog had a bad day. he's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. so thank you 💜
That's awesome that you've owner trained your own service dog. I have done that with a previous guide, and my next service dog will also be owner trained again. It's not where you get your dog that matters but what you do with him/her and how well you work together in a way that works for you. I've met some terrible teams both from programs and who were owner or otherwise privately trained.
I feel like we have this expectation of perfection on dogs. My boss can train me perfectly and i can understand exactly what shes saying and will still mess up. Dogs we cant even talk to and the expectation is still perfection.
@@dismurrart6648 Yes, very true. My guide dog has been working with me for almost 5 years now, and we have travel to countless places. He is a fantastic and brilliant dog, one of my best workers. I trust him implicitly to give me important information about the environment so that I can make efficient decisions, while he trust me to consistently and clearly communicate what I would like him to do as we work together. But he still makes mistakes. Today for example, we went into a breakfast place, and he was trying to navigate me around this big glass barricade thing. He moved to the left around it and paused, but he did not pause long enough for me to follow him, so I ended up running into the glass barrier. I immediately stopped, pointed out his mistake, asked him to back up, and we reworked it. He did it perfectly the second time. But some lady came up and told me that my dog wasn't very well trained. To which I replied: "oh. So I take it you have never ever made a mistake in your entire life. I'm glad you're a perfectionist. I'm not, neither is my dog. " I continued toward the counter, and he found it perfectly, thank you very much. So yes, people have very unrealistic expectations of not only dogs, but also a lack of empathy towards the handlers many times. Because everyone makes mistakes, dogs and humans.
I used to watch a girl on TH-cam called chronically jaquie (unfortunately she passed away in 2019) and I used to love her videos so much. She showed her daily life with multiple chronic illnesses and life with a service dog. I saw her videos before I even saw yours and her channel was what introduced me to the world of service dogs and since then I’ve been obsessed! Jaquie was never afraid to say when her service dog, Harlow, made a mistake. One video she was in a shop and then it cut to her outside explaining that Harlow had peed in the shop, thankfully the shop workers were understanding because the dog was well behaved other than the little accident but she took her self and the dog out anyway. She admitted that she made a mistake and had not let the dog pee before going in the shop when she knew it had been a couple hours and she thought he dog would be okay for just a few more minutes while in the shop but clearly was not. It made me happy to see someone admitting to their mistakes and it showed that dogs, even service dogs, are not perfect 😊
I loved her videos! She’s actually the person who encouraged me to look for a POTS/Dysautomonia diagnosis because all of the issues I was having drs were putting down to me being ‘active and young’ but I was fainting multiple times a day. She’s the one who encouraged me to look into options like IV fluids and electrolytes & the possibility of a SD. I LIVED for every single Harlow video and moment especially the training videos she did ~ it’s been years and years since but I still think of her every so often and I’ve now got a dysautonomia diagnosis, my health is so well managed now that I’m finally going back to university. I also have a SD who I got shortly after some of her last videos, who knows a lot of helpful tasks that I learnt from Jacquie like fetch water and snacks from the fridge, tidying up her toys and picking things off the floor for me (keys, food bowl, leash etc.) I did try to teach her to fetch a blanket (more as a trick than task) but my pup likes to run off with them and claim any unattended fluffy blankets as her own 😂 Without Jacquie’s videos I honestly would’ve never had the courage to push for a diagnosis and more aggressive treatment, look into the possibility of a SD (who has absolutely turned my life around 180’ and has been a constant help in everything I do) and she’s also the one who encouraged me to use mobility aids - I got my first wheelchair a few years after and that’s something that’s been so great for me but something I would’ve completely written off as ‘not for me’ if I hadn’t seen how confident she was with her aids, making them her own (pink) and talking about how her chair helped her with a lot of the symptoms I have too.
And because of how open Jacquie was about Harlow’s funny training moments and mistakes it helped me to see that a huge part of having a SD is their personality, the bone deep embarrassing moments that you’ll have to laugh about later, the inevitable accident in a store and just funny ‘you tried’ moments. She made me be kinder to myself when my dog was in training (and even now she’s fully trained) and to be understanding of those oops moments. My SD’s funny poop story because I feel like everyone has ‘the one’ and then you carry around a clean up bag with you for life for the remote possibility it might happen again… Scene: Long long car ride, like 5+ hrs long. We usually stop 2 times during that trip to let my pup out to stretch legs, toilet etc. around 10-15min stop each time so adds about 30mins onto the trip. My mother is in hospital, admitted for something that could be quite serious so I pack up our stuff and drive the 5ish hrs straight away - costing hours are limited and I’m worried I’m going to miss them and not be able to see her until the next day instead of that night. Rushing I only stop once on the way down instead of twice, then it takes me a ridiculously long time to find parking (at least another 30mins). At this point I’m panicking that I won’t make it in time since there’s about 10mins left before visiting hours are over. I rush my pup out of the car (in hindsight before her vest was on she tried to pull towards this little bush area) and quickly put on her harness, vest and lead and we start walking towards the hospital entrance. I’ve forgotten to bring my bag in with me, I don’t have my treat bag which contains treats, poo bags, collapsible water bowl and other training/hygiene nicknacks. Right as we’re about to enter through the very grand and historically significant hospital entrance (during peak COVID times so there’s a huge line of people in front and behind us plus staff taking temperatures, filling out cards/sign in sheets, hand hygiene stations - the works. Right there on the pavement before the door there’s an inch thick layer of brown and decaying leaves. My dog fully vested and ‘working’ stops the entire line and squats and poops making a huge loud long farting noise right there at the hospital entrance. I didn’t have ANYTHING at all to clean it up with and all paper towels and other similar products were strictly limited or just not available at all. In the end the staff had to put up a bright emergency hazard cone over her poop while I went back to my car that was parked a good distance away to grab poo bags, antibac wipes and other things to come clean it up. There was a HUGE long line behind us and we held up everyone for a good amount of minutes and not to mention my dog in full gear with SD all over her looking her professional best and that happening… 🤦♀️😰 I think that was the single most embarrassing moment of my life ever. The whole thing was totally my fault for not stopping to think - maybe my dog has held on for hours in the car and then tries to go towards an actually appropriate area to toilet but I just put her harness on in a hurry, then we had to validate parking, walking from the far away carpark and wait in the long line. I could only be overly grateful that she decided to poop over a layer of dead leaves (which admittedly is a very ‘appropriate’ poop surface if you’re a dog trained not to toilet inside) and not on the pristine white real marble heritage floor of the actual hospital 😅 Needless to say after that one lesson I’m now very aware of little things like my pup’s regular poop times, what her routine is (ie. sniff, circle, poop) etc.
@@katrinadaly1755 I’m so glad you got the help you needed through her videos ❤️ I can’t remember how I ended up coming across her but at first I was more interested in her videos about Harlow but then I got so invested in her life too 😅 I don’t need a service dog or anything but with her videos I’ve trained my dogs a few of the tasks she did training videos for and now my lab x collie will pick up just about anything I point at and say “get it” and he’ll bring it to me 😊 it’s handy when either of the dog knock a bottle off the coffee table with their tails and Zeus will pick it up for me 🤣
@@katrinadaly1755 things like that always happen when you’re running late or in a rush and well as inevitably make you more late 🤣 your SD was probably thinking “oh crap we’re going inside! I need to get this out before we go in that door!” 🤣
As a handler myself who does make content, I agree with this sooo much. I wish more people would show mistakes. I’m currently working on beach training with my service dog because it’s a new environment and he absolutely loves the water. I show the mess ups, the wind, etc and have been getting soooo much hate for it and people saying he’s a fake and that if he was really trained, he would know how to act already and I shouldn’t have to train him to know what to do at the beach. I looked for handlers showing service dogs not being robots when I first joined the community and could only find people showing the “perfect dog” originally.
I don't understand how the first lady is going out alone with a dog whom she can't see to correct when he needs so much correction. He is upset by the treadmill. It would take a sighted trainer a few sessions of correction and he would be fine. But she can't see his mistakes at the right time to correct them, so she is training bad behavior in. This will probably get worse instead of better.
@@toomanymarys7355 Thanks for demonstrating the exact sort of “toxic service dog culture” this video is referring to, and also providing a shining example of ableism. The handler is blind and has adapted; maybe if you approached her as an actual intelligent human person, from a place of genuine curiosity instead of judgement, she could explain to you exactly how she is training this behavior out. But instead, you’d rather jump immediately to assuming she is less capable of training her service animal *because of her blindness.* Does picking on disabled people make you feel any better about your own lack of accomplishments in life?
I regularly get the same bus as a deaf and blind person who has a guide dog. His dog is very social and seeks out attention from those within reach. The owner is ok with that as it doesn't take away from the dog doing their job as they're sat down on a moving bus. This has given a new perspective on it as I've always thought, the dog is working so shouldn't be distracted when actually it's not always that deep.
I think it really depends on what the dog is trained for and their personality. My first dog was very intube with me and mainly did psychiatric and mobility tasks so I had no issues with people petting but my current dog does medical alerts and is slightly more prone to getting distracted so even if she’s lay on the floor not doing anything I still don’t let people pet :)
agreed, it really does depend on the personality of your dog, what type of assistance the dog is trained to provide. As well as the level of assistance that person may need. I can only talk from my experience of handling Guide Dogs and they may not reflect the experience of others. I’ve had my current guide dog for nearly 2 years now and if people talk to him pet him or try to hold prolonged eye contact with him that will cause him to be distracted at least a little so I prefer to have him lay down on the bus and not have people talk to him. This is because I have found that in the past with other guide dogs I’ve had that if I allow them to be distracted in one situation, this will then leach into other situations where it becomes harder for me to control. To be honest, though it’s not always easy to stop people from distracting your guide dog. A lot of the tyme I can’t always tell it’s even happening until my dog reacts and even if you tell someone in the nicest way possible to please not distract your dog some people can take real offence and get quite defensive and or hostile. Either because they are embarrassed about being called out or more likey they genuinely don’t think they have done anything wrong. I can’t speak for the Deafblind guy on your bus but it could be that he has enough vision to deal with situations where the dog may become distracted when it matters more, or it could be that his dog only ever gets distracted in the bus so it’s not a situation he feels he needs to do anything about. However, it could equally be that he doesn’t want to do anything about it now as he may feel that this is easier than any hostility or confusion he might receive from the passengers if he tries to prevent people from talking to his dog especially if this has been happening for awhile. I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end, but I just wanted to say something because for some of us it really can be a problem.
My service dog LOVES people so my trainer came up with our “make a friend” command so she gets to meet people or other dogs when I feel ok with it. It’s not perfect but that’s ok. Service dogs aren’t robots - they’ll have great days, good days, meh days, bad days, and the worst days. 💜
exactly! I have a dog trained on mobility but also seizure/fainting alert. Days where I'm feeling well while shopping on a ride on, I let him be friendly with children (with parent permission... or usually request) because he lights up when kids pet him. I'll say no if I'm not feeling well and need him focused, but sometimes it's not a problem and he deserves to have those special moments as a reward for all the work he does and staying mostly focused on me even when he probably can tell as well as me I'm not likely to have a problem that day.
@@GhostTheServiceDog that’s a really useful command. I was taught a similar command called the say hello command which I use so that my dog knows he can approach someone to be petted. However, I only use this in situations where I I feel comfortable and only with people who are being polite by asking first.
As a service dog handler, it very much is fear of what others will say. Dogbook and other dog social media are brutual. It's like most of them hate dogs and just want to complain. My SD liquid pooped in walmart, she has been scared of weird flooring (black and shiny, looking like a black hole to her), shes scared of heights! But she kicks butt working and still makes mistakes. I find it so sad and crazy people expect an animal to be perfect and then are fine with humans making mistakes. If humans arent perfect, why are we expecting working dogs to be? Theyre essentially toddlers.
@@TheWorkingAussie The entitlement is staggering. You seriously think it's fine for you to bring an animal that takes squirty ishts on the floor into a store that sells food, and it's other people's job to "clean it up and move on," but you still somehow imagine you're the good guy here? Yikes.
I recently shared in a comment section how my dog is a bit anxiouss while waiting at a bus stop. It's a combination of excitement to get to where we're going, and nerves because we've had some truly horrid experiences in public transit. Someone came in and commented that my dog should be pulled from work and go back to training, because this one struggle he has is going to lead to him pulling me across busy intersections. Like... What? LOL
Although i (luckily) haven't ran into alot of people like that, i just hate that some people think they know your dog (who you walk with everyday) better than you.
That's yet another of thousands of examples wherein people think they know best, yet they fail to understand that it's important to think about context prior to commenting. It's easy for someone to read something like what you shared and pull words from their bumhole that your dog should be pulled from training because they aren't in your shoes and they don't know your dog. I get comments like that a lot when I'm out and especially when working with young dogs. My standard answer now goes something like: "I recognize that it helps you feel better to say what you just said, but you don't know me or my dog, you've just seen a snapshot of us. I need you to please back off."
See this is why I am grateful I found mollys channel before needing a sd- I have a very well home trained ESA he’s the best boy going on 17 with no bite record even very anxious cats love him he’s quite literally the reason I’m alive sorry had to gloat about my angel - but she’s literally shown her own dogs needing some reworking on training. And that’s amazing. Because that’s NORMAL. They’re DOGS. They are not machines. They do amazing stunning jobs and they govern us our freedom and our lives. But they are still dogs. And they might need reminders. And that’s ok. It would be awful if we were able to train them to do all these amazing things and then take their personality from them. That makes me concerned about how they’re treated when they’re “off”.. Molly said she’s 17 years deep with 4 separate dogs. I’m 17 years deep with the same dog- which obviously I’m LUCKY I got so long- and he is so well trained but we both make mistakes. He is the reason I am alive and is the only reason I would ever get another.
I really really needed to hear this right now. My service dog suddenly started having little panic attacks at grocery stores. Not any other department store, or the mall, she does perfect in giant crowds and conventions etc, but GROCERT STORES💀 I started to convince myself that I was just a bad handler and that maybe this was the first sign of many that she needed to retire early. This made me especially sad because we had so much success and made leaps and bounds on skills and tasks last year. I thought maybe this was a sign that all successful training was in the past. But I really was just anxious and feeling perceived. With the confidence that your video reinstilled in me, my service dog will regain her confidence, even the fact that I feel more secure will have such a astronomic impact on the success of our training. Grocery stores here we come!!!
Honestly, this does not make you a bad handler. Hope you don’t mind me replying Just wondered if you had maybe tried to take a dog trainer or someone you know with you to the grocery store to see if they can spot something that could be troubling your dog that might be harder for you to spot on your own. I only have experience with guide dogs not other service dogs but my second guide dog developed an issue where she would absolutely refuse to go into my local bank. The odd thing about it was that she was fine one week and the next week she would refuse point blank to go in. It took me awhile to work out why she would refuse to go in and I was unable to work it out myself without help. Turned out that the bank had put out some balloons for a promotion and my dog as it turned out had a fear of balloons. Been able to work out the trigger didn’t solve the issue entirely, but it did helped us know what to work on. If your dog is. a little sound sensitive perhaps this particular grocery store has a fridge or an automatic door that makes an odd noise that the dog find disturbing or perhaps it could be that the Isles are a lot narrower and maybe she’s been brushed or hit by a cart or hand basket. Of course it might not be any of those things but if you’re not sure why she doesn’t like the grocery store there’s absolutely no shame in asking for help to try and work out the reason. you could be the best handler in the world but even the best handlers sometimes need a little assistance.
I’ve learned that if any animal is suddenly getting scared in a situation like that, it means there’s something they’re reacting to that I can’t sense. They’re not being a bad dog, I’m not a bad handler, it’s just a miscommunication because we have different senses. They see the world from a very different view, so something might appear non-threatening to me but appear much more scary to them because it’s much bigger in their eyes.
My friends dog did this. She seemed to be fine except for the freezer section of the grocery store. Never did figure out what the problem is, but I wonder if there was some current or something running through the floor that she didn’t like.
All dogs have their quirks, you aren't a bad handler. Start small with very short training sessions in the grocery store. Start by training outside one day for about 10 minutes. The next day, just walk around the store for 5 minutes. The next day, do a bit of training inside and outside for 10 minutes. Take it slow. The smaller steps the better. It's always easier to fall down a small step or climb back up right? Taking big steps is harder to get up to and it is a harder fall down. Take it slow and steady. Multiple great 10 minute sessions is better than 1 good 30 minute session.
I have PTSD from Domestic Violence. A male resident called the police because I legally entered my own "community" room for a bingo game. I also called the police to report that 2 residents were illegally interfering with my use of my service dog which is a crime in Maryland. The hate and judgement is real.
@lauralaforge558 would you ask this question if the PTSD dog was for a war veteran or a first responder? Edit You know they use PTSD dogs in courtrooms when victims testify. This question is just so odd.
@@lauralaforge558a person mentioning that they use a service dog doesn’t necessarily mean they are down to be interrogated about it by an internet stranger. Fortunately, if you have genuine questions about what a dog might be trained to do for someone with PTSD, you can google that.
@@lauralaforge558 how about you go Google what tasks a service dog can do for PTSD instead of putting it on someone else to educate you simply because they mentioned their experience?
I went to the Irwindale Rennaissance Faire some time back on Mother's Day. They threw out ALL service dogs. I and other mothers who brought out kids and service dogs and who had already purchased tickets were told we couldn't go in. There was a deputy sheriff on the grounds and he said that discrimination was a civil matter and he wouldn't do anything.
I think part of why I love your content so much as a sighted person is how real it is. I love dogs and specially dog training and I fell in love with guide dogs and the work they do through your content, and specially the hard stuff. Every little thing they do amazes me and it pains me that people fail to see that they are living beings with their own personalities and quirks and learning each and every day like the rest of us. Thank you for speaking up once more ;)
I literally only draw the line at aggression and interfering with other teams/the general public. As long as the dog isn't bothering the general public, it really doesn't matter that much. That's between the handler and their dog to work through, instead of commenters on social media. Plus, these baby handlers who have "perfect" dogs have obviously never worked with an organization, because they'd see that NONE of these dogs are perfect. 😂 I think spending an afternoon with a group of organization dogs is the best way to learn about what the majority of handlers deal with. ❤
Its so wierd to me how we as service dog owners all agree that dogs are not robots and yet there is still so much critique about other peoples service dogs. Yes bad "service" dogs exist, but you shouldnt assume someones service dog is "bad" because the dog has a bad day or struggle with something you are working on.
