Vent!

[Swanny1790]

Damn it all with the phony "service" dogs. I was stuck in interminable flight cancellation hell at O'Hare Intnl airport yesterday. CPD came through with detection dogs, whether that was routine or part of sorting out the issue I don't know. In any event, one of the detection dogs, a beautiful and obviously well trained and handled Malinois was working his way down the line sniffing along from bag to bag to bag when some apparently mixed breed little mutt wearing a purple "service dog" vest decided to try to take a bite or two out of him. Of course the owners reaction was "Don't worry officer, he's friendly". My reaction was to take a step in between the snarky little alleged service dog and the obviously working dog to give the unruly little thing something else to worry about, and the officer's reaction was simply "good" to his dog and moving on up the line to create some distance. To his credit, and credit to his trainer, I don't think the Malinois gave so much as a raised lip or even second glance at the alleged "service dog".

Now my poor tongue is sore and probably still bleeding from the effort it took to say nothing, simply step back into my place in the queue, and wait for my next rebooked flight to be cancelled (sigh).

My 2 hour layover turned into 10 hours of consistent flight cancellations until I finally got out of O'Hare - and not much to do but watch people walking by. In the course of the day I saw more dogs in working garb than I've ever seen before, only a couple of which actually seemed to be trained to perform some behavior or another for their human counterparts.

I'm at a point where I could actually become a supporter of regulations requiring that "service dogs" be certified in order to be awarded special access to places normally closed to dogs.

[delladooo]

Diane; we live in a pretty safe area so people aren't bothered as much but I'm sick of them. In summer some of the parents along our street have been known to lock their kids out all day because they don't want them in the house. It's just annoying that they have no respect. Down my street alone there's a little girl that did ask the first time but regularly goes to just touch Laufey because she has once and a boy in high school that is sometimes friends with my brother (teenagers ) that tries to attract Laufey over and touch him whenever we see him which Laufey isn't bothered about but I do not like this kid, something just irks me. But at the same time, I don't know whether it's worse when people just let their kids touch or when they pull the kids away like you have a savage beast that's going to maul them Why is there no inbetween!?

Swanny; sorry about your travel trouble! It sounds awful to be stuck in the airport all day. In the UK we don't seem to have service dogs the same, or at least not where I am. Whilst I think they can make very good service animals and do valuable work they definitely should have some sort of standard, and if I'm honest I thought they did I've only really encountered guide dogs which obviously when working are impeccably behaved but I know lots of other services exists and I thought they all needed high level training. I don't know if the UK has 'anxiety dogs' (is this the term) as service dogs but I did see a program where a lady was travelling by plane with a dog because it kept her calm (I'm assuming these are the service dogs you're talking about and I assumed they would be well trained also). It seems slightly ridiculous if not that you can have a service dog that is essentially too reactive to reliably calm it's owner

[DianeLDL]

Damn it all with the phony "service" dogs. My reaction was to take a step in between the snarky little alleged service dog and the obviously working dog to give the unruly little thing something else to worry about, and the officer's reaction was simply "good" to his dog and moving on up the line to create some distance. To his credit, and credit to his trainer, I don't think the Malinois gave so much as a raised lip or even second glance at the alleged "service dog".

Now my poor tongue is sore and probably still bleeding from the effort it took to say nothing, simply step back into my place in the queue, and wait for my next rebooked flight to be cancelled (sigh).

I'm at a point where I could actually become a supporter of regulations requiring that "service dogs" be certified in order to be awarded special access to places normally closed to dogs.

Swanny,

Kudos to you for staying out of it, and under all that stress. You showed great restraint. Of course, the Malinois was trained well to deal with those types of dogs. I wonder if the Malinois and handler were thinking the same thing you were as to whether it was a real "service dog".

And, I have found numerous web sites where you can buy the vests, decide type of service dog, and even get a printed certificate. Of course, the websites have disclaimers stating that they are not authorizing that a dog is a "real service dog".
OH has even thought about it for Sandy, but I tell him there is no way Sandy would "pass as a service dog".

