The Morning After & The Flight Home
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Orlando
By Peri Norman
The first weekend in November, I flew from Los Angeles to Orlando for the National Animal Interest Alliance Conference entitled Joining Forces to Save Our Animals. It was an inspiring and thought-provoking weekend. There were many highlights to the weekend, but one memory in particular seemed relevant a month later as I flew a similar itinerary to attend the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.
It is not unusual for my sweet husband to drop me at the airport on his way to work. This often entails me arriving a bit earlier than the airlines require, so my habit is to clear security, find some breakfast and settle down with a good book. That particular morning, I ended up sitting at the gate next to a lovely young man with a service dog. The dog was a rather large, beautiful male German Shepherd Dog. It made my heart sing to watch such an exquisitely trained dog do an excellent job working at one of the many tasks that German Shepherds are bred to do. I have a big heart for service dogs (and German Shepherd dogs!) as I was deeply involved in raising puppies for Guide Dogs For The Blind as a 4-H member. Watching this handsome dog and his person was an inspiring sight and reminded me that our dogs, all of our animals, are worth fighting for because of the myriad of ways that they are of service to mankind.
Flash forward to the second trip to Orlando about a month later. My sister and the girls had a 6 AM flight, so I dropped them off, returned the rental car and entered the terminal to clear security and find some breakfast (okay, mostly coffee!). I had barely disembarked the shuttle when I encountered the first purebred dog. While waiting in line to check my suitcase, I observed a lady with a Bichon. It was obviously purebred and quite well-groomed. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that her husband was carrying the Sherpa bag. I chastised myself under my breath for jumping to conclusions about people cheating the system.
My inner lecture was short-lived as my arrival at the security line brought me face to face with another dog. This little cutie was also clearly a purebred dog (exact breed of dog will be omitted for all suspected fakes). There was a scarf with some writing on it. Sadly, no Sherpa bag and an agility slip lead continually restrained him (mostly) from jumping on other passengers, getting underfoot and smelling for edible crumbs of food. Ugh.
The security line reminded me of a can of sardines. As I made my way around several particularly long lines, I observed yet another dog that gave me cause for pause. Because this is a breed I actually judge quite a lot, I will go out on a limb and say this was a show quality dog. This breed would not fit in a Sherpa. The yellow service dog vest was belied by not only the agility-type slip lead, but the color-coordinated (with the lead) track-type outfit so commonly worn by agility competitors. The good news is that this dog was behaving rather well, unlike the last one that resembled a fish on a line. Hmmm… my brain was going round and round and turning to mush.
Thanks to my TSA PreCheck, I was out of the line fairly quickly and headed off to find a badly needed cup of coffee. The restaurant was still closed, so I grabbed a granola bar out of my bag and sat down to wait, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but an enormous “mountain” dog wearing a blue vest big enough to be a table cloth. This dog was also sporting an enormous blown out coat that looked like it still had three spray cans of product holding the hairdo in place without so much as a ripple or wave. It was this dog that made me consider the possibility that a show dog could also be a service dog. Many of us in the sport are aging and that involves various complications to our lives. One is that we can no longer show the dogs that we own and love, but are dependent on professional handlers to present our charges to their best advantage. Another, perhaps more significant challenge, are the health issues that come with aging. Who better to utilize beautifully bred and trained dogs for service animals than a life-long fancier of purebred dogs?
I relaxed and enjoyed my pre-breakfast snack while I watched several more dogs stroll by. The next one was the same breed as the ill-behaved dog in the security line. As she went by I noticed a Sherpa bag riding on top of the carry-on. Thankfully, the owner was being responsible by training her dog, as well as following the rules. My thought process was rudely interrupted by a woman literally being towed across the airport by not one, but two, smaller-sized herding breed dogs. The service dog vests almost had me laughing out loud. Maybe this gal was looking for some coffee too, because I watched her try to manage these two beauties as she went back and forth through the central area, dogs in front dragging her every time she passed. Not to be outdone, the herding dogs imitating sled dogs were upstaged by a smaller spitz-type that got off the tram and erupted in a fit of barking at the janitor’s cleaning cart. I’m keeping my jacket on now, because I don’t want anyone to see the dog on my shirt. The restaurant finally opened. Hallelujah!
Breakfast was a lovely respite. Coffee was good. Food was good. There were not any dogs in the restaurant and I relaxed watching the activity around the airplanes. Alas, breakfast completed, I headed down the long corridor toward my gate. Walking rather briskly, I came upon yet another “service dog”. This one was one of the larger herding breeds that is commonly used as a service dog. He was walking along quite nicely next to his owner until a gentleman passed and exclaimed, “What a beautiful dog! May I pet him?” He didn’t need to ask. Before the owner could giggle out the words, “Thank you. Of course you can pet him,” the dog was already at the end of a six-foot leather leash on his way to greet the kind gentleman. This time, my mind was really on a rant. I’m not really sure how I kept my mouth shut, but I really wanted to tell this gal that if she wanted to break the rules and save the shipping costs by having her dog pretend to be a service dog, the least she could do is have some basic understanding of service dog training and appropriate behavior!
At long last, I made it to my gate. A dear friend and fellow judge and her two traveling companions were already seated, so I asked to join them. We talked about how much we enjoyed the seminars and show. We talked about dogs, and of course, we talked about service dogs; real and fake. I know this sounds amazing, but as we were talking yet one more person walked up with a very large hound. After overhearing just a bit of our conversation, she volunteered that her dog was a retired show dog. The cynical side of my brain had been fighting with the compassionate side of my brain for too long. I just sighed.
When I fly, it is unusual for me to see a service dog. Maybe once every three or four flights, I will see a dog with a vest. Because I am a dog person, I notice and I remember. In fact, I flew home from a specialty a couple of years ago and recognized a dog that I judged complete with service dog vest and his professional handler! The morning after Eukanuba, I counted eleven high-quality purebred dogs in the Orlando airport. Two of them were with owners carrying Sherpa bags. One dog I saw briefly was sitting quietly and patiently. Three others were impeccably trained and perfectly behaved. That leaves five owner/dog teams where the dogs were behaving so inappropriately that I had a hard time considering that they might be actual service dogs. This is difficult for me to write about and a challenging situation for our purebred dog community. Everyone is fighting a battle that we may not know about. And it is really not fair to judge people by their appearance. Still, service dog abuse is not at all unusual in our society. Workable solutions elude me, but I know that we as a fancy must address this problem. Our public image is soiled enough without having inconsiderate exhibitors masquerading show dogs as service dogs.
Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=97608
Posted by ralbee
on Feb 13 2016. Filed under Current Articles, Editorial, Featured.
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