I am genuinely curious then, how one is to tell a fake service dog from a genuine service dog that is having a bad day, given the number of people who fake their dog being a service dog. Thank you! 😊
@@livelifeincolour I’m no expert, but usually you can tell the difference between a fake and a service dog having a bad day by the handler’s reaction. Generally, the handler of a real service dog will be interacting with the dog if said dog is making a mistake (ex: correcting them, redirecting, etc). I usually find that fake service dog handlers just drag their dog along and rarely correct bad behavior. Also any dog that is acting aggressively is either not a service dog, or a dog that is not ready for (any) public access. If someone tells you that their dog’s behavior is okay because it is in training, their dog is usually not a real service dog (real sd’s must be fully under control before being allowed public access, even while in training). It is important to note that emotion support dogs are not service animals and are not allowed in non pet friendly areas. Hope this helps!
@@livelifeincolour also - unless it is really affecting you, why do you need to know? If you are worried about health codes in your (american) business, if you are told they are a service dog, then believe them - that is all the health department needs to know too.
Recently one of my Uber drivers talked about his experiences with people lying about their dogs being services dogs so he stopped accepting dogs all together and that was so sad. I tried to tell him everything you’ve taught us in hopes for him to change.
That’s when you contact Uber and let them know what’s going on. Legally they can’t deny a service dog. Yes there are fake service dogs. He needs to learn that there’s two questions he can legally ask. And legally they have to answer those questions. If they don’t, then you can kick them out.
Hey I don’t have a service dog, but I have a illness that commonly needs a service dog due to passing out, POTS, and doing this , is genuinely against the Ubers rules aswell as the country’s laws of discrimination, it’d be like denying someone a ride for having a cane or wheel chair. I get that the fake ones are frequent but he shouldn’t deny those who do need help just because a few bad apples
I hate that blind people are facing increasing judgment around their dogs. However, I'm a librarian and people have done some wild things to get away with having their non-service dogs in the library. Faking paperwork and vests, hiding them in bags and buggies, and full-on screaming at me and calling me names when I catch them. And those non-service dogs have ruined books, peed on the walls and carpet, and even bitten someone. So I also understand the growing frustration and the reluctance to believe anyone anymore.
I also agree but being overly judgemental to the point that we're attacking Disabled people for their dog not looking at them the entire time in the store is unhelpful. Non-service dogs should not be the reason the community attacks SD for heeling a few centimeters off and it really hurts new handlers/handlers in training.
Vests and paperwork is not required. If a dog is being unruly even if a SD you have the right to kick them out. Granted this is stateside. And no state law trumps the federal ADA law
I think we’re slowly moving to a time where real service animals are going to have to be formally licensed by some federal agency (Health and Human Services, Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, etc.?). There’s a sense that there are bad actors out there abusing the social contract by having an ordinary pet masquerade as service animal, so that they could take their pet to places and on transportation where that would not normally be allowed for various reasons (safety, sanitary, customer experience, cleaning costs, etc.). It’s a shame that it may come to this because I realize that people who need these service animals don’t need the extra burden of paperwork and possibly monetary expense. They already face the social and material burden of living in a world made for people who are sighted, don’t have frequent seizures, don’t have extreme PTSD, etc. I’d also like to add that the ADA needs to be updated to spell out what property owners (e.g., employers, restaurant owners) should do in case of conflicting interests. For example, I live in a city whose main industry is tourism. About every 5 years, there’ll be a news story about someone with a legitimate service animal wanting to eat at a small restaurant, but another customer also claims ADA protection because of a severe allergy (the kind that could cause anaphylaxis) or of an extremely debilitating phobia. Or, this customer has a religious objection to eating in the same room as the service animal. If no accommodation can be made for both customers, whose rights supersede the other? Who gets turned away, or asked to come back later? There’s no guidance for that. So far in my city, none of the parties turned away have tried to sue for discrimination (they’ve just gone to the media with their story).
@user-ym3gg9ki9y unfortunately, I agree. Currently, we're not legally allowed to demand paperwork. When we catch fakers it's usually because the owners just tell us it's a emotional support animal, not realizing that those don't qualify as service animals. Or their dog's behaviour is so thoroughly unlike a service animal in every regard that it can't be explained away by dogs being dogs, in which case there's usually some damage done by the time we catch them. Until the bad actors stop trying to cheat the system, I just don't think there's a good viable alternative to requiring people to carry and show a licence.
Yes Molly! It can honestly be super embarrassing sometimes when my dog isn’t exactly perfect because that’s what people want from her. The amount of times people have done everything in their power to get her attention and then scolded her for reacting hurts my heart.
I've had service dogs for 14 years, three dogs in 14 years. I agree with you completely. When I started in 2009 I was alone, I didn't know any other handlers until I got my second service dog in 2013.
14:58 my assistance dog pooped in the middle of the amusement park of the mall of America. I was picking it up and found a cleaner. She said so many people don’t pick up their dogs poop. I was just so embarrassed
I live in a small city in Western Australia with about 35 thousand people. The ignorance and ableism is staggering here! I’ve been verbally abused for using disabled parking even though I have a lifetime disability parking permit, I’ve been interrogated about my service dog and parking in disabled parking while training my SD outside of a shopping center, plus many more incidents because I don’t “look disabled”. These are just random people too, not even employees or local council employees 🤷🏻♀️ I have PTSD and mobility issues, and these incidents are making my PTSD worse to the point that I can’t even go to these places anymore, I actually had a panic attack in a supermarket the other day because people kept getting so close to me that I could’ve licked them! The staff were great though and they had been watching what was happening and one that was on his lunch break actually came to my aid first and then got another staff member to come and help me as well, I’m so grateful for them ❤ We supposedly live in a civilized society but I honestly don’t see it often when it comes to people with disabilities like mine 😒 I’m permanently excused from jury duty, am on a disability pension, and have a lifetime disability parking permit but I’m still not disabled enough! People need to mind their own business and stop trying to “defend” disabled people because they’re actually persecuting and discriminating against disabled people 🤷🏻♀️ Make it make sense!
Am in WA too. I'm too scared to get a service dog. My pups at home do what we need them to, but I wouldn't take them outside. My daughter and I walk with a cane or crutches, hEDS, and the amount of people roll their eyes at us or walk in front cutting us of. I'm 40 she's 20. I'm to scared to get the parking permit even though I need it.
I got harrased by someone for using "their stall" in the restroom because they thought I wasn't disabled - Lady didn't look and more disabled than I did.
As someone who had no idea what a Service Dog was until recently, it seems strange that the wellbeing of the owner is always the factor, not the dog. If an owner suffers from serious mobility issues and anxiety going out, surely that's a rubbish life for the dog? Dogs need a lot of exercise.
@@EKL-qu7ihThe disabled person can get help to care for the dog. Jerk comment. You have no idea how difficult it is to get a service dog. Your ignorance is blinding you.
Thank you for posting this video, Molly. That is one thing I don’t like about the service dog community how toxic it is. That’s why I don’t post a lot of tiktok content with my guide dog. At the end of the day, service dogs are dogs. People need to understand that. Draco had an accident at the airport once and I was so embarrassed. I had to remind myself he is still a good guide dog.
Disclaimer: I’m not a service dog owner and simply wanted to share my opinion. I think social media does play a factor in the toxicity, as well as the increase in information. I appreciate learning about service/guide dogs and their struggles because I feel like I was ignorant to them. Thank you for sharing so I can learn. I wonder if the increase in people taking their pets everywhere with them has played a part as well. Pets generally aren’t well trained. It makes service/guide dogs have to “prove” they’re trained well so they seem legit. But they aren’t perfect robots and should be allowed grace to learn. I just wish people were more mindful of the impact of taking their pets everywhere.
Also not a service dog owner, however I am a person that likes taking my dog everywhere with me (where dogs are permitted), and I too struggle with the crazy amount of untrained dogs out in public places! I have spent an extraordinary amount of time training my own dog to be a well mannered and chill boy in public, including completing CGC and SPOT certifications for him. Nothing frustrates me more than when I take him to a store and walk past an untrained dog that is pulling and lunging at mine. I cannot imagine having to deal with it with a service dog. I don't know what the solution is, but I personally hope it is not banning non-service dogs in public entirely. My dog loves going to stores with me and running errands, and I enjoy his company and being able to walk him in a climate controlled place. Idiots ruin things for everyone :(
I had a service dog that allowed me to live a somewhat normal life. She was trained to assist me on not overworking my body and to tell me I needed to calm down. Training her trained me at recognizing triggers and warning signs of my own disorders. She was an active service dog for 3 years and helped me while transitioning medication and the stress of running from my abuser. With the way people act like service dogs need to be robots, I'm so glad i never documented my journey with her. She wasn't perfect, but she was amazing, and her three years of work did more for me and my understanding of myself than years of doctor visits. She's in doggy heaven now and i don't have another service dog, but her impact changed my life. I think sometimes people forget that you may have a service dog for a little while and that's just as valid as the people who have one all their lives because those years could be pivotal for someones quality of life. Service dogs aren't a one size fits all, and they are very imperfect.
As someone who's autistic but not physically disabled, I understand what you mean. I have experienced stuff like this as a human I have made mistakes in my social life before and I have been shunned by my classmates for not being up to their standards because I make mistakes in sports because I have issues with my motor skills as someone who is also Dyspraxic, I was blamed a lot for losses in sport. As a high school student I have been given so much grace by my friends and teachers for my social errors and gentle nudges and corrections when I made mistakes I agree with you, that people who are disabled and need accommodations deserve grace and respect. And both of things can mean the world to someone with disability. I think the world of you for the way you handle things and for who you are and you an so many people who experience things like this deserve all the grace, respect and kindness in the world! 🤗🤗💕
Honestly, regarding tying dogs, my previous girl loved everyone and would go to people so fast. I had to tie her. Esp at work where some people were afraid. Some places she was known and loved and it was OK to let her be. My current boy, I never tie him. He literally won't leave my side. At least not unless certain people, say someone he adores, like my closest friends or family approach, then he'll go to them, then return to me. And that's only in places he knows he can. In, say a cafe, he just won't budge. My point being, every dog is different. As are our relationships with them. Neither of my dogs were better or worse trained, Merlot is not better behaved than Quiz was, they are just totally different dogs!!!! It amazes me how many "animal lovers" are experts with our dogs, yet can't control their own!!!
This makes perfect sense. I think in a way, the way some people call service dogs "medical equipment" helps build this idea that they're perfect, infallible, etc. They're not. They should absolutely be given access to places as though they were medical equipment, but they're not equipment, they're an animal. They're 100% necessary, but not 100% perfect
This happens with every single type of community-based around this type of stuff, some of the support routes for some of the issues I have, have turned into nightmares of one up in each other
I’m glad you’re making this video! It’s important to talk about. I have a service dog/assistance dog (I’m not blind but there are valid reasons I need him). Fake claiming service dogs is not ok, because when you fake claim people’s service dogs you are also fake claiming the person’s disability. As you said Molly, service dogs aren’t robots, they like humans make mistakes. Another thing I wanted to address, @sadiblindlady’s dog is a German shepherd which is also a particularly rambunctious breed especially when they’re young, the breed of the dog needs to be taken into account too. Each dog has their own challenges and each dog breed has it’s own challenges. My service dog is amazing, but he makes mistakes, he’s a young lab and still picks food off the ground too sometimes (though not as much as he used to because we’re working on it). I’m trying to help him understand that when he’s working food that no one is standing with and is on the ground is not up for grabs. Service dogs are amazing! They need a little more slack from the media. Thanks for making the video!
THANK YOU!!! My service dog, who has long since passed, was a family pet who recognized I had a need, trained me to understand his alert signal and then kept me safe through the rest of his life. He was old when I needed him most, he had mobility issues and he was intact. I had so many people confront me unsolicited to tell me he wasn't a "real" service dog. It still makes me want to cry. Keep talking about this. They are every bit the individuals that people are, while it's my opinion that they are closer to perfect than any person could ever be, nothing and nobody is perfect at their job and no one should ever expect that.
Im about to get my first service dog and im already anxious about this. Alot of assumptions from the general public that all dogs are from programs, and therefor fully trained. They dont understand its constant training. Thankyou for talking about it! ❤
I have such a big fear around non-service dog dogs being in public spaces around me and alwaysget so anxious when i see them. Then, my service dog reads it on me and gets anxious on my anxiety that im feeling. My biggest fear in life right now is seeing another dog in public cause ive seen them dart at me and my dog and thats such a common cause for dogs to have to prematurely retire because of it. But other SD handlers fault me for it. So annoying 🙃
Thank you for this video! I've been a service dog handler for four years now. My dog is for mobility ❤ I have faced many challenges with my service dog by my side whether that be public access issues or comments from people in public. Like my service dog trainer said on day 1 of training (program dog): “Service Dogs are dogs first not robots”
I'm glad you did a video on this. Dogs are living beings and can't be perfect all the time. My girl's weakness is old men. She just wants to say hi, especially when they talk to her. But we are definitely working through it. I am autistic and when I first started working my service dog, I had people tell me one of her tasks wasn't a task. She isn't heavy enough to do deep pressure (which I don't like anyway because it makes me feel claustrophobic and I never said that it was deep pressure), but I still have her perform something similar as a task as it does help ground me. I was surprised by how many people called me out and said what she was doing wasn't a legitimate task, especially considering service dogs are individually trained to help with a disability, so their tasks are all about what helps that individual. Even guide dogs who have a more specific set of skills they are trained to do still have to fit their handlers' lifestyle. I generally avoid the service dog community and watch a select few but rarely interact.
I think the problem is folks trying to claim their dogs as emotional support dogs and folks confuse it with actual service dogs. I have a friend who has a poorly trained poodle mix and was bragging about being to easily register them as emotional support dog to take them anywhere because they cannot be denied. Its folks who take adventage of a system that ruin it for people who actually need it.
Isn’t that why they demoted ESAs from having plane access or whatever (or maybe it was only one airline) because people kept faking having an ESA now it’s only service dogs
The situation with fake 'emotional support dogs' is particularly frustrating because pets can actually be very helpful in terms of emotional support for people with certain mental health conditions (such as generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, or depression). I would support, say, a law that requires landlords to allow emotional support pets if the tenant has a relevant documented mental health condition or disability, and provided that the animal is well behaved and non-destructive. But even if you have a pet that provides emotional support to you at home, there's no reason I can think of as to why you would need to take it absolutely everywhere with you.
Not sharing mistakes, bumps in the road, etc. is a disservice. Not just for other handlers or potential handlers, but for everyone. I watch channels like yours to educate myself and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It didn’t even occur to me that even the best trained dogs make mistakes and have to work through things. Thank you so much for teaching me, and by extension my kids, about how to interact with service dog handlers and giving me new perspective and understanding.
Holy good timing Molly! I receive a diabetic alert dog from Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides in less than a month. I'm very excited though I'm also I'm very nervous. But when watching your videos I feel more ready. Thank you for sharing all your guide dog moments, the good and the bad!
Thank you for your content. I am a first time service dog handler and self trained my dog. I always feel like I'm on display when we go out. People are hypercritical of everything we do. The worst part is the non-service dogs everywhere that they shouldn't be. It has caused me to have to retire my SD because of being attacked 4 times by "service dogs." My dog is now hypervigilant and will be semi aggressive to other dogs he sees EVERYWHERE because of this. I've tried working with a trainer to help him, but nothing has worked. So, he will remain retired. When I can, I hope to get another SD.
I am sorry that some people just don’t understand service dogs and cause you problems. I always admire guide dogs and service dogs. I know some people abuse the system and that makes people look askance but we should always be tolerant. Most people who have service dogs need them! And I agree, positivity is the way to go!!! Service dogs come in all shapes and sizes too. I hate the judgmental folks - let’s give grace!
People with fake service dogs and those demanding to take their dog EVERYWHERE are ruining the grace we generally extend to others. When people needlessly bring dogs everywhere, it lowers the tolerance for them. Note: Many people are afraid of dogs and have allergies to dogs (ADA protected similar to legitimate guide dogs).
For those of you who couldnt see the original video when she was on the treadmill the dog started off in a lay stay then got a little hyper and wanted to step up onto the tread mill and Sadi immediately corrected her dog then kept control of her dog by noticing "okay puppy is being a bit distractable lets go over to the weights where I know puppy can settle better" her dog never disrupted any one other than Sadi and even Sadi was laughing it off as she kept control of her dog and redirected.
She needs to have literally any person who is trained to train dogs in there with her who can see. The issue was that she couldn't stop the dog before the dog really began moving and getting anxious/hyper because of the treadmill because she literally couldn't see him. She won't be able to address the problem. It's going to be reoccurring, not just a one time thing. Treadmills take training if you habe a high drive dog. I have a home treadmill and a high drive dog lol
My sister in law who is blind and uses her cane was enrolled to get a dog at a training facility but pulled out before the session began since she wasn’t up to the reality of working with a dog, even one who had gone through the entire process of being evaluated for being capable.
This is exactly the conversation that came to mind when someone was yelling in comments on a video about how any well trained dog shouldn't be stealing human food. Dogs gonna dog, no matter how well they're trained.