Even in the VA Medical center, guys are trying to get away with calling their dogs "service dogs". And the VA police are checking credentials. And, now that the VA is authorizing "emotional service dogs" for PTSD, it has become even more complex. OH found out after we got Sandy that he would have been eligible for one of those emotional PTSD service dogs.

I have noticed signs where they specify that the dog is for a blind or deaf or perform actual tasks to enter an establishment.

On flights, though, the line (excuse the pun) is very thin. Airlines are afraid of being sued for not letting a "service" dog on board such as PTSD or emotional service dogs. The guy who began the program of service dogs for vets went through a tough time getting his dog on board a flight and sued for discrimination as well as having his dog kicked by the flight attendents. His dog was not required to be in a crate under the seat as other dog pets are required.

Even if Sandy were a service dog, no way would I take him on board unless it was emergency. The airlines state that if there is loss of cabin pressure and oxygen masks come down, pets including dogs and cats who are on board legally, are NOT allowed to get oxygen or any other treatments.

I was on a nonstop Southwest flight from Albuquerque to Oakland, California. The woman sitting in the middle seat next to me had a puppy she had just bought and picked up in New Mexico that she was taking to her home in N. Calif. The puppy was wimpering and she opened the crate to help him. The flight crew told he the dog had to stay under the seat in the crate. Well, later with more wimpering and barking, the flight crew came back to tell her to keep the dog quiet since people were complaining of the noise. As if anyone didnt complain over babies crying and kids screaming on a plane. One of the flight crew was quite nice (must be a dog owner) who brought a wet washcloth for the puppy to suck and chew on.
I think part of the problem was that she didnt give the puppy time to get to know her before taking him from the puppy's mom and taking onto the plane. I felt bad for the poor pup, suddenly away from comfort of mom, with a stranger, and in a crate under a seat on an airplane. Talk about one stressed puppy.

And, I have been thinking how great it would be to take Sandy with us to Israel. Dealing with a 10-12 hour flight from NY to Tel Aviv, we could possibly get Sandy with us in business class on ElAl which is known for letting kids and babies run around the plane. Talk about lack of parental control. But, then it would be customs and perhaps quarantine. For a one time flight, perhaps, but not for round trip.

Anyway, Swanny, I know all too well Chicago O'Hare h*ll. Even, Chicago Midway is just as bad. We have to change planes there between Maine and Albuquerque. We personally watched a group of 10 Black women pretend to need wheelchairs just to get preferential boarding. Before time to board, they were running around faster and easier than I was with my cane, then suddenly jump into their wheelchairs to be able to board first.

So, it isnt just "fake service dogs", it is also "fake handicap people".

Swanny, With your flight canelations and dealing with the so called "service dog", you showed the patience of Job.
I am glad you made it home (assumed that is where you were headed). I had been thinking of you earlier in the week when I heard Ankorage was hit with a 6 something earthquake and wondered it was felt where your home is. Is that what was behind your flight cancelations?

Diane

[delladooo]

To add to my rant from earlier, kids have been on the roof of the bowling club at the back of our house and needed to be stared at and told by 3 people to leave. They're so annoying it is unbelievable, completely ignoring the risk factor of being on a roof they upset my dog and I don't do well with people that upset my baby (or just look at us wrong)

[DianeLDL]

Diane; we live in a pretty safe area so people aren't bothered as much but I'm sick of them. In summer some of the parents along our street have been known to lock their kids out all day because they don't want them in the house. It's just annoying that they have no respect. Down my street alone there's a little girl that did ask the first time but regularly goes to just touch Laufey because she has once and a boy in high school that is sometimes friends with my brother (teenagers ) that tries to attract Laufey over and touch him whenever we see him which Laufey isn't bothered about but I do not like this kid, something just irks me. But at the same time, I don't know whether it's worse when people just let their kids touch or when they pull the kids away like you have a savage beast that's going to maul them Why is there no inbetween!?

