Tips on Service Animals

Service animals are not pets but highly trained aids to the people they serve. A well-meaning bystander can interfere all too easily with that partnership by not understanding the animal’s need to focus its attention while on the job.

Sophomore political science and philosophy major Mark Guetzow suggests a quick hint about how to act around a service animal: Just look for a harness.

When you see his nine-and-a-half-year-old black lab Tory or any other service animal wearing a harness, you know that the animal is working. That’s when to resist the temptation to pet Tory, call her name, offer food, or distract her in any way from her mission to help Guetzow get around the Rice campus in his wheelchair. Even when she seems to be resting at Guetzow’s feet, Tory must stay alert to her master’s needs.

But play breaks are as important to service animals as they are to humans on the job, and when you see Tory free of the harness, you can be assured she’s off duty. That’s when Guetzow’s friends at Lovett College know that Tory appreciates a tossed ball or a scratch behind an ear, just like most other dogs.

The “harness signal” is not random. Throughout service animal’s intense training, they are taught to identify a harness with duty. They, too, recognize that wearing the harness requires them to tune out distractions from their environment, including those from humans or other animals.

In addition to Guetzow’s advice, here are tips from the Delta Society, a nonprofit organization based in Renton, Washington, that promotes the bond humans have with service and therapy animals:

• Always speak first to the person instead of directly addressing the animal, but don’t be offended if your comments are not enthusiastically followed up. Some people welcome a chance to tell strangers about their animal; others are more naturally reticent.
• Don’t touch either the animal or the person without permission. Petting the animal is distracting, and touching the person may be misunderstood as an assault.
• Never bark, meow, whistle, or make other noises. Besides potentially distracting the animal from its work, that behavior is impolite.
• If you are uncomfortable around dogs or other animals, position yourself away from the service animal. If you are at your job, ask a colleague to serve the person in your place.
• If the service animal barks, growls, or otherwise seems to forget its manners, find out what happened before you take action. The animal may have been doing its job. For example, some dogs bark once or twice to alert their owners to oncoming seizures.
• If other people complain about the animal’s presence, explain that the animal provides medically necessary assistance and that U.S. law protects the person’s right to bring the service animal in public places.

For other information about service animals, see http://www.deltasociety.org.

— Sally Strong