Thank you so much for speaking on this topic, Molly! My guide dog, Diva, and I have been a team for nearly 4 years now and I’m ashamed to admit that I have such high expectations for both her as my guide dog and me as her handler. We were matched when I was nineteen and it was just a few months into the pandemic. Between COVID and then moving to a whole new state a few months after receiving her, we had such a rough start. She’d lost so many of her skills due to my lack of working her during that first r together. No one told me how hard having a service dog could be! No one told me that the training never stops. No one told me that it’s important that you give one another grace. I wish so badly that I didn’t tend to think in black and white, but unfortunately I do. I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t days where I didn’t compare myself and my dog to other service dogs and their handlers. I wish I didn’t sometimes wonder if the next dog will be easier or work better in buildings, all the while being on the verge of tears at the thought of retiring my precious girl, but I did. Being a guide dog handler is hard, but I’d gladly take all the drawbacks and obstacles we face again and again and again! I just need to remind myself that every dog has its strengths and weaknesses, just like we do, and that we’ve come sr! I just can’t thank you enough for admitting that neither you nor your dogs are perfect, because I know how hard that can be to do! Again, I just have to remind myself that things will only get better with time, and that as long as four years feel, I’ve still got lots to learn and that’s okay! 🦮🫶
This was an incredible video. I hope it is a wake up moment for those who are judgmental about a situation they don’t understand. I got goosebumps listening to you standing your ground and defending the guide dogs in your community. I can’t imagine how much work goes into what you do. I can tell how amazing of a speaker you are Molly ❤
Before I got my service dog (he isn’t fully trained, I’m training him myself through an organisation) I had such a perfectionist mindset of how service dogs should be, like how they shouldn’t have any fears, don’t have any faults and are have to be good all the time and this all came from the service dog community when I was trying to do some research and get to know the community and when I got my dog it was the exact opposite, he made and still makes so many mistakes and I had (and still do sometimes) such a hard time accepting that he’s learning and will make mistakes and it really damaged our relationship in the beginning and caused so much frustration when I would go into trainings expecting perfection
I was just matched with my third guide back in November 2023. She was 18-months old and was totally new to me and so different from my last two. People assume we were done training when we came home. I had to explain that in a way, we’ve only just begun. That first year can be brutal. Having extra stress and judgment can make it infinitely worse. I think some of it is overcorrection from the community and a lack of knowledge about how and why different kinds of service dogs require different handling techniques. The whole tying down thing was so frustrating to watch play out. I am always afraid that non-disabled people will judge and record and post, but adding fellow service dog handlers to that makes it infinitely more stressful. That being said, I’m 100% here for Elton John’s dedication to locating stuffed animals. He’s got so much personality and knows what he wants. lol.
Molly thank you, thank you, THANK YOU 🙏 the relief I felt watching this video to hear someone speak the thoughts I have been thinking for a while now but have not felt I could voice. This narrative that a service dog is meant to be “perfect” has really affected me in recent years with my guide dog. People seem to also forget that we as handlers are not trainers. We get taught how to be a handler yes but we don’t know everything. We don’t know how we are supposed to respond to our guide dogs in every situation and we also sometimes cannot tell or see when an undesirable behavior is happening. This was incredibly refreshing to watch and it made me feel so much better about a lot of things that have been going on in my life and with my lovely guide dog Blue. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this. ❤️
Even as a trainer, dogs are still going to do things that the human doesn't catch. It happens to every dog team, whether that be a service/guide dog team from a program, an owner trained dog, a pet dog, even dogs trained by people that do it for a living. Perfection doesn't exist, at least not in this reality anyway.
It’s bitter sweet for me, I’m so happy we’re normalising dogs being dogs but as someone with an owner trained guide dog who isn’t a common breed I do feel that we both have to conduct ourselves perfectly even when she’s off duty
You can shoot for perfection, but it will never happen :-) but I do think there has to be a certain level of conduct for both the dog and the handler. I get compliments all the time on how well-behaved my dog is. And I’ve also had people tell me that my dog is much better behaved than my friends guide dog. Well, the only reason that happens is because I don’t let my dog get away with some of the things that she does. So although I don’t put a big emphasis on what other people think and especially people who don’t have slightest idea what they’re talking about, there is a little bit of social pressure too conduct yourself in a professional manner, as well as your dog behaving themselves and doing their job well. And I will tolerate a dog with a couple minor behavior issues, but that works wonderfully much more than I will tolerate a dog that has perfect behavior, but does not do their job well. You have to figure out what you will put up with and what you want.
perfection will n e v e r be there. even if you think your SD perfect, perfect is SUPER subjective and even if your SD is perfect to you and people around you, someone will still say that they're not. You should aim to be the best you can yes, but acknowledge that you and your SD will have faults. this plays into the service dogs are not robots thing.
I remember the video of several months after bringing Bennix home you went to a fashion show and walked the runway. He got too excited seeing all the people and the noise and people reaching out to him that he ended up pulling you hard. Your second walk you knew he needed to relax and it would be something you'd work on so you switched to a cane. I always appreciated you showing us that because it helped show the struggle of service dog users. They are dogs and will be dogs. I am not disabled and that helped teach me to remember that fact.
I am so glad that you are standing up for yourself and for your guide dog and all guide, dog users And service dogs. People who don’t know about service dogs, and the training of service. Dogs are just sometimes judgmental. I am glad that you made this video for people to watch and maybe to learn from. People forget that the dogs are animals not robots. Good for you! I am writing this as a teacher of the visually impaired who’s been around guide dogs for over 35 years. My best to you and Elton.
I'm in 2 service dog groups on facebook. One is for owner-trained SD, and the other is for Local, state specific handlers. I've seen SO much judgement in those groups lately. I tried to make a post in the one about how we should be uplifting each other and not judging others' dogs, but, the post wasn't approved, of course. They said it was bullying or something, which it wasn't lol. It was a gentle, general correction, which the group greatly needs, in all honesty. I trained my own SD, who's an adorable border collie, australian cattledog mix. Super high energy and loves all dogs and people. I did ONE meetup with a group of local service dog handlers, where they proceeded to call him "in training", simply because he wanted to say hi to their dogs and he likes to talk when I tell him to back up away from me. Did I forget to say that he's also part husky? LOL. Yes, he's a little vocal sometimes....it comes with his breeds, but, I was literally working through it right there. No one should be diminishing another dogs capabilities, just cause they feel differently about their status. I'm actually taking Koda--my mobility service dog--to the Asian Lantern Festival tonight for the first time, with my family! He's been to the zoo one other time a couple weeks ago and did great. So, I'm excited to see what he thinks of all the light up dragons, unicorns, and fairies! *Thank you for posting this. The toxicity and judgement NEEDS to stop.*
I’m so sorry that happened to you. That was my dog when he first started training too. He was excited to make friends that have the same job as him as well and I don’t think people understand the only way you can work on that is being around other dogs that are calm and chill so actually service dog meet ups other best way to work on that I ended up using a gentle leader to help. with that after he did that in his first meet up and it has worked very well since and sometimes I still have to remind him, especially if the dog he’s played with before now it’s just he looks at them and gets excited but then I say leave it and he’s perfectly fine after that it will get better the more you work on it and I’m so sorry that happened to you. How are you supposed to work on it if people are being rude about it and saying you shouldn’t be a service dog meet up I’m sure you’re doing great. Just keep trying. That’s all you can do.
I don’t think I’ve known an Aussie or husky that was ever actually truly quiet. They wouldn’t be themselves if they were. Clearly those people don’t understand that some breeds are naturally vocal. And getting them to hush is like telling a toddler they can’t have candy.
Wow, those were three breeds I would not pick for a service dog :-) But if your dog does what they are trained to do and behave themselves relatively well then go for it.
@@mcrchickenluvr I have a German shepherd and they can be vocal. And my dog can be very vocal out of the harness, but not in harness. Of course, one day I told my friend that, oh yeah, she’s never made any noise and harness. two hours later woof! dammit :-) they will make a liar out of you every time. Now, since she’s done that exactly twice in the four years, I’ve had her I’m not worried about it. If she made a habit of it, though we were gonna have a talk. but I’m sure there’s somebody out there that would say that she is a terrible dog because of that. oh well, they can get over it.
The world, especially the internet world, is so judgmental. I don't understand why people have to have an opinion on everyone else. I am also someone who avoids confrontations and they are something that stresses me out. I believe this will help people. Thanks for doing this for people who can't help themselves, like Sadi.
I'm a new team with my service dog. We make mistakes but this girl has me confident out in public when I've spent the last few years isolating. She's a hearing dog but the way she improves my life, aside from sounds is something I never expected. How do you thank the dog that gave you your life back.
I have never used a service dog, but people on the Internet are sometimes going to find reasons to troll. I have been accused of faking my blindness because I was able to film my food when doing a travel Vlog. In the words of Taylor Swift haters are going to hate regardless what they find a reason to hate.
A friend of mine is currently a white cane user, but she used to have a dog, and I spent a lot of time with him both in and out of harness. He was a sweetheart and a goofball, and he sometimes had trouble with getting over-excited about things even when he was in harness. At one point she did have to take him for retraining. Even so, he was a wonderful dog, and she loved him very much. He was completely devoted to her, and he always did his best to try and take care of her.
I don’t know you or your service dog but I guarantee there are tasks that your service dog can do really well that others who are trained for the same type of service struggle with.
Thank you. I recently joined a service dog group and holy crap the robotic perfection people expect from their and other people's dogs. It's crazy. And yeah some times my dogs just needs a day off. After a trip to universal Florida I gave my dog a whole week off. She was tired. I was tired. We were sore. We had fun. But dang. By the end we could all tell she was exhausted.
The dog’s help to their person is more important than the dog being perfect all the time. A dog can’t learn to do the right thing if they’re not allowed in to the environment they struggle in. Dogs & people have bad days too. Sending so much support to all the service dogs & humans out there. Also the flashback from the early 2000’s of that top. Haha. Love it.
Your comment about service dogs are not Robots is spot on! I train service dogs for Mental health. These dogs are amazing but just like humans, they have off days. Service dog training is on going through out their service. ❤
Can confirm how toxic the “culture” is. I got permabanned from the biggest SD subreddit because…I explained my state’s laws in response to someone’s question on which animals can be service animals, specified that I was only speaking for MY state as that’s what I had experience with, and explained why other animals should not be used as service animals in public (it’s legitimately cruel to those animals because most are prey or small enough to count as both predator and prey and as a result, are constantly on-edge while outside the territory they recognize as “safe”). Mod responded that I was “spreading misinformation” because…my statement conflicted with *Canadian* laws. Even though I specified that I could not speak for any other state or province, I was ONLY speaking for my one state. I never claimed to be speaking for Canadian service animal laws, and the person I was responding to never asked about Canadian laws in particular. Same mod insisted that Canada allows any sort of animal to be a service animal…so I actually looked up each individual province’s laws as well as Canadian federal law, provided links to each, and guess what: not a single one allows anything other than a dog or miniature horse. Quebec is even more strict and insists on service dogs being certified by like, only one particular organization. So the temporary ban became a permanent one because I guess how dare I look up the actual laws and science behind service animals…? I also witnessed this same sub, which allegedly has a rule against “breed-shaming,” somehow allowing multiple posts blasting anyone with a service dog who isn’t one of the “Fab Four” breeds as “fake” (which is also explicitly against the sub’s own rules) and “a poser who only got that dog because they were trendy.” Same posts also blasted mixed breeds and rescues, especially “pit bulls” and “shelter dogs,” implying such dogs are inherently inferior and worthless. It was incredibly gross, like why even have those rules at all if you’re going to allow mods who just ignore them and turn it into gatekeeping and a bullying mess?! Same happened in a local SD group on Facebook: what should have been an extremely minor “agree to disagree” case turned into multiple people engaging in high school style catty bullying, and the mod claimed their own disability made it “too hard to sort through all the comments” so the victims were the ones who got banned while the bullies laughed about it. Actually, it was more elementary school behavior than high school. Seriously, that was the level of ridiculously silly name-calling bullshit going on in that group. And honestly, if the mod isn’t able to sort through comments and get the full picture before passing judgment, they shouldn’t be a mod in the first place.
If there was a breed restriction for SD’s, my twin nephews would be screwed. They’re both epileptic and one of them has celiac’s disease. They get flack (I couldn’t think of a better term) because their dogs are pit bulls. They’re literally the best dogs ever. Cinnamon actually alerted Micah to his first seizure. Yes their dogs have off days. They will get the zoomies at various times. Cocoa goes nuts for squeaky toys. You give her one and you’ll be hearing that squeak for hours on end. And she’ll go search for them in the store and will be perfectly happy carrying around her new friend while still working. Cocoa does the same with stuffed animals. But again, she still does her work. We just know when to let them be dogs.
@@mcrchickenluvr It’s all gatekeeping bullshit, with people trying to one-up each other as if having a service dog is some super special exclusive club that makes them superior to other disabled people.
@@mcrchickenluvr I have a seizure disorder, and my current alert dog is a rescue maltese. She was a mill mother, and we got her when she was four. The thing about seizure alert dogs is that frequently what you get is a dog who alerts, and then you do all the training with them. So she was a working service dog, who was performing this useful service for me, keeping me safe, but her behavior wasn't "perfect" in public yet. And she is cute and fuzzy, and little, and so many people just assume I am a liar and she is a pet. Not all service dogs are guide dogs, and not all look like the standard picture. Pitties are great alert dogs!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VLOG! I’m training my first service dog and it’s been quite the challenge! But you’re totally right! I can’t expect perfection and to hear you say it, makes me feel better and I’m not beating myself over it!
I want to add that I am in my sixties. When I was younger it didn't seem like there was as much as a problem with service dogs (aka Leader Dogs, Seeing Eye Dogs) as there is now. It seemed like people back then understood and respected what a service dog was and how it was supposed to function. What I think has changed is that there seems to be an "anything goes" attitude in regards to people bringing their animals with them everywhere they go. And not taking responsibility for these animals. I've seen people bring dogs into Walmart that were clearly NOT service animals. Walmart says, we can't do anything about it, we can't legally ask, we can't legally deny, so there you go. They get away with it--at least for awhile. But what they don't realize or don't care about is that they are creating a backlash against those who legitimately need legitimate service animals. Something needs to be done about those who game the system. I'm not sure what but I do know that no matter what solution is proposed, such as requiring licensing or documentation, somebody is always going to be against it.
@@asmrtpop2676 Yes, I've seen those ads. What I don't understand is why so many people seem to need ESA's all of a sudden. These are NOT people who have been through war for the most part, these are not refugees, in short, this seems to be a First World problem. My God, what would these people do if a REAL catastrophe hit them and their emotional support animal wasn't available? I do not get it. If there are that many emotionally fragile people out there, then we have a real mental health crisis on our hands because if things ever got really bad, I'm talking Great Depression bad, well, I just don't know. My parents lived through the Great Depression in an area that never really recovered from it so I grew up on their tales. What I think ought to happen is that the next time one of these fake service animals damages property or injures someone, and it turns out that they had a certificate from an ESA mill, that mill ought to be sued for all its worth, along with the animal's owner. Or--maybe businesses should start charging a hefty "service animal" fee sort of like an apartment security deposit. You want to bring Fang to Friendly Groceries? Fine, before you enter, $100. It can be the business owner's discretion as to whether to refund the fee afterwards. You are not technically denying access and I do not think that there is a law against it. I know with the price of groceries and stuff these days if every time I went to the grocery story with my animal it was going to cost me an extra $100 or more, I'd think twice about bringing that animal. Sure, people are going to holler and complain, but the alternative is that NO animals will be allowed NO exceptions. Besides, with the rise of AI and robotics, legitimate service animals may end up being on the way out.
@@theresemalmberg955You can be traumatized by a lot more than the usual catastrophes, sometimes having parents will do the job. It's not up to you to decide what is a valid trauma. People with that or most other disabilities are often not able to work or get into well paid jobs, so sure, bombard them with hefty fees for normal activities. I have a dog who is not a trained service dog and we don't have certificates or recognition for ESA here. So I can't take her with where I'd need her most, like markets, doctor's office and courses. To go through official channels to obtain a service dog would take me years, and I still wouldn't have the money, because anxiety and alert dogs for my condition are not financed by health insurance. And even if they were, I already have a dog who does a good job by just being there and knowing when I need help, I'd never give her away.
I only use my white cane on rare occasions, especially when traveling on public transit in new locations. I have felt judged by other blind people and even special needs teachers for this. When I was younger, this was difficult to deal with, but now I just don’t care!I have to do what is best for my visual needs and accommodations.
I follow person on instagram who has a young cane corso service dog (after her previous SD - also a corso had to retire prematurely due to cancer). Because he is SO huge, bystanders think he is a grown mature adult SD and expect him to act that way. But the reality is that he is still a puppy in training, doing things that young SD in training will do. And Sadie's GSD looks young too. At the end of the day - no matter how much we train our dogs, sometimes dogs will do dog things. Funny that 😅
My last mobility dog went to protests with me for 8 years. He was trained for it and knew what to do at protests better than most people. I can't tell you the hate we got because my service dog went with me. I couldn't have done it without him. He was the best protest pup this side of the Mississippi. He was amazing and loved going with me. But I would never take my new service dog, Gimli, with me. He's way too timid and gets nervous way too easily. Every dog is so different, but the partnership that we developed with them is unreal.
🥹 experienced protest dogs are absolutely amazing, they 100% do have better knowledge than most people. I love them so much. Hope things are going well with Gimli, even if it is different. (You seem awesome.) 💜
@radishfest Dobby was the best protest pup! He went to standing rock, Kenosha, DC, and did the entire year and a half straight at the 2020-2021 Portland Protest. He was amazing! So many awesome pics of that pup out there. I miss my battle buddy. 😢
@@amandakorbe3773 omg, y'all are actual legends!! May he rest easy. I hope you still feel comfortable turning up. Humans aren't as good as dogs, but we still try our best. (I love safety work.) Have you ever heard "la sinceridad del cosmos" by ases falsos? It's in Spanish but you can find a translation in the comments or on Google. It's about how clearly animals recognize injustice when they haven't been used to perpetuate it. I end up having a (good) cry every time I listen to it, you might like it too. 💜💜💜 🎵 Ladra, ládrale a la autoridad (bark, bark! at authority!) 🎵 Ladra, ládrale a la institución (bark! bark! at institutions!) 🎵 Ladra, ládrale al conducto regular (bark! bark! at the entire chain of command!)
I am on my second cardiac alert service dog and I’ve had her since she was 13 weeks old. We have had a lot of obstacles, but you’re right about working through them. I have gotten stares and comments when she doesn’t act “perfect”. Thank you for touching on this topic.
I also attended a CACJ event (with attorneys) and was told that service dogs were not wecome after I arrived by one of the organizers. I ignored her. I have paperwork and certification. Also, some churches ban service dogs and insist they wait out in the hot car durng events at those churches.
I have no problem with real service dogs. The people that bother me are the ones that put on a clearly fake service dog vest and parade their untrained ankle biter around with a smug look on their face, knowing that you’re not allowed to ask them if it’s a real service dog.
Thank you so much for making this video. My SDiT had a rough day today, and I was getting really down on myself and frustrated. This video was SO encouraging. I’m constantly afraid that people will judge her, or me, for her behavior, when she’s still learning and neither of us are perfect. Being disabled is exhausting. Training a service dog is exhausting. Worrying about being perfect is another level of exhausting that we shouldn’t have to deal with. Thanks so much for this.