Delladoo,

I would trust your instincts in these cases. You know Laufey. And if there is anyone like your brother's friend that you feel unnerved about I would stay away from him. Dogs have a keen sense and may be suspicious too. And just because someone has pet Laufey previously, doesnt give them permission to do it every time. Every situation is a little bit different, and it is up to you to say no even if they do not ask. How would you like it if people came up and hugged you every time you saw them even if you let them once. And it is up to you to protect Laufey.

As someone has mentioned before, not all people like everyone, and not every dog likes other dogs or even other people. Sandy may be the nicest dog with one person, and growl and bark at another person.
If you have a teen brother, I assume you are young. I admire you being a responsible dog owner and dealing with these situations.

Sandy doesn't do well with other dogs and kids around. Even walking down our street in Albuquerque, there are these three young girls playing (drives my husband crazy that they ride their bicycles down the middle of the street where many drivers speed way above the limit).
But, they saw how Sandy was reacting, and I just told them that he is not used to being around children and to keep away from him.

So, I would stay out of the park when there are a lot of unsupervised children. Is there a different time of day that you could take Laufey or to another park or different place go for a walk?
Fewer children around may make your walks more fun and allow you to relax without worrying if anyone is going to pet Laufey.

I just noticed your post about the kids on the roof of the bowling alley. Do they have permission from the bowling alley to be there? If not, they are trespassing. And, if they are trespassing, I would call the police or if you know the owner/manager of the bowling alley, talk with that person and see if they can get the kids down or call the police for trespassing.

Is it nighttime? If so, is there a noise ordinance? For example, in Albuquerque, after 10 pm, the police can respond to noise complaints.

Does the room where you and Laufey sleep facing the bowling alley? Is there a way, you can go to another room until the noise calms down? Is it just the noise, or also seeing them? Can you cover the window if it is visual not noise?

During the fireworks in Albuquerque, people were setting them off illegally on the street. I sat with Sandy on my lap with soothing music that was loud enough to distract from the noise outside.
And for thunder, Sandy will sleep with my husband's smelly workout tshirt in his bed. Sticking his nose in it, Sandy is able to calm down.

Edit: Sandy has been going crazy here in Maine with the neighbor kids riding their ATVs up and down the street. Nothing we can do about it. He figured out how to move the drapes and look out the window. My husband had Sandy outside to potty, and Sandy tried to come back in three times before he calmed down enough to pee.

So, it is everywhere.
Good luck.
Diane

[delladooo]

I would trust your instincts in these cases

Sometimes I think I'm being too judgemental but then some people just rub me the wrong way and we have to move on, better for all of us really.

If you have a teen brother, I assume you are young. I admire you being a responsible dog owner and dealing with these situations.

Thanks for the compliment, I'm definitely young (not even 21 yet) and it is quite a lot to juggle with uni, work and a puppy but we're doing well and he's never left for long

So, I would stay out of the park when there are a lot of unsupervised children. Is there a different time of day that you could take Laufey or to another park or different place go for a walk?
Fewer children around may make your walks more fun and allow you to relax without worrying if anyone is going to pet Laufey.

Generally where the children are is enclosed so there'll little interaction and they generally keep to themselves, it seems to be more on the other park we don't go to much or on the way anywhere but I generally try and get quiet times which is getting easier with it getting dark earlier

I just noticed your post about the kids on the roof of the bowling alley. Do they have permission from the bowling alley to be there?

They don't have permission (it's not a bowling alley of ten pin bowling, it's just the storage area for the lawn bowls so there's only people there during the afternoons) and we have rung the police about people on the roof before but they don't do anything so we don't bother anymore. If you tell them to leave enough they generally do

Is it nighttime? If so, is there a noise ordinance? Does the room where you and Laufey sleep facing the bowling alley?

