[lovsthosebigdogs]

As someone who has both pet dogs of her own and also helps train and socialize service dogs in training, it is in accordance with Florida law that the dog and handler of a dog in training are afforded the same rights as a fully trained service dog. I DO take the dog in training everywhere I go and 99.9% of the time these dogs are perfectly behaved and exactly what you would expect a true service dog to be as far as behavior. However, since these dogs are in training, sometimes you will see something that looks 'wrong' like a dog that hesitates before going into a store or pulls back from a shopping cart. I even had a dog bark at someone while under a table in a restaurant. It is very important that I, as the trainer, deal with these issues and uncover them before these dogs go to their intended disabled veteran at the end of training. If I didn't expose the dog to many, many different scenarios and push the limit of what each dog can tolerate then we wouldn't know what behaviors to correct before the disabled person finally gets their trained dog. Our dogs ultimately know almost 90 commands. They expect a well trained dog in the end and this doesn't happen by magic- it happens because someone put in a lot of work, took the dog to restaurants, stores, on planes, to parks, doctor's offices and everywhere the new owner might go. Only experience gives the potential service dog that kind of confidence when the time comes. It has to be the trainer; it can't be the new disabled owner dealing with a dog going to these places for the first time. And please remember that not all disabilities are visible. We have placed dogs with veterans with traumatic brain injuries that weren't immediately obvious by looking at a person or with PTSD as well as veterans in wheel chairs whose condition makes it more obvious. My biggest problem hasn't been the dogs, it's people who, when asked not to look at, talk to or touch the dog, will often say "I don't mind" and reach for the dog anyway. These dogs are medical equipment and necessary for the owner. You wouldn't object to someone bringing in their wheelchair to a store because the wheels carry germs or take up too much aisle space. BTW, in Florida only dogs and miniature horses can legally be service animals so no monkeys or gators, sorry. And I too am furious about the easy availability of the fake vest/fake service dog situation. It makes it much, much harder on those of us with a legit dog and purpose.