I’ll be honest, when I saw that clip of Sadi with her dog at the treadmill my first thought was “that dog is not properly trained, he’s a liability for her”. I didn’t think the comments were out of line or why you were upset by them, but as you explained it you pretty much added a perspective that is never discussed openly by service dog owners. Like it’s just kinda drilled into people who know anything about service dogs that they’re not pets, they’re just these living, breathing medical devices who are highly trained to not ever indulge in the same caprices that regular, non-service animals are expected to when out and about. And so when you do see one acting out of turn, your first reaction is to assume the dog isn’t adequately trained, needs to be retired or might even be fake in the instances where the handler’s disability isn’t immediately apparent. I say this not as a justification, but as an explanation. These little nuances aren’t known because so much about the disabled community and their lives is shrouded in mystery, largely due to how society keeps them on the margins. And as we all know by now, ignorance about misunderstood communities breeds harmful attitudes towards them.
I agree, and this should not be normalized, because Disabled people can still be ableist and it allows non-Disabled people to feel okay with attacking us and using our own community's harsh values as a scapegoat.
Thank you so much for talking about this. I am an ex service dog handler and trainer, and I was so traumatized by a bad experience last year (my dog didn't do anything major, it was the people who saw it that harassed me) and I completely gave up and have been so scared to step back into the space. I can't even watch service dog videos because I get severe anxiety attacks. Slowly I have begun taking clients who need service dogs again but it still hurts me. I really appreciate you bringing this to light. Also forgot to add that Elton is soooo gorgeous.
I still don't know any other service dog handlers personally. I love seeing the way you talk about your dogs as dogs, as animals, as their own creatures. It's so important as a handler. Thanks for posting this :)
This is exactly the positivity I and many others needed ❤. Im training my first assistance dog we are taking it pretty slow. Shes a year old as of two days again and all she really knows is the basic commands and obedience, her general manners are getting better too. But we've done barely any public access because truthfully, shes not ready. We did some exposure while she was younger and confident but adolescence came earlier than I expected and a few problems came up like they do with most, if not all, dogs. So we stopped and just worked slowly on what I expect from her on a basic level. Ignoring dogs and not barking was difficult, but it's really clicking now. She stands next to me in a heel more often by choice. Her general excitement level are decreasing and shes able to be calm and settle more. Her reactivity is still a problem when she is with my familys dogs or when she is overexcited ir overwhelmed. And it scares me. I'm scared I'll take her out geared up and she'll bark at every trigger and I'll get frustrated and angry. But these emotions dont help. They haven't helped when its happened in the past. But I've worked on my emotions, and she has improved too as a result and handles things better. I just get so scared that people will say something or call me out or call us fake because I honestly dont look like I need one. But she's learning. I'm learning. She makes bad decisions. I make bad decisions. Thats why I stopped. Neither of us were ready. I blame content creation for these unrealistic expectations. Especially those handlers that call out "fakes" and dont just report or have a calm discussion, they explode into rage and post it online to make the person a laughing stock. I know most of those fakes are actually fake and often times agressive too but shouting is not the answer. Me and my pup just need time. And we certainly don't need the weight of these unrealistic expectations weighing us down. Thank you again for this video, this community can be so toxic so we need people like you to bring some positivity back ❤.
Every dog will have their struggles and their quirks. People expect them to be perfect and never make mistakes. Even highly trained police, military and facility trained service dogs will have their quirks. I hope you and other service dog users continue to post honest content because it helps make me feel better when my dog makes a mistake in public or has a bad day. ❤❤❤
Thank you for sharing this. I am almost 4 years in with my first guide dog and you hit everything on the head. You are amazing and thank you for educated the people. I love your approach.
Thank you Molly for this much needed video. I have a TH-cam channel for my adventures with my service dog Skidboot, and I do show his mistakes (and mine) every so often. I have been torn apart for it by other handlers as well as I am sure internet trolls. People can be so brutal. I totally understand that handlers only want to show the positives, but you are so right, that is just not real life. Nobody is perfect.
I find that handlers who get their dogs from a facility have unreasonably high blanket standards for all service dogs that makes it stranglingly impossible to self train. Had I been off social media at the time I was attempting to self train, I’m sure I would’ve had more confidence and perseverance, but at the time, I saw people calling self trained dogs fake just based on the fact that they were not professionally raised/trained DAILY, and I realized I literally could never train my dog to the quality of a facility, so I washed her. Now I have no service dog. Yes, I could’ve pulled myself up by the bootstraps and sucked it up and blablabla, but I’m already disabled and dealing with that every day. I just don’t have the energy to learn an entire new skill and apply it to these PROFESSIONAL standards. People need to remember that sometimes they are looking down on the rest of us from a place of privilege, either being able to drop tens of thousands of dollars or get the grants to get a facility trained dog, or drop the thousands on a private trainer. That is NOT available to everyone who needs a service dog. That is not acknowledged enough with these conversations. I am SO happy for those who get to have a professionally trained dog, but I never will.
It’s really interesting because most guide dogs are facility trained and yet they still get attacked by the community. I think it also comes down to task types. Like, some dogs have to act differently or will have unique struggles due to the handlers disability and their task but I definitely think what you stated is also a real issue.
This! I am self training my dog as I absolutely do not have thousands to drop on one trained at a facility, and needed a very specific uncommon breed. Having him is SO helpful and he's doing fantastic with training, but at the end of the day, a dog is a dog is a dog, no matter where they were trained. However, I do wish there were a way to get some kind of behavioral certification to pass our legitimate home-trained service dogs... because while mine is actively working and legal in the states, he will not be accepted as a service dog anywhere out of country! It has made travel very difficult for us.
I wish I could like this a million times! ❤ as a handler I think it’s important to share with other handlers and future handlers that mistakes will happen and you just have to do your best to work through the mistakes! ❤
I think a major problem lies in the fact that there are so many people falling having service animals. They get an emotional support certificate and then start calling their pet a service animal and insist on the right to have them everywhere. Or they don’t get anything at all. My husband used to be a police officer and even when some of these people would be asked the two questions you’re allowed to ask, people would claim, you can’t ask me what task does my dog perform because that gives away my disability and you’re not allowed to ask that. These people make real service dogs (and owners) look really bad.
I will mark this as a big thing. I worked in hotels for over a decade and have had plenty of people claim an Emotional Support Animal which is NOT considered a Service Animal in my state. I tried to make sure when I became a manager to know what my staff could ask. I have even told them if there's anything other than a Dog or a Miniature Horse, then that's a no in our state. We had someone try to claim a Bird, a Snake and a Cat as a Service animal to get around the pet fee - we allowed pets in my most recent Hotel Work but they had to pay a fee - and each had a fit when we denied to waive the fee. People trying to get around regulations are what caused a lot of dislike, because the entitlement. I even had a family member say they were going to get their dog registered as a service animal and bought a vest and certificate and I said "This is not legitimate". There's training that has to be done, not just throwing on a vest and having a $120 piece of paper...
I absolutely love love this video! Seriously, you have helped me so much with my first guide dog, Elroy. Thank you for sharing the good and the bad! Almost ten months for us!
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25 years experience here. The trainer of my 1st two guide dogs always said "it's not a matter of if your dog fucks up, it's a matter of when, and how you handle it." That statement lives rent free in my head.
This is weirdly comforting. I just started training my PTSD service dog with the help of a trainer and even though my trainer says she’s doing great I’m so anxious about being confronted about her not acting perfect all the time. She is labeled as in training but the things iv seen online still make me super anxious
@@sarahr4855 If it makes you feel better, there are times when my service dog is supposed to "misbehave" in order to get me to leave a situation if he thinks I need a break, and in the 3-ish years he's been doing it I've never had anybody say anything to me about it. (We don't talk about the time when he was still training that I caught him very gently licking a block of cheese... [don't worry I bought the cheese, I didn't leave it there with dog germs on it.] Honestly that was my mistake, not his; cheese is obviously the best food so in his little Lab brain he was being completely reasonable. We work together to make sure it won't happen again.)
ooooo yess!!! such a different thing, but my music instructor told us this about performing, and to “not practice for perfection, practice so you can fix the mistakes you’ll inevitably make” corny but, changed my whole outlook on life tbh!
Good training doesn’t mean your dog doesn’t mess up it means they can recover from mess ups
They're still dogs in the end. Amazing animals, but you cant expect them to be perfect 100% of the time, just like with humans.
As a service dog handler what annoys me most is those that think service dogs have to be practically perfect in every way. They're dogs first not robots. I certainly have my friends in the service dog community, but for the most part I stay away from most service dog groups
This makes sense! Also I don't know if that was an intentional Mary Poppins reference but I love it
Yeah, they have to have training the same as we do for jobs. ♥️ Just witnessed a service doggy in training the other day at the gas station, and he did good! Only got distracted once that I saw, he seemed young. 😊 The owner was very clear with people he was in training. Had the full getup on and everything.
This is so important. People with disabilities need to have each others backs or we will never effect change and get accomodations we need. Last week I got attacked online for my comments on the attached photo.
Picture description- theatre or stadium seating. A standard chair is 4 steps down from the top row. It has the international symbol of access on aka the wheelchair symbol.
To me this aisle chair represents the accomodation I need. It is easy access as a part time wheelchair user or rollator user. Full time wheelchair users got angry that “their” symbol was used incorrectly as the chair wasn’t accessible to them. This chair provided the option and access that many of us need and it doesn’t take away wheelchair accessible spaces. It doesn’t stop them getting what they need. In fact I’d argue it frees up those spaces for those who really need them. It felt like there was from many full time users a hierarchy of needs. If you don’t need a wheelchair accessible space then you can sit anywhere and don’t need accommodation. I explained that people with continence issues, ambulatory users, those with autism all might appreciate an easy access and exit seat. The easy access seats in Australia also have additional room in from for service dogs but this picture didn’t.
I can’t work out why people where so upset that the international symbol of access was used to accommodate other people with disabilities different to that of a full time wheelchair user.
If you need a bright green chair to sit on, you need a bright green chair to sit on. It’s not stopping me sitting where I need.
yeah, I hate more when people are peer pressured to wash a beloved dog they worked so hard to get so far with. Especially when they seem to give in and actually do it. It's heart breaking. We need to have each others' backs and our dogs'. I see this especially in groups towards different breeds then the "fab four" or toward younger dogs usually under 3 that make more mistakes.
@@karenshine2925the are too many people who think that disabled seating, parking, etc are only for those in wheelchairs because of that symbol 😕
I live in Western Australia and here most people believe that guide dogs are the only service dogs and that they are the only ones with public access.
I’ve also been verbally abused and interrogated for using a disabled parking spot even though I have a lifetime parking permit.
There’s so much ableism where I live and it’s really sad 😞
The discrimination with using a guide dog is becoming unbearable. It's seemingly growing worse.
So many people relocating in rural areas from urban areas... it's frustrating. Adults grab his harness or collar. I have tripped and fallen. I have very little sight. If I tell them no don't pet.. they go into hostile mood. I end up saying loudly 'great, let's bully the blind person.' Sometimes it sinks in.
Big hugs to all visually impaired with guide dogs!
My Service Dog In Training is a pitbull. Try that one on for size. I had someone with a golden retriever service dog tell me pits can't be service dogs because of their nature. I corrected him
I work in a museum & I was shocked by how relieved a guest was last week when she entered with her very obvious guide dog, & I didn’t give her a hard time. She started to explain & seemed so nervous, I told her of course we were happy to welcome them both, and that I could see he was a working dog. I could tell she had prepared herself for a potential argument. we’ve had fantastic experiences with our guide dog guests & ofc welcome them eagerly. Tbh it makes us look good & it communicates our inclusion when residents of our community see people with disabilities using the museum. In this case, it was clear the dog was very well trained and that the human was low vision or blind, and we just welcomed them with no questions (we have to ask the 2 allowed questions if we have concerns, people in Montana think pet dogs belong everywhere). We had a Deaf guest in a wheelchair at the same time, I was pleased as punch we could accommodate her mobility needs & communicate through my beginner sign, gestures, & lip reading. We’ve been on an accessibility glow up so very happy to see word is getting out!
@@BarbaraWilson-gs2cs you were automatically going to have more questions and problems if you have a pitbull. I’m sorry, but it’s just the truth. I have a German Shepherd so I have the same problem, but to a lesser extent I think. unfortunately it’s what you have to deal with with certain breeds.
@@BarbaraWilson-gs2cs LOL. Because pit bulls in fact can't be service dogs.
Breed traits are a real thing. There's a reason that ZERO legitimate service dog training agencies use pit bulls. Pit bulls were bred for bloodsport and are very low biddable dogs.
Get real. Unless the "service" your dog provides is ripping up other dogs and small children.
@@BarbaraWilson-gs2cs I also have a pit bull I am training to help me with certain tasks. He was a pet first, I became disabled second but he's so eager to please and so smart I think he'd enjoy having a job like that. I want to be able to take him in public to help/protect me since I am a female in a wheelchair who goes out alone but he needs a lot more socialization before I can be confident of his manners. I hate when people take their untrained pets places and try to pass them off as a service dog.
Just a thought I didn't hear you mention. I raise puppies for one of the guide dog schools in the the US, and they use the treadmill during harness training, to teach the dog how to pull into the harness, hold a steady pace, hold a straight line of travel, and/or I don't know what else. From what I could see, that young dog in the video was just excited and trying to get up on the treadmill with her, which would make sense if he had used it in his own training. A lot of dogs that are treadmill trained really love it, so that would be a potential high level distraction to work through, for a young guide dog who is just starting his career.
I was coming to say this too. Poor pup just looked like it wanted to run with her.
That's an excellent point! Dogs don't always immediately get the context difference with that sort of thing, like what counts as a "ball" that's acceptable to play with, since there's a lot of round objects.
I didn't know that, but I have seen dogs on treadmills and they definitely love it, so that definitely makes sense :)
How can you teach a dog how to get along in the world if you don't take him out in the world?
My thought was just how it needed a lot of work on basic commands because sit, lay, stay.... none were being responded to properly. It could also be she wasn't being confident enough in her handling making it worse or she wasn't using the proper commands it was trained to use. But that's because we trained all our dogs to the point a silent hand single they follow even so if it was needed, we had the extra cue for the dog. Saying the dog needs more work in training, especially with it being young, is just likely reality. But I question why she started with a treadmill when he gets excited there. That is a human setting up the dog for that behavior.
This and Paul Castle's experience with Mr. Maple not being allowed in places because the staff insist that he is a fake service dog.
Several times at several places recently
If we, in the service dog community, call out ''fake service dogs,'' then how can we expect the general public not to?
We don't know the dog or the owners life or circumstances
Right??
@@regulusmasamuneryuku8657Maybe people should instead call out if someone's service dog is behaving inappropriately for a service animal? They're required to be non-destructive and non-aggressive and such, so if someone has a dog that's peeing on everything or lunging at people, or otherwise not listening to the handler at all, then they need to train the dog elsewhere.
It'd be like someone using a motorized wheelchair (maybe for the first time) and driving into people with it, or destroying products or something. The motor chair isn't the issue, it'd be the person's usage of it.
@@qa377 Obviously yes. And those people need to reevaluate their dog or training methods. Those aren't little mistakes. Those are major behavioral issues. The ADA actually gives businesses the ability to ask people to leave if their dog is behaving in this way.
The things I see called out as faking are usually, like: 'their dog sniffed my service dog, therefore their dog isn't a service dog.' We shouldn't decide if a service dog is fake based on our 5 seconds of seeing their handler or dog. It's unfair. We don't know that team's story.
The current assumption the community is making is 'oh, that dog sniffed at the ground for five seconds. They are faking.' When it should be 'Ah, they are doing their best.'
Funny handler screw up story: I thought it would be exciting for my service dog to go to a local botanical garden... so I bought a yearly pass. On the first trip... I learned - BAD idea!!! It turned out to be a squirrel "petting" zoo!!! My service dog's jaw was shaking with the environment. Soooo I apologized, worked with my pet communicator and Tellington Touch expert and learned that I must think of her instincts first, honor them, and make an environment that respects them.
I appreciate and respect you so much for acknowledging your dogs needs.
Ill never forget someone online whos service dog was a husky in arizona, and she said the reason she doesn't put a vest on them is because he will overheat.
Beyond the fact that thats the wrong environment for a husky, what she said was she uses no vest, not that she uses a cooling vest.
@@dismurrart6648 I'm learning about predation substitution training as another tool for those super high distraction situations. T touch really helps me and my dog stay connected in those situations too.
aw :(
I recently took my dog to deep sea world, I was terrified it would be a problem for my dog but that's why I went, as part of ensuring she was trained for all different environments.
thankfully she behaved perfectly, but they still said I couldn't take her near the seals 🤣😭😭🤣
she wasn't remotely interested in any of the things we saw there, she was probably more focused on me than she's ever been ❤
she's not great with cats or birds yet though, she stares HARD 🤣
SQUIRREL! I'm impressed she held it together.
@@dismurrart6648I’m worried about that poor huskies paws are like , Arizona heat pavement is hot enough to cook eggs and melt shoes , I know there’s things as “paw barriers” but , I wonder how she actually protects a HUSKIE from that if she can’t get a cooling vest
A big problem with disability in general is it feels like alot of people expect that if you have the same disabled you have the same needs or do things the same way. Or that you’re needs will be the same day to day. For me with my pain some days i need a wheelchair some times i need a cain some times i need neither.
Exactly this. I'm an ambulatory wheelchair user too and the judgemental looks I get in public is astonishing. I feel like the hyper critique culture is a parallel to the nondisabled obsession with catching us 'faking' & these then bleeds into the community itself making more doubt. I have arguments with my wheelchair & my car all the time. (In UK disabled people with the motability component of the PIP benefit can avail of a car. I'm on my 4th whose called medusa) my day wheelchair pandora sometimes doesn't cooperate getting in and out of the boot of the car so I'll usually argue with her. Because it relieves the stress & makes my aids feel more personal. That's why my chair is called Pandora cause, she perfect in my eyes yet society views her as a curse or bad thing. "Oh id die if I had to use a wheelchair" much love everyone ❤️
Exactly! My disability affects my short term memory, long term memory is excellent, but because I have the short term memory issue, people assume that I have to be reminded of things all the time. It makes me feel stupid when I'm not. On the flip side, my long term memory is so good that a lot of my family members and friends tell me I'm very smart and a lot of people can't tell I have short term memory issues. It definitely makes me feel like an imposter.
