Please do not Distract Guide Dogs

On Monday morning, my youngest daughter had a doctor's appointment.  It is a building we go in a few times a year, so I know the layout and Dextra, my Seeing Eye Dog, has been there about 3 times, before.

On Monday morning, we were all walking down the sidewalk, I just happened to be following my husband, though I could have easily led, but just happened this way.   I was holding the hand of my 6 year old daughter and my husband had our 2 year old's hand.

As we approached the building I could hear the work truck idling in the area just outside the main door.

Dextra was doing a great job, not only guiding me safely, but trying to keep from running my daughter into things, as well.   As we made the right handed turn to head into the building, through the two sets of sliding doors, she calculated the turn so my oldest would not run into the door, giving her plenty of room on my right.   Dextra is awesome at judging clearances to my right and though not trained to keep my children from bumping into things, which sometimes does happen, more times than not, she easily keeps them from hitting things, as she loves my kids and takes her job seriously and seems to know that they sometimes forget to look where they are going, despite me telling them, "Dextra's job is to guide me, not you, so you do need to watch where we are going, so you won't hit things."   I tell them to duck behind me, if something looks too close.

As we get through the second set of sliding doors, the elevator is about 30 feet or so infront of me, but Dextra suddenly pushes me to the right.  I know to follow my dog, so I trusted her and went with her.   After about 10 feet, she suddenly jumps sideways into me, as if totally startled and caught off guard.  And at the same time, I hear my husband start to call out, "Sir, don't touch the dog!"  Dextra looked sideways again, and my husband said, before I could, "Sir, I said don't touch the dog!  It's working!"

Dextra swings me in a big arc around something and back to the elevators where my husband is waiting for us.

We enter the elevator and I then ask what had happened.   My husband explains that there were two men working on replacing lightbulbs in the lobby and they had a fork lift of some kind in there.   One guy was on the ground and the other up on the lift, which was up above my head.

My husband said he could see Dextra concentrating very hard on how to negotiate this situation, judging where the man on the ground was, the vehicle, the lift above me, etc.   And the man on the ground had been making arm motions, frantically, flailing his arms, but Dextra had ignored him, obviously not knowing what those arm motions meant.

Suddenly, this man realized I had a dog and went from those big flailing fast arm movements to instantly reaching out towards my Dextra's head, startling her, as she was not expecting him to try and touch her and he was acting odd, to her, so he was someone to be avoided.

No one should ever try to pet a working dog, who is trying to guide their handler safely, because any little distraction can cause injury to the person or even the dog.  

I was lucky Dextra's jumping sideways into me did not knock me off balance, which could have meant I would have stepped on my 6 year old's foot or accidentally knocked her down.  My 6 year old or I could have been run into a wall, a piece of equipment, or something else that could have hurt one or both of us.   It would not have been Dextra's fault, it would have been this man's fault and he would have found himself liable.   It is against the law to distract a working guide dog, because of how dangerous it can be if you do so.

I was lucky this time, that nothing happened, but thought I'd share this story to help educate about the dangers that could happen if you distract a guide dog who is working, especially in a tricky situation.

But even if the person is walking down an uncrowded and level sidewalk with no obstacles, you should never try to pet, talk to, make eye contact, or do anything else that might distract that guide dog.   It is a matter of safety and if anything happens, you are liable and breaking the law.

Always ask first, before acknowledging a working dog, most people with guide dogs and other service dogs are very friendly and willing to talk about their dog, but do not take it personally if you are not allowed to pet the dog, there are many good reasons and they can vary from handler to dog.   But the main reason being, that if the dog gets too people friendly and starts seeking out pets from people while it is working, this is also a major safety issue, so though most of us will be happy to talk to you about our dogs, we still may not allow petting, it is a matter of safety and could even be life or death, if traffic is involved.

So, if you take anything from this blog post, please do not distract any service dog while it is working.  While a person's hand is on that harness, even if they are standing still at a corner, that dog is working.   Always ask first and talk to the handler.