SERVICE DOG PSA

So today I tripped. Fell flat on my face, it was awful but ultimately harmless. My service dog, however, is trained to go get an adult if I have a seizure, and he assumed this was a seizure (were training him to do more to care for me, but we didn’t learn I had epilepsy until a year after we got him)

I went after him after I had dusten off my jeans and my ego, and I found him trying to get the attention of a very annoyed woman. She was swatting him away and telling him to go away. So I feel like I need to make this heads up

If a service dog without a person approaches you, it means the person is down and in need of help

Don’t get scared, don’t get annoyed, follow the dog! If it had been an emergency situation, I could have vomited and choked, I could have hit my head, I could have had so many things happen to me. We’re going to update his training so if the first person doesn’t cooperate, he moves on, but seriously guys. If what’s-his-face could understand that lassie wanted him to go to the well, you can figure out that a dog in a vest proclaiming it a service dog wants you to follow him

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  • Optional@lemmy.worldOP
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    3 days ago

    Some people have bad experiences with dogs as tiny kids and it carries with them to adulthood. It can also be that people’s one-or-both parents don’t like dogs (probably for that reason) and teach that to them.

    Sad to go through life and miss out on that.

    • BreadOven@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Yeah. That’s a good point. But I really thought that most people knew about the service dog thing though. I guess that’s on me for assuming (you know what they say about that).