Exactly! I feel like saying, Give be a consistent disability and I’ll show you consistent behavior. lol
Exactly!
@@callumwarren115Yeah the ableism doesn't suddenly stop the moment one becomes disabled, so it's super rampant throughout the community.
I love the way you help support yourself mentally and emotionally. ❤
Having a service dog and having anxiety is a crazy ride. I know some with anxiety that have chosen not to continue with another service dog for their disability because of how bad it can be for anxiety. Not because of the dog but because of the judgy people.
I am autistic, ADHD, and OCD and the cherry on top of all of that is that when you combine Neurodivergency with a massive traumatic brain injury it causes my brain to not always know what vertical is. I face plant a lot. I had a service dog 12 years ago. I have been waffling back and forth as to if I want to get a new service dog. The constant judgment, and then the access issues that I see Molly and Paul Castle have.
That is ashame you face people's judgments. If you need the assistance the dog provides, just get the dog. Do what you need to live your best life and try to ignore the haters.❤
I’ve actually been trying to save up for a service dog in part for anxiety, but a big part of that is the panic attacks I’ve had in public tend to involve freezing up, not being physically capable of moving or speaking or asking for help, etc. And it’s happened in some really dangerous situations, hence the consideration of getting a service dog to help with that.
@rekkariley652 I hope everything works out for you!
@@cecyanaa Me too! Unfortunately, every time I manage to save up a decent amount for the initial costs, something goes wrong and all that savings disappears to something else.
Molly, thank you for the shout out! You’re an OG, and I appreciate you addressing this topic.
Hey Molly and Sadie! I love you both and I love everything that you guys are doing. Keep up the great work speaking up for so many of us who do not have the gifts that you do.
Much love Tricia from Blind Girl Designs
this is why a lot of us have stopped posting anything about our dogs. The community is just drama.
exactly. that treadmill video is something I definitely never have posted if it was me, but we shouldn't have to feel like that!
dogs are guna make mistakes at times, especially young dogs ❤
Hi Sadie, I thought you were an incredibly responsible handler and I loved your video. I too have an incredibly rambunctious guide dog, and I must keep track of her when we are in environments outside of our home. Have you seen the giant carabiner clips at the container store? I have one, take it with me everywhere, because it is one of the most inexpensive and useful items I’ve ever purchased. You can clip it around your dogs, leash, and an object in your environment. You can also clip it to yourself. OK, no judgment, but I have clipped my dog to myself when I needed both hands to perform a task.
13:28
My biggest annoyance is that everyone seems to think the USA is the entire world and their laws and only their laws apply everywhere. I live in Ontario we have to have a doctor's note and every time I talk about it or say "documentation" I get screamed at that my service dog is fake.
I recently moved to Ontario (2 years ago) from the US and mentioned to someone that documentation isn't required by law and was told, hey, this isn't America. Kind of shocked me to realize "oh yeah, this shit that's been drilled into my head online only applies in the US"
Actually I looked up about Canadians service dogs and only guide dogs have no iD (unless it comes from a school like Mira). All the other handlers have to a letter from the doctor
I was going to say the same thing. I just moved from Alberta to Ontario and in Alberta you need certification ID for ALL service dogs but in Ontario you just need a doctors note. People in Ontario ask sometimes for our “card” and I hand them my doctors note and the person is always satisfied with it so I think that’s what they ment by card
It’s the same in many European countries too, laws differ a bit between countries but shops are allowed to ask for an ID from ones training school or a training certificate when travelling by plane
Well sounds like America is better. In dog training a service dog is any dog that is taught a skill to aid their handler/owner to live their daily life. For example I get chronic migraines and my dog assists me when I walk sometimes for balance. Since I get bad Virgo I have a hard balance. Most people won't see that as a skill and will yell that my dog isn't a service dog. Actually it's not someone else's place to say if the dog helps you or not. Also in America we don't care what Canadians think. We are world war champions. We are the country that built modern day combat. Literally 90% of the tactics used by Canada was made by America. You follow and we lead. Trust me no American wants to go to Canada.
Thank you for mentioning different training for different needs!! My son is non-verbal autistic & he’s hyposensory (under-reacts to sensory input), so his service dog is trained to be a physical buffer in a crowd, to alert him to danger (ex. he’s not paying attention to a fire alarm or walking into the street), to herd him back of he elopes, and to be a social buffer - one of her commands is to “say hi,” so people greet her & then my son gets the chance to process & be social once he’s done stimming, etc. All of this is to say that our greatest challenge is people expecting all service dogs to be trained the same or to have the same skills. Because my son’s dog is trained for HIS autism, we do get folx who think she’s just our pet in a fancy vest 🤦🏼♀️
Why, why do people act this way. And why isn't this stuff taught in civisme classes in school so people graduate less ignorant!
I'm autistic and one of my SD's tasks is to "say hi" because I also have hallucinations from PTSD and use it to make sure the person I'm talking to is real. I've personally noticed that less people bother me when I use a custom mobility harness than if I add a cape.
Exactly! My dogs are Chihuahua's, I'm on my 3rd Chi service dog. My girls are trained to detect high & low blood glucose for my type 1 diabetes. They have a different alert depending on what there alerting. They also detect Seizures, Strokes, anxiety attacks, PTSD, They will even wake me in the middle of the night and tell me I need to use the restroom, because I have nerve damage from the mid chest down, and have no sensation from mid stomachs dkwn, so I can't feel when I have to go. But they can. at least one dog, my current or my retired is with me 24/7. One won't leave me if the other isn't there to hold the fort......
@@beccamajor6239 We get less push back
when my son & his dog are tethered, which we do in big crowds or long lines because my kiddo tends to wander. I act as her handler for the leash, but she paces with him even when they’re not tethered.
I saw another video of a man who’s schizophrenic who has a service dog that does “say hi” or he tells to “greet” so that he can differentiate real people from hallucinations. It makes so much sense!
I’m autistic, too. And I’m a dog lover. My autism is mild and my independence is quite high for someone on the spectrum. I don’t qualify for a service dog, but I really want a dog, though. Not a service dog, but just a regular companion rescue dog.
I know he’s non-verbal and, forgive me, for someone who’s on the spectrum, I don’t have too much knowledge on non-verbal autism, but please give him and his SD my best regards and maybe some extra treats/a toy/whatever they would both like from me.
THIS!!! I have stopped posting anything regarding my service dog on TikTok because I don’t like the idea that people will dissect the briefest moment in time and make wild accusations about me or my dog. That anxiety has really transferred to me being very stressed being out in public and has stopped me from utilizing my SD as much as I should. Thank you so much for talking about this ❤
THIS! I stepped away from making Service Dog content for a while because it was so toxic and overwhelming, my mental health needed a break. I’ve been introducing it back into my page and I was quickly reminded why I quit. But also all the negativity proves why it’s so needed
Remember that although there might be the odd person who is unkind in person, most of those who are happy to be so awful online, are not brave enough to say anything in person.
Oh ghosts same on the not going out very often thing. Esp cuz mine is for psychiatric disabilities, and mental health is not valued in my community. Like, I don't wanna get yelled at cuz my dog, who loves kids, looked at one for five seconds. Being prepared helps me deal with my anxiety. One of these days I'm going to make 'Service Dogs and the ADA' pamphlets. Hand those out to people if something comes up.
@@regulusmasamuneryuku8657you should look up how to make zines. They’ve gotten really popular lately as a way to make a little booklet to give out for people to read
both you and Lucy Edwards realistically talking about your guide dogs helped me when I was gathering information to train my own service dog. showing me that a $40,000 guide dog from a top training school still had bad days and could develop bad habits allowed me to not be too hard on myself when my own trained dog had a bad day. he's one of the best things that's ever happened to me. so thank you 💜
That's awesome that you've owner trained your own service dog. I have done that with a previous guide, and my next service dog will also be owner trained again. It's not where you get your dog that matters but what you do with him/her and how well you work together in a way that works for you. I've met some terrible teams both from programs and who were owner or otherwise privately trained.
I feel like we have this expectation of perfection on dogs.
My boss can train me perfectly and i can understand exactly what shes saying and will still mess up.
Dogs we cant even talk to and the expectation is still perfection.
@@dismurrart6648 Yes, very true. My guide dog has been working with me for almost 5 years now, and we have travel to countless places. He is a fantastic and brilliant dog, one of my best workers. I trust him implicitly to give me important information about the environment so that I can make efficient decisions, while he trust me to consistently and clearly communicate what I would like him to do as we work together.
But he still makes mistakes. Today for example, we went into a breakfast place, and he was trying to navigate me around this big glass barricade thing. He moved to the left around it and paused, but he did not pause long enough for me to follow him, so I ended up running into the glass barrier. I immediately stopped, pointed out his mistake, asked him to back up, and we reworked it. He did it perfectly the second time. But some lady came up and told me that my dog wasn't very well trained.
To which I replied: "oh. So I take it you have never ever made a mistake in your entire life. I'm glad you're a perfectionist. I'm not, neither is my dog. "
I continued toward the counter, and he found it perfectly, thank you very much.
So yes, people have very unrealistic expectations of not only dogs, but also a lack of empathy towards the handlers many times. Because everyone makes mistakes, dogs and humans.
I used to watch a girl on TH-cam called chronically jaquie (unfortunately she passed away in 2019) and I used to love her videos so much. She showed her daily life with multiple chronic illnesses and life with a service dog. I saw her videos before I even saw yours and her channel was what introduced me to the world of service dogs and since then I’ve been obsessed! Jaquie was never afraid to say when her service dog, Harlow, made a mistake. One video she was in a shop and then it cut to her outside explaining that Harlow had peed in the shop, thankfully the shop workers were understanding because the dog was well behaved other than the little accident but she took her self and the dog out anyway. She admitted that she made a mistake and had not let the dog pee before going in the shop when she knew it had been a couple hours and she thought he dog would be okay for just a few more minutes while in the shop but clearly was not. It made me happy to see someone admitting to their mistakes and it showed that dogs, even service dogs, are not perfect 😊
@MollyBurke_Official.........01 not going to lie I’m not entirely sure what this emoji means 🤣
I loved her videos! She’s actually the person who encouraged me to look for a POTS/Dysautomonia diagnosis because all of the issues I was having drs were putting down to me being ‘active and young’ but I was fainting multiple times a day. She’s the one who encouraged me to look into options like IV fluids and electrolytes & the possibility of a SD.
I LIVED for every single Harlow video and moment especially the training videos she did ~ it’s been years and years since but I still think of her every so often and I’ve now got a dysautonomia diagnosis, my health is so well managed now that I’m finally going back to university. I also have a SD who I got shortly after some of her last videos, who knows a lot of helpful tasks that I learnt from Jacquie like fetch water and snacks from the fridge, tidying up her toys and picking things off the floor for me (keys, food bowl, leash etc.) I did try to teach her to fetch a blanket (more as a trick than task) but my pup likes to run off with them and claim any unattended fluffy blankets as her own 😂
Without Jacquie’s videos I honestly would’ve never had the courage to push for a diagnosis and more aggressive treatment, look into the possibility of a SD (who has absolutely turned my life around 180’ and has been a constant help in everything I do) and she’s also the one who encouraged me to use mobility aids - I got my first wheelchair a few years after and that’s something that’s been so great for me but something I would’ve completely written off as ‘not for me’ if I hadn’t seen how confident she was with her aids, making them her own (pink) and talking about how her chair helped her with a lot of the symptoms I have too.
And because of how open Jacquie was about Harlow’s funny training moments and mistakes it helped me to see that a huge part of having a SD is their personality, the bone deep embarrassing moments that you’ll have to laugh about later, the inevitable accident in a store and just funny ‘you tried’ moments. She made me be kinder to myself when my dog was in training (and even now she’s fully trained) and to be understanding of those oops moments.
My SD’s funny poop story because I feel like everyone has ‘the one’ and then you carry around a clean up bag with you for life for the remote possibility it might happen again…
Scene: Long long car ride, like 5+ hrs long. We usually stop 2 times during that trip to let my pup out to stretch legs, toilet etc. around 10-15min stop each time so adds about 30mins onto the trip.
My mother is in hospital, admitted for something that could be quite serious so I pack up our stuff and drive the 5ish hrs straight away - costing hours are limited and I’m worried I’m going to miss them and not be able to see her until the next day instead of that night.
Rushing I only stop once on the way down instead of twice, then it takes me a ridiculously long time to find parking (at least another 30mins). At this point I’m panicking that I won’t make it in time since there’s about 10mins left before visiting hours are over. I rush my pup out of the car (in hindsight before her vest was on she tried to pull towards this little bush area) and quickly put on her harness, vest and lead and we start walking towards the hospital entrance. I’ve forgotten to bring my bag in with me, I don’t have my treat bag which contains treats, poo bags, collapsible water bowl and other training/hygiene nicknacks. Right as we’re about to enter through the very grand and historically significant hospital entrance (during peak COVID times so there’s a huge line of people in front and behind us plus staff taking temperatures, filling out cards/sign in sheets, hand hygiene stations - the works. Right there on the pavement before the door there’s an inch thick layer of brown and decaying leaves. My dog fully vested and ‘working’ stops the entire line and squats and poops making a huge loud long farting noise right there at the hospital entrance. I didn’t have ANYTHING at all to clean it up with and all paper towels and other similar products were strictly limited or just not available at all. In the end the staff had to put up a bright emergency hazard cone over her poop while I went back to my car that was parked a good distance away to grab poo bags, antibac wipes and other things to come clean it up. There was a HUGE long line behind us and we held up everyone for a good amount of minutes and not to mention my dog in full gear with SD all over her looking her professional best and that happening… 🤦♀️😰 I think that was the single most embarrassing moment of my life ever.
The whole thing was totally my fault for not stopping to think - maybe my dog has held on for hours in the car and then tries to go towards an actually appropriate area to toilet but I just put her harness on in a hurry, then we had to validate parking, walking from the far away carpark and wait in the long line. I could only be overly grateful that she decided to poop over a layer of dead leaves (which admittedly is a very ‘appropriate’ poop surface if you’re a dog trained not to toilet inside) and not on the pristine white real marble heritage floor of the actual hospital 😅
Needless to say after that one lesson I’m now very aware of little things like my pup’s regular poop times, what her routine is (ie. sniff, circle, poop) etc.
@@katrinadaly1755 I’m so glad you got the help you needed through her videos ❤️ I can’t remember how I ended up coming across her but at first I was more interested in her videos about Harlow but then I got so invested in her life too 😅 I don’t need a service dog or anything but with her videos I’ve trained my dogs a few of the tasks she did training videos for and now my lab x collie will pick up just about anything I point at and say “get it” and he’ll bring it to me 😊 it’s handy when either of the dog knock a bottle off the coffee table with their tails and Zeus will pick it up for me 🤣
@@katrinadaly1755 things like that always happen when you’re running late or in a rush and well as inevitably make you more late 🤣 your SD was probably thinking “oh crap we’re going inside! I need to get this out before we go in that door!” 🤣
As a handler myself who does make content, I agree with this sooo much. I wish more people would show mistakes. I’m currently working on beach training with my service dog because it’s a new environment and he absolutely loves the water. I show the mess ups, the wind, etc and have been getting soooo much hate for it and people saying he’s a fake and that if he was really trained, he would know how to act already and I shouldn’t have to train him to know what to do at the beach.
I looked for handlers showing service dogs not being robots when I first joined the community and could only find people showing the “perfect dog” originally.
There seems to be some really disturbing gatekeeping going on in a lot of SD social media groups.
@@rekkariley652 I totally agree and it’s so discouraging
I don't understand how the first lady is going out alone with a dog whom she can't see to correct when he needs so much correction. He is upset by the treadmill. It would take a sighted trainer a few sessions of correction and he would be fine. But she can't see his mistakes at the right time to correct them, so she is training bad behavior in. This will probably get worse instead of better.
@@toomanymarys7355 Thanks for demonstrating the exact sort of “toxic service dog culture” this video is referring to, and also providing a shining example of ableism. The handler is blind and has adapted; maybe if you approached her as an actual intelligent human person, from a place of genuine curiosity instead of judgement, she could explain to you exactly how she is training this behavior out.
But instead, you’d rather jump immediately to assuming she is less capable of training her service animal *because of her blindness.* Does picking on disabled people make you feel any better about your own lack of accomplishments in life?
I regularly get the same bus as a deaf and blind person who has a guide dog. His dog is very social and seeks out attention from those within reach. The owner is ok with that as it doesn't take away from the dog doing their job as they're sat down on a moving bus. This has given a new perspective on it as I've always thought, the dog is working so shouldn't be distracted when actually it's not always that deep.
I think it really depends on what the dog is trained for and their personality.
My first dog was very intube with me and mainly did psychiatric and mobility tasks so I had no issues with people petting but my current dog does medical alerts and is slightly more prone to getting distracted so even if she’s lay on the floor not doing anything I still don’t let people pet :)
agreed, it really does depend on the personality of your dog, what type of assistance the dog is trained to provide. As well as the level of assistance that person may need. I can only talk from my experience of handling Guide Dogs and they may not reflect the experience of others. I’ve had my current guide dog for nearly 2 years now and if people talk to him pet him or try to hold prolonged eye contact with him that will cause him to be distracted at least a little so I prefer to have him lay down on the bus and not have people talk to him. This is because I have found that in the past with other guide dogs I’ve had that if I allow them to be distracted in one situation, this will then leach into other situations where it becomes harder for me to control. To be honest, though it’s not always easy to stop people from distracting your guide dog. A lot of the tyme I can’t always tell it’s even happening until my dog reacts and even if you tell someone in the nicest way possible to please not distract your dog some people can take real offence and get quite defensive and or hostile. Either because they are embarrassed about being called out or more likey they genuinely don’t think they have done anything wrong. I can’t speak for the Deafblind guy on your bus but it could be that he has enough vision to deal with situations where the dog may become distracted when it matters more, or it could be that his dog only ever gets distracted in the bus so it’s not a situation he feels he needs to do anything about. However, it could equally be that he doesn’t want to do anything about it now as he may feel that this is easier than any hostility or confusion he might receive from the passengers if he tries to prevent people from talking to his dog especially if this has been happening for awhile. I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end, but I just wanted to say something because for some of us it really can be a problem.