It's not late, not even 9pm yet but it's quieter now and rare that there's too much action of an evening. He does seem in the room facing the bowling green but I doubt they'll be back. I've tried having him in my room but so far he's just a pain and tries to get under my bed We've not had many fireworks yet, there's been organised displays that you can just about here but they haven't bothered him, although not sure how he'll react to them being all over at bonfire night

[Sweetie's Human]

Several things in this story p@ssed me off. No prizes for guessing correctly.

Driving home from work on a busy street and I saw a guy trying to get hold of a dog that looked like a terrier mix. He was struggling to catch it. Then I saw a maltese-type dog running on the busy road. So many people slowed down but kept going . So I stopped to help this guy get hold of his dogs. If Sweetie ever got away from me and somebody could catch her for me I'd really hope they would.

By the time I pulled over he had hold of the terrier. I ran over to the median strip and grabbed the maltese by his collar. HIS SHOCK COLLAR!!

Guy: oh, thank goodness, they're yours.
Me: err, aren't they yours?
Guy: no, oh sh!t.
Me: oh sh!t

The owner had taken the trouble to put a shock collar on the little one, but no phone numbers on either of them. The guy thought the same as me and pulled the shock collar off straight away. The poor thing was trembling in my arms - shock collar, traffic, strange lady holding him... Mercifully, the guy lived a few houses down, but didn't want to put them in the yard with is own two dogs - fair enough. They were filthy and smelly. So we took them down to his front yard and his wife came out with a couple of leads and he was going to walk them around the neighbourhood to try and find the owner. I hope he did find them because he was really rough looking, swore like a sailor, and was p&ssed off about the shock collar. He was actually lovely - I just hope he gave them a fright with his language, rough appearance and opinions on the state of their dogs and use of a shock collar.

But, why don't people stop to help catch a couple of small dogs that show no signs at all of aggression? I'm sure there was more than one dog owner in that line of traffic for whom the world wouldn't end if they were 15 min late getting home from work. Bu they just drive on and hope someone else will do it. What if nobody does it?

I'm no hippy, but I do hope that I got some good karma by stopping so that if ever (Heaven forbid) Sweetie is out wondering the streets alone, someone nice would pick her up and call one of the numbers on her tag. That and the fact that I got some strange dog's pee on my arm and my suit yuk!

[JudyN]

Whoever said dogs are never naughty (Nettle ) didn't see the skill & deliberation with which Jasper sneaked up stealthily next to me as I was sorting out yesterday's leftover takeaway Indian to reheat for tonight, his sudden well-aimed leap up to grab the one remaining onion bhaji, and the speed with which he disappeared out of the kitchen as I howled in aggravation

[jacksdad]

that's not naughty....that is just super duper uber stealth and hunting skills

[JudyN]

That's what Jasper said too, Jacksdad. He was very pleased with himself

[minkee]

Some local dog news - I'm not even going to comment!

http://www.viraldoza.com/little-terrier ... ies-trust/#

[Nettle]

Some local dog news - I'm not even going to comment!

http://www.viraldoza.com/little-terrier ... ies-trust/#

If those coats are as brindle as they look, something else got over that Rottie.

[WufWuf]

I've got to say that if I was asked to guess the breed it would be staffy x some kind of hairy terrier (like westie, cairn etc) but I'm guessing they saw the mammy birth them, weird that none look at all Rottie.

[JudyN]

I didn’t think nature would let this happen but at some point it did

As the saying goes, they're all the same height lying down

I wondered about the brindle markings - but genetics can do funny things. We used to have a cream-blue tortoiseshell cat who had a black mother. Looking up some basic genetics, and taking into account her siblings' colours, I worked out that the father must have been tabby.

Interesting they all have the same colour coat, though, and none have picked up the Westie's colour. Maybe something to do with dominant[*] & recessive genes.

[*]Are we allowed to refer to genes as being dominant?

[Nettle]

Lol, genes are allowed to be dominant

Black and tan is very dominant - that's why it is not allowed in many KC breeds. There is no brindle in Rotties or WHWs. Therefore something brindle got over the b itch.

Very few breeds carry brindle. It's an ancient colour like tabby in cats.