Sign In

Close
Forgot your password? No account yet?

If you're going to FWA: by Railerat

THIS IS IMPORTANT:

I know it's a convention, and I know we're all furballs, and I know we love animals, but if you see a service dog--

DO NOT TOUCH IT.

DO NOT TALK TO IT.

DO NOT INTERACT WITH THE SERVICE DOG.

I may or may not be there this year, but it is VITALLY IMPORTANT that if you see me and Woodrow (my service dog), YOU DO NOT DISTRACT HIM.

He is cute, yes.

But whistling, cooing, calling to him, or trying to touch him is not only RUDE AS HELL but it ENDANGERS ME.

This is true for EVERY SERVICE DOG TEAM.

Please. PLEASE.

If you want to come up and TALK to ME like an adult, that's totally cool. I would love to talk to you--I'm kind of shy, but I promise I'm thrilled you came to say hi! And if you ask, you can take pictures of him, I don't mind!

Please don't touch ME, either, though. That's part of why he's there.

Thank you!

If you're going to FWA:

Railerat

Journal Information

Views:
205
Comments:
8
Favorites:
0
Rating:
General

Tags

Comments

  • Link

    Zyraxus

    WOW THAT'S THE MOST REALISTIC FURSUIT I'VE EVER SEEN

    • Link

      Railerat

      ZEVON GET OUT. I'M SO SICK OF THAT JOKE.

  • Link

    CockatriceKing

    I wish there was a huge ass poster that could be put up at every convention with this information on it

    I also feel bad for how hard I laughed at Zevs comment i am so sorry

    • Link

      Railerat

      Oh my GODS that friggin' joke. It is DEAD. It was DEAD on the FIRST DAY.

      But yeah, I do too. Except even at a giant con like Anthrocon, I was... literally the only service dog handler there. At AWA I was one of two. It's not common enough for it to be a significant concern for anyone but the service dog team. So all I can do is make journals and tumblr posts and other PSAs and then brace myself for the first inevitable idiot who reaches for Woodrow's head, which will be within the first half hour we're there.

      And continue for the rest of the con.

      ...hell, maybe that's why we don't see MORE SERVICE DOG TEAMS AT CONS...

      • Link

        CockatriceKing

        Yeah I mostly typically see therapy dogs and I hate to say how many people I know with therapy dogs who seem to think they are service dogs and demands all the same rights as service dogs ((aka being allowed into restaurants, to the point of yelling at restaurant owners and workers for asking for evidence of their animal being an actual service dog)) and I'm going off on a tangent now but YES I wish there was a better way to just broadly educate people about this stuff because it's really freaking important.

        • Link

          Railerat

          In all fairness, business owners are NOT permitted to demand proof of a dog's purpose--but people with therapy dogs should NOT be trying to pass them off as service dogs!!

          Under the ADA, business owners are permitted to ask if a dog is a service dog, and confirm that the person with the dog is, in fact, the dog's handler. That's it. Service dog teams are not required to provide paperwork (because holy shit what an inconvenient thing to have to do!) or reveal the nature of their disability/disabilities.

          Honestly, I really hate being access challenged and I tend to get really flustered because I don't verbalise well to begin with.

          I wish I could get those business cards with the ADA stuff printed on them so I could just hand them out when needed.

  • Link

    CockatriceKing

    If I recall right the restaurant owner just wanted to see the dogs tags, not paper work or anything, but yeah I wouldn't expect that service dog teams would have to carry paper work or anything for just those reasons.

    I know that some people have taken to using custom print sites to make like Post Cards with information they want to hand out, might be an idea :o

    • Link

      Railerat

      Well, for fuck's sake. Even I'd let a business owner see Woodrow's tags to prove he's UTD on his shots and all. I'm all for preserving privacy, but a business is the owner's livelihood. I completely understand wanting to protect that, and asking to see a dog's tags is not an especially obtrusive request.

      And yeah! I can't afford that right now, but I really want it. Like really badly. It would make the anxiety of potential access challenges so much less severe.

      I know there were some preprinted ones on Amazon, though, and there are probably more at, like. ActiveDogs.