My service dog LOVES people so my trainer came up with our “make a friend” command so she gets to meet people or other dogs when I feel ok with it. It’s not perfect but that’s ok. Service dogs aren’t robots - they’ll have great days, good days, meh days, bad days, and the worst days. 💜
exactly! I have a dog trained on mobility but also seizure/fainting alert. Days where I'm feeling well while shopping on a ride on, I let him be friendly with children (with parent permission... or usually request) because he lights up when kids pet him. I'll say no if I'm not feeling well and need him focused, but sometimes it's not a problem and he deserves to have those special moments as a reward for all the work he does and staying mostly focused on me even when he probably can tell as well as me I'm not likely to have a problem that day.
@@GhostTheServiceDog that’s a really useful command. I was taught a similar command called the say hello command which I use so that my dog knows he can approach someone to be petted. However, I only use this in situations where I I feel comfortable and only with people who are being polite by asking first.
As a service dog handler, it very much is fear of what others will say. Dogbook and other dog social media are brutual. It's like most of them hate dogs and just want to complain. My SD liquid pooped in walmart, she has been scared of weird flooring (black and shiny, looking like a black hole to her), shes scared of heights! But she kicks butt working and still makes mistakes. I find it so sad and crazy people expect an animal to be perfect and then are fine with humans making mistakes. If humans arent perfect, why are we expecting working dogs to be? Theyre essentially toddlers.
Toddlers wear diapers.
I wouldn't be okay with a toddler squirting diarrhea all over the floor in a Walmart either.
WTF.
@zammmerjammer it happens though. Kid nor dog can help it! 🤣 it's not pleasant for anyone and not ideal, but shit happens! Clean it and move on.
@@TheWorkingAussie The entitlement is staggering.
You seriously think it's fine for you to bring an animal that takes squirty ishts on the floor into a store that sells food, and it's other people's job to "clean it up and move on," but you still somehow imagine you're the good guy here?
Yikes.
@@zammmerjammer If you are sick, you would do the same thing. Dogs get sick too and sometimes they have bad days, get over it.
Gross
I recently shared in a comment section how my dog is a bit anxiouss while waiting at a bus stop. It's a combination of excitement to get to where we're going, and nerves because we've had some truly horrid experiences in public transit. Someone came in and commented that my dog should be pulled from work and go back to training, because this one struggle he has is going to lead to him pulling me across busy intersections. Like... What? LOL
Although i (luckily) haven't ran into alot of people like that, i just hate that some people think they know your dog (who you walk with everyday) better than you.
@@MilouLois Right?! Where di they even get that confidence from?
That's yet another of thousands of examples wherein people think they know best, yet they fail to understand that it's important to think about context prior to commenting. It's easy for someone to read something like what you shared and pull words from their bumhole that your dog should be pulled from training because they aren't in your shoes and they don't know your dog.
I get comments like that a lot when I'm out and especially when working with young dogs. My standard answer now goes something like: "I recognize that it helps you feel better to say what you just said, but you don't know me or my dog, you've just seen a snapshot of us. I need you to please back off."
See this is why I am grateful I found mollys channel before needing a sd- I have a very well home trained ESA he’s the best boy going on 17 with no bite record even very anxious cats love him he’s quite literally the reason I’m alive sorry had to gloat about my angel - but she’s literally shown her own dogs needing some reworking on training. And that’s amazing. Because that’s NORMAL. They’re DOGS. They are not machines. They do amazing stunning jobs and they govern us our freedom and our lives. But they are still dogs. And they might need reminders. And that’s ok.
It would be awful if we were able to train them to do all these amazing things and then take their personality from them. That makes me concerned about how they’re treated when they’re “off”..
Molly said she’s 17 years deep with 4 separate dogs. I’m 17 years deep with the same dog- which obviously I’m LUCKY I got so long- and he is so well trained but we both make mistakes. He is the reason I am alive and is the only reason I would ever get another.
I'm also here for the cat!😊
I really really needed to hear this right now.
My service dog suddenly started having little panic attacks at grocery stores.
Not any other department store, or the mall, she does perfect in giant crowds and conventions etc, but GROCERT STORES💀
I started to convince myself that I was just a bad handler and that maybe this was the first sign of many that she needed to retire early.
This made me especially sad because we had so much success and made leaps and bounds on skills and tasks last year.
I thought maybe this was a sign that all successful training was in the past.
But I really was just anxious and feeling perceived.
With the confidence that your video reinstilled in me, my service dog will regain her confidence, even the fact that I feel more secure will have such a astronomic impact on the success of our training.
Grocery stores here we come!!!
Honestly, this does not make you a bad handler. Hope you don’t mind me replying Just wondered if you had maybe tried to take a dog trainer or someone you know with you to the grocery store to see if they can spot something that could be troubling your dog that might be harder for you to spot on your own. I only have experience with guide dogs not other service dogs but my second guide dog developed an issue where she would absolutely refuse to go into my local bank. The odd thing about it was that she was fine one week and the next week she would refuse point blank to go in. It took me awhile to work out why she would refuse to go in and I was unable to work it out myself without help. Turned out that the bank had put out some balloons for a promotion and my dog as it turned out had a fear of balloons. Been able to work out the trigger didn’t solve the issue entirely, but it did helped us know what to work on. If your dog is. a little sound sensitive perhaps this particular grocery store has a fridge or an automatic door that makes an odd noise that the dog find disturbing or perhaps it could be that the Isles are a lot narrower and maybe she’s been brushed or hit by a cart or hand basket. Of course it might not be any of those things but if you’re not sure why she doesn’t like the grocery store there’s absolutely no shame in asking for help to try and work out the reason. you could be the best handler in the world but even the best handlers sometimes need a little assistance.
I’ve learned that if any animal is suddenly getting scared in a situation like that, it means there’s something they’re reacting to that I can’t sense. They’re not being a bad dog, I’m not a bad handler, it’s just a miscommunication because we have different senses. They see the world from a very different view, so something might appear non-threatening to me but appear much more scary to them because it’s much bigger in their eyes.
My friends dog did this. She seemed to be fine except for the freezer section of the grocery store. Never did figure out what the problem is, but I wonder if there was some current or something running through the floor that she didn’t like.
All dogs have their quirks, you aren't a bad handler. Start small with very short training sessions in the grocery store. Start by training outside one day for about 10 minutes. The next day, just walk around the store for 5 minutes. The next day, do a bit of training inside and outside for 10 minutes. Take it slow. The smaller steps the better. It's always easier to fall down a small step or climb back up right? Taking big steps is harder to get up to and it is a harder fall down. Take it slow and steady. Multiple great 10 minute sessions is better than 1 good 30 minute session.
@@nogames8982 Most freezer sections make weird noises, it could be that.
I have PTSD from Domestic Violence. A male resident called the police because I legally entered my own "community" room for a bingo game. I also called the police to report that 2 residents were illegally interfering with my use of my service dog which is a crime in Maryland.
The hate and judgement is real.
What tasks does your dog perform?
@lauralaforge558 would you ask this question if the PTSD dog was for a war veteran or a first responder?
Edit
You know they use PTSD dogs in courtrooms when victims testify. This question is just so odd.
If she doesn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't have brought it up. Are you trying to demonstrate the tu quoques fallacy here?
@@lauralaforge558a person mentioning that they use a service dog doesn’t necessarily mean they are down to be interrogated about it by an internet stranger. Fortunately, if you have genuine questions about what a dog might be trained to do for someone with PTSD, you can google that.
@@lauralaforge558 how about you go Google what tasks a service dog can do for PTSD instead of putting it on someone else to educate you simply because they mentioned their experience?
I went to the Irwindale Rennaissance Faire some time back on Mother's Day. They threw out ALL service dogs. I and other mothers who brought out kids and service dogs and who had already purchased tickets were told we couldn't go in. There was a deputy sheriff on the grounds and he said that discrimination was a civil matter and he wouldn't do anything.
The best they can do is provide documentation for the encounter unless the state has laws that grant further protections.
I think part of why I love your content so much as a sighted person is how real it is. I love dogs and specially dog training and I fell in love with guide dogs and the work they do through your content, and specially the hard stuff. Every little thing they do amazes me and it pains me that people fail to see that they are living beings with their own personalities and quirks and learning each and every day like the rest of us. Thank you for speaking up once more ;)
I literally only draw the line at aggression and interfering with other teams/the general public. As long as the dog isn't bothering the general public, it really doesn't matter that much. That's between the handler and their dog to work through, instead of commenters on social media.
Plus, these baby handlers who have "perfect" dogs have obviously never worked with an organization, because they'd see that NONE of these dogs are perfect. 😂 I think spending an afternoon with a group of organization dogs is the best way to learn about what the majority of handlers deal with. ❤
Its so wierd to me how we as service dog owners all agree that dogs are not robots and yet there is still so much critique about other peoples service dogs. Yes bad "service" dogs exist, but you shouldnt assume someones service dog is "bad" because the dog has a bad day or struggle with something you are working on.
I am genuinely curious then, how one is to tell a fake service dog from a genuine service dog that is having a bad day, given the number of people who fake their dog being a service dog. Thank you! 😊
@@livelifeincolour
I’m no expert, but usually you can tell the difference between a fake and a service dog having a bad day by the handler’s reaction. Generally, the handler of a real service dog will be interacting with the dog if said dog is making a mistake (ex: correcting them, redirecting, etc). I usually find that fake service dog handlers just drag their dog along and rarely correct bad behavior. Also any dog that is acting aggressively is either not a service dog, or a dog that is not ready for (any) public access. If someone tells you that their dog’s behavior is okay because it is in training, their dog is usually not a real service dog (real sd’s must be fully under control before being allowed public access, even while in training). It is important to note that emotion support dogs are not service animals and are not allowed in non pet friendly areas. Hope this helps!
@@KaleighFung that makes a lot of sense, thanks!!!
@@livelifeincolour also - unless it is really affecting you, why do you need to know? If you are worried about health codes in your (american) business, if you are told they are a service dog, then believe them - that is all the health department needs to know too.
@@rebeccab2446 I am not a business owner nor an American, I was just curious.
Recently one of my Uber drivers talked about his experiences with people lying about their dogs being services dogs so he stopped accepting dogs all together and that was so sad. I tried to tell him everything you’ve taught us in hopes for him to change.
That’s illegal and against company policy.
That’s when you contact Uber and let them know what’s going on. Legally they can’t deny a service dog. Yes there are fake service dogs. He needs to learn that there’s two questions he can legally ask. And legally they have to answer those questions. If they don’t, then you can kick them out.
Hey I don’t have a service dog, but I have a illness that commonly needs a service dog due to passing out, POTS, and doing this , is genuinely against the Ubers rules aswell as the country’s laws of discrimination, it’d be like denying someone a ride for having a cane or wheel chair.
I get that the fake ones are frequent but he shouldn’t deny those who do need help just because a few bad apples
It is illegal to deny it.
@@mick6247 They legally can't deny a service dog.
I hate that blind people are facing increasing judgment around their dogs. However, I'm a librarian and people have done some wild things to get away with having their non-service dogs in the library. Faking paperwork and vests, hiding them in bags and buggies, and full-on screaming at me and calling me names when I catch them. And those non-service dogs have ruined books, peed on the walls and carpet, and even bitten someone. So I also understand the growing frustration and the reluctance to believe anyone anymore.
I also agree but being overly judgemental to the point that we're attacking Disabled people for their dog not looking at them the entire time in the store is unhelpful. Non-service dogs should not be the reason the community attacks SD for heeling a few centimeters off and it really hurts new handlers/handlers in training.
Vests and paperwork is not required. If a dog is being unruly even if a SD you have the right to kick them out. Granted this is stateside. And no state law trumps the federal ADA law
I think we’re slowly moving to a time where real service animals are going to have to be formally licensed by some federal agency (Health and Human Services, Dept. of Agriculture, Dept. of Veterans Affairs, etc.?). There’s a sense that there are bad actors out there abusing the social contract by having an ordinary pet masquerade as service animal, so that they could take their pet to places and on transportation where that would not normally be allowed for various reasons (safety, sanitary, customer experience, cleaning costs, etc.). It’s a shame that it may come to this because I realize that people who need these service animals don’t need the extra burden of paperwork and possibly monetary expense. They already face the social and material burden of living in a world made for people who are sighted, don’t have frequent seizures, don’t have extreme PTSD, etc.
I’d also like to add that the ADA needs to be updated to spell out what property owners (e.g., employers, restaurant owners) should do in case of conflicting interests. For example, I live in a city whose main industry is tourism. About every 5 years, there’ll be a news story about someone with a legitimate service animal wanting to eat at a small restaurant, but another customer also claims ADA protection because of a severe allergy (the kind that could cause anaphylaxis) or of an extremely debilitating phobia. Or, this customer has a religious objection to eating in the same room as the service animal. If no accommodation can be made for both customers, whose rights supersede the other? Who gets turned away, or asked to come back later? There’s no guidance for that. So far in my city, none of the parties turned away have tried to sue for discrimination (they’ve just gone to the media with their story).
@user-ym3gg9ki9y unfortunately, I agree. Currently, we're not legally allowed to demand paperwork. When we catch fakers it's usually because the owners just tell us it's a emotional support animal, not realizing that those don't qualify as service animals. Or their dog's behaviour is so thoroughly unlike a service animal in every regard that it can't be explained away by dogs being dogs, in which case there's usually some damage done by the time we catch them. Until the bad actors stop trying to cheat the system, I just don't think there's a good viable alternative to requiring people to carry and show a licence.
The bad apples ruining it for the good apples again
Yes Molly! It can honestly be super embarrassing sometimes when my dog isn’t exactly perfect because that’s what people want from her. The amount of times people have done everything in their power to get her attention and then scolded her for reacting hurts my heart.
I've had service dogs for 14 years, three dogs in 14 years. I agree with you completely. When I started in 2009 I was alone, I didn't know any other handlers until I got my second service dog in 2013.
14:58 my assistance dog pooped in the middle of the amusement park of the mall of America. I was picking it up and found a cleaner. She said so many people don’t pick up their dogs poop. I was just so embarrassed
especially a tie down with a guide dog because the users are blind and might not be able to see if something happens and the dog leaves
Your molly informational ramble videos are some of my favorites along with your story times.
I live in a small city in Western Australia with about 35 thousand people.
The ignorance and ableism is staggering here!
I’ve been verbally abused for using disabled parking even though I have a lifetime disability parking permit, I’ve been interrogated about my service dog and parking in disabled parking while training my SD outside of a shopping center, plus many more incidents because I don’t “look disabled”. These are just random people too, not even employees or local council employees 🤷🏻♀️
I have PTSD and mobility issues, and these incidents are making my PTSD worse to the point that I can’t even go to these places anymore, I actually had a panic attack in a supermarket the other day because people kept getting so close to me that I could’ve licked them!
The staff were great though and they had been watching what was happening and one that was on his lunch break actually came to my aid first and then got another staff member to come and help me as well, I’m so grateful for them ❤
We supposedly live in a civilized society but I honestly don’t see it often when it comes to people with disabilities like mine 😒
I’m permanently excused from jury duty, am on a disability pension, and have a lifetime disability parking permit but I’m still not disabled enough!
People need to mind their own business and stop trying to “defend” disabled people because they’re actually persecuting and discriminating against disabled people 🤷🏻♀️
Make it make sense!
Am in WA too. I'm too scared to get a service dog. My pups at home do what we need them to, but I wouldn't take them outside. My daughter and I walk with a cane or crutches, hEDS, and the amount of people roll their eyes at us or walk in front cutting us of. I'm 40 she's 20. I'm to scared to get the parking permit even though I need it.
Yup! Policing everyone around them is just an excuse to discriminate and hate others, usually the most vulnerable and it makes them feel like gods!
I got harrased by someone for using "their stall" in the restroom because they thought I wasn't disabled - Lady didn't look and more disabled than I did.
As someone who had no idea what a Service Dog was until recently, it seems strange that the wellbeing of the owner is always the factor, not the dog. If an owner suffers from serious mobility issues and anxiety going out, surely that's a rubbish life for the dog? Dogs need a lot of exercise.
@@EKL-qu7ihThe disabled person can get help to care for the dog. Jerk comment. You have no idea how difficult it is to get a service dog. Your ignorance is blinding you.
Thank you for posting this video, Molly. That is one thing I don’t like about the service dog community how toxic it is. That’s why I don’t post a lot of tiktok content with my guide dog. At the end of the day, service dogs are dogs. People need to understand that. Draco had an accident at the airport once and I was so embarrassed. I had to remind myself he is still a good guide dog.
Disclaimer: I’m not a service dog owner and simply wanted to share my opinion. I think social media does play a factor in the toxicity, as well as the increase in information. I appreciate learning about service/guide dogs and their struggles because I feel like I was ignorant to them. Thank you for sharing so I can learn. I wonder if the increase in people taking their pets everywhere with them has played a part as well. Pets generally aren’t well trained. It makes service/guide dogs have to “prove” they’re trained well so they seem legit. But they aren’t perfect robots and should be allowed grace to learn. I just wish people were more mindful of the impact of taking their pets everywhere.
Also not a service dog owner, however I am a person that likes taking my dog everywhere with me (where dogs are permitted), and I too struggle with the crazy amount of untrained dogs out in public places! I have spent an extraordinary amount of time training my own dog to be a well mannered and chill boy in public, including completing CGC and SPOT certifications for him. Nothing frustrates me more than when I take him to a store and walk past an untrained dog that is pulling and lunging at mine. I cannot imagine having to deal with it with a service dog.
I don't know what the solution is, but I personally hope it is not banning non-service dogs in public entirely. My dog loves going to stores with me and running errands, and I enjoy his company and being able to walk him in a climate controlled place. Idiots ruin things for everyone :(
It totally does. Everyone thinks there an expert now 😂
Service dog culture is so wild. You would think it would be such a supportive group and it feels like the majority is anything but that.
You Tube and social media and the Drama it created made that impossible.
I had a service dog that allowed me to live a somewhat normal life. She was trained to assist me on not overworking my body and to tell me I needed to calm down. Training her trained me at recognizing triggers and warning signs of my own disorders. She was an active service dog for 3 years and helped me while transitioning medication and the stress of running from my abuser. With the way people act like service dogs need to be robots, I'm so glad i never documented my journey with her. She wasn't perfect, but she was amazing, and her three years of work did more for me and my understanding of myself than years of doctor visits. She's in doggy heaven now and i don't have another service dog, but her impact changed my life. I think sometimes people forget that you may have a service dog for a little while and that's just as valid as the people who have one all their lives because those years could be pivotal for someones quality of life. Service dogs aren't a one size fits all, and they are very imperfect.
As someone who's autistic but not physically disabled, I understand what you mean.
I have experienced stuff like this as a human I have made mistakes in my social life before and I have been shunned by my classmates for not being up to their standards because I make mistakes in sports because I have issues with my motor skills as someone who is also Dyspraxic, I was blamed a lot for losses in sport. As a high school student I have been given so much grace by my friends and teachers for my social errors and gentle nudges and corrections when I made mistakes
I agree with you, that people who are disabled and need accommodations deserve grace and respect. And both of things can mean the world to someone with disability.
I think the world of you for the way you handle things and for who you are and you an so many people who experience things like this deserve all the grace, respect and kindness in the world! 🤗🤗💕
Honestly, regarding tying dogs, my previous girl loved everyone and would go to people so fast. I had to tie her. Esp at work where some people were afraid. Some places she was known and loved and it was OK to let her be. My current boy, I never tie him. He literally won't leave my side. At least not unless certain people, say someone he adores, like my closest friends or family approach, then he'll go to them, then return to me. And that's only in places he knows he can. In, say a cafe, he just won't budge. My point being, every dog is different. As are our relationships with them. Neither of my dogs were better or worse trained, Merlot is not better behaved than Quiz was, they are just totally different dogs!!!! It amazes me how many "animal lovers" are experts with our dogs, yet can't control their own!!!
This makes perfect sense. I think in a way, the way some people call service dogs "medical equipment" helps build this idea that they're perfect, infallible, etc. They're not. They should absolutely be given access to places as though they were medical equipment, but they're not equipment, they're an animal. They're 100% necessary, but not 100% perfect
This happens with every single type of community-based around this type of stuff, some of the support routes for some of the issues I have, have turned into nightmares of one up in each other
I’m glad you’re making this video! It’s important to talk about. I have a service dog/assistance dog (I’m not blind but there are valid reasons I need him). Fake claiming service dogs is not ok, because when you fake claim people’s service dogs you are also fake claiming the person’s disability. As you said Molly, service dogs aren’t robots, they like humans make mistakes. Another thing I wanted to address, @sadiblindlady’s dog is a German shepherd which is also a particularly rambunctious breed especially when they’re young, the breed of the dog needs to be taken into account too. Each dog has their own challenges and each dog breed has it’s own challenges. My service dog is amazing, but he makes mistakes, he’s a young lab and still picks food off the ground too sometimes (though not as much as he used to because we’re working on it). I’m trying to help him understand that when he’s working food that no one is standing with and is on the ground is not up for grabs. Service dogs are amazing! They need a little more slack from the media.
Thanks for making the video!
THANK YOU!!! My service dog, who has long since passed, was a family pet who recognized I had a need, trained me to understand his alert signal and then kept me safe through the rest of his life. He was old when I needed him most, he had mobility issues and he was intact. I had so many people confront me unsolicited to tell me he wasn't a "real" service dog. It still makes me want to cry. Keep talking about this. They are every bit the individuals that people are, while it's my opinion that they are closer to perfect than any person could ever be, nothing and nobody is perfect at their job and no one should ever expect that.
Im about to get my first service dog and im already anxious about this.
Alot of assumptions from the general public that all dogs are from programs, and therefor fully trained. They dont understand its constant training.
Thankyou for talking about it! ❤
I hope you get the dog of your dreams. Good luck from England
I have such a big fear around non-service dog dogs being in public spaces around me and alwaysget so anxious when i see them. Then, my service dog reads it on me and gets anxious on my anxiety that im feeling. My biggest fear in life right now is seeing another dog in public cause ive seen them dart at me and my dog and thats such a common cause for dogs to have to prematurely retire because of it. But other SD handlers fault me for it. So annoying 🙃
Here for this!! ❤❤ Love your channel and your meaningful PSAs. We'll get through this ❤❤
You’ve “seen” more than me in my lifetime 😂 love you Molly!❤ I would probably feel star struck if ever saw you and Elton in public.
Thank you for this video! I've been a service dog handler for four years now. My dog is for mobility ❤ I have faced many challenges with my service dog by my side whether that be public access issues or comments from people in public. Like my service dog trainer said on day 1 of training (program dog): “Service Dogs are dogs first not robots”
I'm glad you did a video on this. Dogs are living beings and can't be perfect all the time. My girl's weakness is old men. She just wants to say hi, especially when they talk to her. But we are definitely working through it. I am autistic and when I first started working my service dog, I had people tell me one of her tasks wasn't a task. She isn't heavy enough to do deep pressure (which I don't like anyway because it makes me feel claustrophobic and I never said that it was deep pressure), but I still have her perform something similar as a task as it does help ground me. I was surprised by how many people called me out and said what she was doing wasn't a legitimate task, especially considering service dogs are individually trained to help with a disability, so their tasks are all about what helps that individual. Even guide dogs who have a more specific set of skills they are trained to do still have to fit their handlers' lifestyle. I generally avoid the service dog community and watch a select few but rarely interact.
I think the problem is folks trying to claim their dogs as emotional support dogs and folks confuse it with actual service dogs. I have a friend who has a poorly trained poodle mix and was bragging about being to easily register them as emotional support dog to take them anywhere because they cannot be denied. Its folks who take adventage of a system that ruin it for people who actually need it.
Isn’t that why they demoted ESAs from having plane access or whatever (or maybe it was only one airline) because people kept faking having an ESA now it’s only service dogs
The situation with fake 'emotional support dogs' is particularly frustrating because pets can actually be very helpful in terms of emotional support for people with certain mental health conditions (such as generalized anxiety disorder, PTSD, or depression). I would support, say, a law that requires landlords to allow emotional support pets if the tenant has a relevant documented mental health condition or disability, and provided that the animal is well behaved and non-destructive. But even if you have a pet that provides emotional support to you at home, there's no reason I can think of as to why you would need to take it absolutely everywhere with you.
@@KlearlyIMme ESAs on airlines was always the decision of the particular airline. But I would hesitate to assume that anyone is "faking" their ESA.
Not sharing mistakes, bumps in the road, etc. is a disservice. Not just for other handlers or potential handlers, but for everyone. I watch channels like yours to educate myself and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It didn’t even occur to me that even the best trained dogs make mistakes and have to work through things. Thank you so much for teaching me, and by extension my kids, about how to interact with service dog handlers and giving me new perspective and understanding.
Holy good timing Molly! I receive a diabetic alert dog from Lions Foundation of Canada Dog Guides in less than a month. I'm very excited though I'm also I'm very nervous. But when watching your videos I feel more ready. Thank you for sharing all your guide dog moments, the good and the bad!
Thank you for your content. I am a first time service dog handler and self trained my dog. I always feel like I'm on display when we go out. People are hypercritical of everything we do. The worst part is the non-service dogs everywhere that they shouldn't be. It has caused me to have to retire my SD because of being attacked 4 times by "service dogs." My dog is now hypervigilant and will be semi aggressive to other dogs he sees EVERYWHERE because of this. I've tried working with a trainer to help him, but nothing has worked. So, he will remain retired. When I can, I hope to get another SD.
I am sorry that some people just don’t understand service dogs and cause you problems. I always admire guide dogs and service dogs. I know some people abuse the system and that makes people look askance but we should always be tolerant. Most people who have service dogs need them!
And I agree, positivity is the way to go!!! Service dogs come in all shapes and sizes too. I hate the judgmental folks - let’s give grace!
People with fake service dogs and those demanding to take their dog EVERYWHERE are ruining the grace we generally extend to others. When people needlessly bring dogs everywhere, it lowers the tolerance for them.
Note: Many people are afraid of dogs and have allergies to dogs (ADA protected similar to legitimate guide dogs).
THIS!
For those of you who couldnt see the original video when she was on the treadmill the dog started off in a lay stay then got a little hyper and wanted to step up onto the tread mill and Sadi immediately corrected her dog then kept control of her dog by noticing "okay puppy is being a bit distractable lets go over to the weights where I know puppy can settle better" her dog never disrupted any one other than Sadi and even Sadi was laughing it off as she kept control of her dog and redirected.
She needs to have literally any person who is trained to train dogs in there with her who can see. The issue was that she couldn't stop the dog before the dog really began moving and getting anxious/hyper because of the treadmill because she literally couldn't see him. She won't be able to address the problem. It's going to be reoccurring, not just a one time thing. Treadmills take training if you habe a high drive dog. I have a home treadmill and a high drive dog lol
My sister in law who is blind and uses her cane was enrolled to get a dog at a training facility but pulled out before the session began since she wasn’t up to the reality of working with a dog, even one who had gone through the entire process of being evaluated for being capable.
This is exactly the conversation that came to mind when someone was yelling in comments on a video about how any well trained dog shouldn't be stealing human food. Dogs gonna dog, no matter how well they're trained.
A well trained dog shouldn't steal food, but it still happens. Everyone makes mistakes, even robots do!
Your message could be applied to so many things. This video was a good balm for the soul 😊 thank you
One of my greatest mentors - helped remind me that my service dog is a dog.
Thank you so much for speaking on this topic, Molly! My guide dog, Diva, and I have been a team for nearly 4 years now and I’m ashamed to admit that I have such high expectations for both her as my guide dog and me as her handler. We were matched when I was nineteen and it was just a few months into the pandemic. Between COVID and then moving to a whole new state a few months after receiving her, we had such a rough start. She’d lost so many of her skills due to my lack of working her during that first r together. No one told me how hard having a service dog could be! No one told me that the training never stops. No one told me that it’s important that you give one another grace. I wish so badly that I didn’t tend to think in black and white, but unfortunately I do. I’d be lying if I said that there wasn’t days where I didn’t compare myself and my dog to other service dogs and their handlers. I wish I didn’t sometimes wonder if the next dog will be easier or work better in buildings, all the while being on the verge of tears at the thought of retiring my precious girl, but I did. Being a guide dog handler is hard, but I’d gladly take all the drawbacks and obstacles we face again and again and again! I just need to remind myself that every dog has its strengths and weaknesses, just like we do, and that we’ve come sr! I just can’t thank you enough for admitting that neither you nor your dogs are perfect, because I know how hard that can be to do! Again, I just have to remind myself that things will only get better with time, and that as long as four years feel, I’ve still got lots to learn and that’s okay! 🦮🫶
This was an incredible video. I hope it is a wake up moment for those who are judgmental about a situation they don’t understand. I got goosebumps listening to you standing your ground and defending the guide dogs in your community. I can’t imagine how much work goes into what you do. I can tell how amazing of a speaker you are Molly ❤
Before I got my service dog (he isn’t fully trained, I’m training him myself through an organisation) I had such a perfectionist mindset of how service dogs should be, like how they shouldn’t have any fears, don’t have any faults and are have to be good all the time and this all came from the service dog community when I was trying to do some research and get to know the community and when I got my dog it was the exact opposite, he made and still makes so many mistakes and I had (and still do sometimes) such a hard time accepting that he’s learning and will make mistakes and it really damaged our relationship in the beginning and caused so much frustration when I would go into trainings expecting perfection
I was just matched with my third guide back in November 2023. She was 18-months old and was totally new to me and so different from my last two. People assume we were done training when we came home. I had to explain that in a way, we’ve only just begun. That first year can be brutal. Having extra stress and judgment can make it infinitely worse. I think some of it is overcorrection from the community and a lack of knowledge about how and why different kinds of service dogs require different handling techniques. The whole tying down thing was so frustrating to watch play out. I am always afraid that non-disabled people will judge and record and post, but adding fellow service dog handlers to that makes it infinitely more stressful.
That being said, I’m 100% here for Elton John’s dedication to locating stuffed animals. He’s got so much personality and knows what he wants. lol.
Molly thank you, thank you, THANK YOU 🙏 the relief I felt watching this video to hear someone speak the thoughts I have been thinking for a while now but have not felt I could voice. This narrative that a service dog is meant to be “perfect” has really affected me in recent years with my guide dog. People seem to also forget that we as handlers are not trainers. We get taught how to be a handler yes but we don’t know everything. We don’t know how we are supposed to respond to our guide dogs in every situation and we also sometimes cannot tell or see when an undesirable behavior is happening. This was incredibly refreshing to watch and it made me feel so much better about a lot of things that have been going on in my life and with my lovely guide dog Blue. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for this. ❤️
Even as a trainer, dogs are still going to do things that the human doesn't catch. It happens to every dog team, whether that be a service/guide dog team from a program, an owner trained dog, a pet dog, even dogs trained by people that do it for a living. Perfection doesn't exist, at least not in this reality anyway.
It’s bitter sweet for me, I’m so happy we’re normalising dogs being dogs but as someone with an owner trained guide dog who isn’t a common breed I do feel that we both have to conduct ourselves perfectly even when she’s off duty
You can shoot for perfection, but it will never happen :-) but I do think there has to be a certain level of conduct for both the dog and the handler. I get compliments all the time on how well-behaved my dog is. And I’ve also had people tell me that my dog is much better behaved than my friends guide dog. Well, the only reason that happens is because I don’t let my dog get away with some of the things that she does. So although I don’t put a big emphasis on what other people think and especially people who don’t have slightest idea what they’re talking about, there is a little bit of social pressure too conduct yourself in a professional manner, as well as your dog behaving themselves and doing their job well. And I will tolerate a dog with a couple minor behavior issues, but that works wonderfully much more than I will tolerate a dog that has perfect behavior, but does not do their job well. You have to figure out what you will put up with and what you want.
perfection will n e v e r be there. even if you think your SD perfect, perfect is SUPER subjective and even if your SD is perfect to you and people around you, someone will still say that they're not. You should aim to be the best you can yes, but acknowledge that you and your SD will have faults. this plays into the service dogs are not robots thing.
I remember the video of several months after bringing Bennix home you went to a fashion show and walked the runway. He got too excited seeing all the people and the noise and people reaching out to him that he ended up pulling you hard. Your second walk you knew he needed to relax and it would be something you'd work on so you switched to a cane. I always appreciated you showing us that because it helped show the struggle of service dog users. They are dogs and will be dogs. I am not disabled and that helped teach me to remember that fact.
I am so glad that you are standing up for yourself and for your guide dog and all guide, dog users And service dogs. People who don’t know about service dogs, and the training of service. Dogs are just sometimes judgmental. I am glad that you made this video for people to watch and maybe to learn from. People forget that the dogs are animals not robots. Good for you! I am writing this as a teacher of the visually impaired who’s been around guide dogs for over 35 years. My best to you and Elton.
I'm in 2 service dog groups on facebook. One is for owner-trained SD, and the other is for Local, state specific handlers. I've seen SO much judgement in those groups lately. I tried to make a post in the one about how we should be uplifting each other and not judging others' dogs, but, the post wasn't approved, of course. They said it was bullying or something, which it wasn't lol. It was a gentle, general correction, which the group greatly needs, in all honesty.
I trained my own SD, who's an adorable border collie, australian cattledog mix. Super high energy and loves all dogs and people. I did ONE meetup with a group of local service dog handlers, where they proceeded to call him "in training", simply because he wanted to say hi to their dogs and he likes to talk when I tell him to back up away from me. Did I forget to say that he's also part husky? LOL. Yes, he's a little vocal sometimes....it comes with his breeds, but, I was literally working through it right there.
No one should be diminishing another dogs capabilities, just cause they feel differently about their status. I'm actually taking Koda--my mobility service dog--to the Asian Lantern Festival tonight for the first time, with my family! He's been to the zoo one other time a couple weeks ago and did great. So, I'm excited to see what he thinks of all the light up dragons, unicorns, and fairies!
*Thank you for posting this. The toxicity and judgement NEEDS to stop.*
I’m so sorry that happened to you. That was my dog when he first started training too. He was excited to make friends that have the same job as him as well and I don’t think people understand the only way you can work on that is being around other dogs that are calm and chill so actually service dog meet ups other best way to work on that I ended up using a gentle leader to help. with that after he did that in his first meet up and it has worked very well since and sometimes I still have to remind him, especially if the dog he’s played with before now it’s just he looks at them and gets excited but then I say leave it and he’s perfectly fine after that it will get better the more you work on it and I’m so sorry that happened to you. How are you supposed to work on it if people are being rude about it and saying you shouldn’t be a service dog meet up I’m sure you’re doing great. Just keep trying. That’s all you can do.
I don’t think I’ve known an Aussie or husky that was ever actually truly quiet. They wouldn’t be themselves if they were. Clearly those people don’t understand that some breeds are naturally vocal. And getting them to hush is like telling a toddler they can’t have candy.
Wow, those were three breeds I would not pick for a service dog :-) But if your dog does what they are trained to do and behave themselves relatively well then go for it.
@@mcrchickenluvr I have a German shepherd and they can be vocal. And my dog can be very vocal out of the harness, but not in harness. Of course, one day I told my friend that, oh yeah, she’s never made any noise and harness. two hours later woof! dammit :-) they will make a liar out of you every time. Now, since she’s done that exactly twice in the four years, I’ve had her I’m not worried about it. If she made a habit of it, though we were gonna have a talk. but I’m sure there’s somebody out there that would say that she is a terrible dog because of that. oh well, they can get over it.
The world, especially the internet world, is so judgmental. I don't understand why people have to have an opinion on everyone else. I am also someone who avoids confrontations and they are something that stresses me out. I believe this will help people. Thanks for doing this for people who can't help themselves, like Sadi.
I'm a new team with my service dog. We make mistakes but this girl has me confident out in public when I've spent the last few years isolating. She's a hearing dog but the way she improves my life, aside from sounds is something I never expected. How do you thank the dog that gave you your life back.
I have never used a service dog, but people on the Internet are sometimes going to find reasons to troll. I have been accused of faking my blindness because I was able to film my food when doing a travel Vlog. In the words of Taylor Swift haters are going to hate regardless what they find a reason to hate.
A friend of mine is currently a white cane user, but she used to have a dog, and I spent a lot of time with him both in and out of harness. He was a sweetheart and a goofball, and he sometimes had trouble with getting over-excited about things even when he was in harness. At one point she did have to take him for retraining. Even so, he was a wonderful dog, and she loved him very much. He was completely devoted to her, and he always did his best to try and take care of her.
I really needed to hear this! I get so upset that Chanel can’t do everything that other service dogs do
I don’t know you or your service dog but I guarantee there are tasks that your service dog can do really well that others who are trained for the same type of service struggle with.
Thank you. I recently joined a service dog group and holy crap the robotic perfection people expect from their and other people's dogs. It's crazy. And yeah some times my dogs just needs a day off. After a trip to universal Florida I gave my dog a whole week off. She was tired. I was tired. We were sore. We had fun. But dang. By the end we could all tell she was exhausted.
The dog’s help to their person is more important than the dog being perfect all the time. A dog can’t learn to do the right thing if they’re not allowed in to the environment they struggle in. Dogs & people have bad days too. Sending so much support to all the service dogs & humans out there.
Also the flashback from the early 2000’s of that top. Haha. Love it.
Your comment about service dogs are not Robots is spot on! I train service dogs for Mental health. These dogs are amazing but just like humans, they have off days. Service dog training is on going through out their service. ❤
Can confirm how toxic the “culture” is. I got permabanned from the biggest SD subreddit because…I explained my state’s laws in response to someone’s question on which animals can be service animals, specified that I was only speaking for MY state as that’s what I had experience with, and explained why other animals should not be used as service animals in public (it’s legitimately cruel to those animals because most are prey or small enough to count as both predator and prey and as a result, are constantly on-edge while outside the territory they recognize as “safe”).
Mod responded that I was “spreading misinformation” because…my statement conflicted with *Canadian* laws.
Even though I specified that I could not speak for any other state or province, I was ONLY speaking for my one state. I never claimed to be speaking for Canadian service animal laws, and the person I was responding to never asked about Canadian laws in particular.
Same mod insisted that Canada allows any sort of animal to be a service animal…so I actually looked up each individual province’s laws as well as Canadian federal law, provided links to each, and guess what: not a single one allows anything other than a dog or miniature horse. Quebec is even more strict and insists on service dogs being certified by like, only one particular organization.
So the temporary ban became a permanent one because I guess how dare I look up the actual laws and science behind service animals…?
I also witnessed this same sub, which allegedly has a rule against “breed-shaming,” somehow allowing multiple posts blasting anyone with a service dog who isn’t one of the “Fab Four” breeds as “fake” (which is also explicitly against the sub’s own rules) and “a poser who only got that dog because they were trendy.” Same posts also blasted mixed breeds and rescues, especially “pit bulls” and “shelter dogs,” implying such dogs are inherently inferior and worthless.
It was incredibly gross, like why even have those rules at all if you’re going to allow mods who just ignore them and turn it into gatekeeping and a bullying mess?!
Same happened in a local SD group on Facebook: what should have been an extremely minor “agree to disagree” case turned into multiple people engaging in high school style catty bullying, and the mod claimed their own disability made it “too hard to sort through all the comments” so the victims were the ones who got banned while the bullies laughed about it.
Actually, it was more elementary school behavior than high school. Seriously, that was the level of ridiculously silly name-calling bullshit going on in that group. And honestly, if the mod isn’t able to sort through comments and get the full picture before passing judgment, they shouldn’t be a mod in the first place.
If there was a breed restriction for SD’s, my twin nephews would be screwed. They’re both epileptic and one of them has celiac’s disease. They get flack (I couldn’t think of a better term) because their dogs are pit bulls. They’re literally the best dogs ever. Cinnamon actually alerted Micah to his first seizure. Yes their dogs have off days. They will get the zoomies at various times. Cocoa goes nuts for squeaky toys. You give her one and you’ll be hearing that squeak for hours on end. And she’ll go search for them in the store and will be perfectly happy carrying around her new friend while still working. Cocoa does the same with stuffed animals. But again, she still does her work. We just know when to let them be dogs.
@@mcrchickenluvr It’s all gatekeeping bullshit, with people trying to one-up each other as if having a service dog is some super special exclusive club that makes them superior to other disabled people.
@@mcrchickenluvr I have a seizure disorder, and my current alert dog is a rescue maltese. She was a mill mother, and we got her when she was four. The thing about seizure alert dogs is that frequently what you get is a dog who alerts, and then you do all the training with them. So she was a working service dog, who was performing this useful service for me, keeping me safe, but her behavior wasn't "perfect" in public yet. And she is cute and fuzzy, and little, and so many people just assume I am a liar and she is a pet. Not all service dogs are guide dogs, and not all look like the standard picture. Pitties are great alert dogs!
THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS VLOG! I’m training my first service dog and it’s been quite the challenge! But you’re totally right! I can’t expect perfection and to hear you say it, makes me feel better and I’m not beating myself over it!
I want to add that I am in my sixties. When I was younger it didn't seem like there was as much as a problem with service dogs (aka Leader Dogs, Seeing Eye Dogs) as there is now. It seemed like people back then understood and respected what a service dog was and how it was supposed to function. What I think has changed is that there seems to be an "anything goes" attitude in regards to people bringing their animals with them everywhere they go. And not taking responsibility for these animals. I've seen people bring dogs into Walmart that were clearly NOT service animals. Walmart says, we can't do anything about it, we can't legally ask, we can't legally deny, so there you go. They get away with it--at least for awhile. But what they don't realize or don't care about is that they are creating a backlash against those who legitimately need legitimate service animals. Something needs to be done about those who game the system. I'm not sure what but I do know that no matter what solution is proposed, such as requiring licensing or documentation, somebody is always going to be against it.
Lol it’s because of the ESA industry. They run ads that say you can just buy a certificate and bring your pet anywhere no training required
@@asmrtpop2676 Yes, I've seen those ads. What I don't understand is why so many people seem to need ESA's all of a sudden. These are NOT people who have been through war for the most part, these are not refugees, in short, this seems to be a First World problem. My God, what would these people do if a REAL catastrophe hit them and their emotional support animal wasn't available? I do not get it. If there are that many emotionally fragile people out there, then we have a real mental health crisis on our hands because if things ever got really bad, I'm talking Great Depression bad, well, I just don't know. My parents lived through the Great Depression in an area that never really recovered from it so I grew up on their tales. What I think ought to happen is that the next time one of these fake service animals damages property or injures someone, and it turns out that they had a certificate from an ESA mill, that mill ought to be sued for all its worth, along with the animal's owner. Or--maybe businesses should start charging a hefty "service animal" fee sort of like an apartment security deposit. You want to bring Fang to Friendly Groceries? Fine, before you enter, $100. It can be the business owner's discretion as to whether to refund the fee afterwards. You are not technically denying access and I do not think that there is a law against it. I know with the price of groceries and stuff these days if every time I went to the grocery story with my animal it was going to cost me an extra $100 or more, I'd think twice about bringing that animal. Sure, people are going to holler and complain, but the alternative is that NO animals will be allowed NO exceptions. Besides, with the rise of AI and robotics, legitimate service animals may end up being on the way out.
@@theresemalmberg955You can be traumatized by a lot more than the usual catastrophes, sometimes having parents will do the job. It's not up to you to decide what is a valid trauma. People with that or most other disabilities are often not able to work or get into well paid jobs, so sure, bombard them with hefty fees for normal activities. I have a dog who is not a trained service dog and we don't have certificates or recognition for ESA here. So I can't take her with where I'd need her most, like markets, doctor's office and courses. To go through official channels to obtain a service dog would take me years, and I still wouldn't have the money, because anxiety and alert dogs for my condition are not financed by health insurance. And even if they were, I already have a dog who does a good job by just being there and knowing when I need help, I'd never give her away.
In the final clips, when you said. "Even if I'm looking forward, I can't see where I'm going," made me chuckle. Thanks for sharing this info.
I only use my white cane on rare occasions, especially when traveling on public transit in new locations. I have felt judged by other blind people and even special needs teachers for this. When I was younger, this was difficult to deal with, but now I just don’t care!I have to do what is best for my visual needs and accommodations.
I follow person on instagram who has a young cane corso service dog (after her previous SD - also a corso had to retire prematurely due to cancer). Because he is SO huge, bystanders think he is a grown mature adult SD and expect him to act that way. But the reality is that he is still a puppy in training, doing things that young SD in training will do. And Sadie's GSD looks young too. At the end of the day - no matter how much we train our dogs, sometimes dogs will do dog things. Funny that 😅
My last mobility dog went to protests with me for 8 years. He was trained for it and knew what to do at protests better than most people. I can't tell you the hate we got because my service dog went with me. I couldn't have done it without him. He was the best protest pup this side of the Mississippi. He was amazing and loved going with me. But I would never take my new service dog, Gimli, with me. He's way too timid and gets nervous way too easily. Every dog is so different, but the partnership that we developed with them is unreal.
🥹 experienced protest dogs are absolutely amazing, they 100% do have better knowledge than most people. I love them so much. Hope things are going well with Gimli, even if it is different. (You seem awesome.) 💜
@radishfest Dobby was the best protest pup! He went to standing rock, Kenosha, DC, and did the entire year and a half straight at the 2020-2021 Portland Protest. He was amazing! So many awesome pics of that pup out there. I miss my battle buddy. 😢
@@amandakorbe3773 omg, y'all are actual legends!! May he rest easy.
I hope you still feel comfortable turning up. Humans aren't as good as dogs, but we still try our best. (I love safety work.)
Have you ever heard "la sinceridad del cosmos" by ases falsos? It's in Spanish but you can find a translation in the comments or on Google. It's about how clearly animals recognize injustice when they haven't been used to perpetuate it. I end up having a (good) cry every time I listen to it, you might like it too. 💜💜💜
🎵 Ladra, ládrale a la autoridad (bark, bark! at authority!)
🎵 Ladra, ládrale a la institución (bark! bark! at institutions!)
🎵 Ladra, ládrale al conducto regular (bark! bark! at the entire chain of command!)
I am on my second cardiac alert service dog and I’ve had her since she was 13 weeks old. We have had a lot of obstacles, but you’re right about working through them. I have gotten stares and comments when she doesn’t act “perfect”. Thank you for touching on this topic.
I also attended a CACJ event (with attorneys) and was told that service dogs were not wecome after I arrived by one of the organizers. I ignored her. I have paperwork and certification. Also, some churches ban service dogs and insist they wait out in the hot car durng events at those churches.
They can get sued. My church doesnt do that for that reason. Orthodox is the way... ☦
Learning to live in the grey area of life is one of the best pieces of advice! You always lead with such beautiful grace, let’s all try to do the same
I have no problem with real service dogs. The people that bother me are the ones that put on a clearly fake service dog vest and parade their untrained ankle biter around with a smug look on their face, knowing that you’re not allowed to ask them if it’s a real service dog.
Thank you so much for making this video. My SDiT had a rough day today, and I was getting really down on myself and frustrated. This video was SO encouraging. I’m constantly afraid that people will judge her, or me, for her behavior, when she’s still learning and neither of us are perfect. Being disabled is exhausting. Training a service dog is exhausting. Worrying about being perfect is another level of exhausting that we shouldn’t have to deal with. Thanks so much for this.
I’ll be honest, when I saw that clip of Sadi with her dog at the treadmill my first thought was “that dog is not properly trained, he’s a liability for her”. I didn’t think the comments were out of line or why you were upset by them, but as you explained it you pretty much added a perspective that is never discussed openly by service dog owners. Like it’s just kinda drilled into people who know anything about service dogs that they’re not pets, they’re just these living, breathing medical devices who are highly trained to not ever indulge in the same caprices that regular, non-service animals are expected to when out and about. And so when you do see one acting out of turn, your first reaction is to assume the dog isn’t adequately trained, needs to be retired or might even be fake in the instances where the handler’s disability isn’t immediately apparent. I say this not as a justification, but as an explanation. These little nuances aren’t known because so much about the disabled community and their lives is shrouded in mystery, largely due to how society keeps them on the margins. And as we all know by now, ignorance about misunderstood communities breeds harmful attitudes towards them.
I agree, and this should not be normalized, because Disabled people can still be ableist and it allows non-Disabled people to feel okay with attacking us and using our own community's harsh values as a scapegoat.
Thank you so much for talking about this. I am an ex service dog handler and trainer, and I was so traumatized by a bad experience last year (my dog didn't do anything major, it was the people who saw it that harassed me) and I completely gave up and have been so scared to step back into the space. I can't even watch service dog videos because I get severe anxiety attacks. Slowly I have begun taking clients who need service dogs again but it still hurts me. I really appreciate you bringing this to light.
Also forgot to add that Elton is soooo gorgeous.
I still don't know any other service dog handlers personally. I love seeing the way you talk about your dogs as dogs, as animals, as their own creatures. It's so important as a handler. Thanks for posting this :)
This is exactly the positivity I and many others needed ❤. Im training my first assistance dog we are taking it pretty slow. Shes a year old as of two days again and all she really knows is the basic commands and obedience, her general manners are getting better too. But we've done barely any public access because truthfully, shes not ready. We did some exposure while she was younger and confident but adolescence came earlier than I expected and a few problems came up like they do with most, if not all, dogs. So we stopped and just worked slowly on what I expect from her on a basic level. Ignoring dogs and not barking was difficult, but it's really clicking now. She stands next to me in a heel more often by choice. Her general excitement level are decreasing and shes able to be calm and settle more. Her reactivity is still a problem when she is with my familys dogs or when she is overexcited ir overwhelmed. And it scares me. I'm scared I'll take her out geared up and she'll bark at every trigger and I'll get frustrated and angry. But these emotions dont help. They haven't helped when its happened in the past. But I've worked on my emotions, and she has improved too as a result and handles things better. I just get so scared that people will say something or call me out or call us fake because I honestly dont look like I need one. But she's learning. I'm learning. She makes bad decisions. I make bad decisions. Thats why I stopped. Neither of us were ready. I blame content creation for these unrealistic expectations. Especially those handlers that call out "fakes" and dont just report or have a calm discussion, they explode into rage and post it online to make the person a laughing stock. I know most of those fakes are actually fake and often times agressive too but shouting is not the answer. Me and my pup just need time. And we certainly don't need the weight of these unrealistic expectations weighing us down. Thank you again for this video, this community can be so toxic so we need people like you to bring some positivity back ❤.
Every dog will have their struggles and their quirks. People expect them to be perfect and never make mistakes. Even highly trained police, military and facility trained service dogs will have their quirks. I hope you and other service dog users continue to post honest content because it helps make me feel better when my dog makes a mistake in public or has a bad day. ❤❤❤
Thank you for sharing this. I am almost 4 years in with my first guide dog and you hit everything on the head. You are amazing and thank you for educated the people. I love your approach.
Thank you Molly for this much needed video.
I have a TH-cam channel for my adventures with my service dog Skidboot, and I do show his mistakes (and mine) every so often. I have been torn apart for it by other handlers as well as I am sure internet trolls. People can be so brutal. I totally understand that handlers only want to show the positives, but you are so right, that is just not real life. Nobody is perfect.
What a beautiful response! And such a good education for us able bodied individuals!
I find that handlers who get their dogs from a facility have unreasonably high blanket standards for all service dogs that makes it stranglingly impossible to self train. Had I been off social media at the time I was attempting to self train, I’m sure I would’ve had more confidence and perseverance, but at the time, I saw people calling self trained dogs fake just based on the fact that they were not professionally raised/trained DAILY, and I realized I literally could never train my dog to the quality of a facility, so I washed her. Now I have no service dog. Yes, I could’ve pulled myself up by the bootstraps and sucked it up and blablabla, but I’m already disabled and dealing with that every day. I just don’t have the energy to learn an entire new skill and apply it to these PROFESSIONAL standards.
People need to remember that sometimes they are looking down on the rest of us from a place of privilege, either being able to drop tens of thousands of dollars or get the grants to get a facility trained dog, or drop the thousands on a private trainer. That is NOT available to everyone who needs a service dog. That is not acknowledged enough with these conversations. I am SO happy for those who get to have a professionally trained dog, but I never will.
It’s really interesting because most guide dogs are facility trained and yet they still get attacked by the community. I think it also comes down to task types. Like, some dogs have to act differently or will have unique struggles due to the handlers disability and their task but I definitely think what you stated is also a real issue.
This! I am self training my dog as I absolutely do not have thousands to drop on one trained at a facility, and needed a very specific uncommon breed. Having him is SO helpful and he's doing fantastic with training, but at the end of the day, a dog is a dog is a dog, no matter where they were trained.
However, I do wish there were a way to get some kind of behavioral certification to pass our legitimate home-trained service dogs... because while mine is actively working and legal in the states, he will not be accepted as a service dog anywhere out of country! It has made travel very difficult for us.
I wish I could like this a million times! ❤ as a handler I think it’s important to share with other handlers and future handlers that mistakes will happen and you just have to do your best to work through the mistakes! ❤
I think a major problem lies in the fact that there are so many people falling having service animals. They get an emotional support certificate and then start calling their pet a service animal and insist on the right to have them everywhere. Or they don’t get anything at all. My husband used to be a police officer and even when some of these people would be asked the two questions you’re allowed to ask, people would claim, you can’t ask me what task does my dog perform because that gives away my disability and you’re not allowed to ask that. These people make real service dogs (and owners) look really bad.
I will mark this as a big thing. I worked in hotels for over a decade and have had plenty of people claim an Emotional Support Animal which is NOT considered a Service Animal in my state. I tried to make sure when I became a manager to know what my staff could ask. I have even told them if there's anything other than a Dog or a Miniature Horse, then that's a no in our state. We had someone try to claim a Bird, a Snake and a Cat as a Service animal to get around the pet fee - we allowed pets in my most recent Hotel Work but they had to pay a fee - and each had a fit when we denied to waive the fee.
People trying to get around regulations are what caused a lot of dislike, because the entitlement. I even had a family member say they were going to get their dog registered as a service animal and bought a vest and certificate and I said "This is not legitimate". There's training that has to be done, not just throwing on a vest and having a $120 piece of paper...
I absolutely love love this video! Seriously, you have helped me so much with my first guide dog, Elroy. Thank you for sharing the good and the bad! Almost ten months for us!