Today had a theme and it wasn’t chosen by me. Today’s theme; how people can be stupid with or around dogs.
I was at East Towne Mall today to look at books and get a power converter. On my way out I noticed a handicapped individual with a service dog. This being a mall, there was no shortage of children running around. Guess what these children were doing? They were basically harassing this dog and subsequently the owner. I can’t even guess how many times I heard some kid scream, “puppy!!”. Of course the parents were all complete idiots. It’s apparent that parents are not teaching children to leave service animals alone. These animals have a very important purpose. Without the service animal, this person would be completely dependent on others. Even limited independence is great compared to complete dependency. But in order for the service animal program to work, society has to help. That means you do nothing to that animal unless the owner tells you to. That animal is a part of their person, just as much as their arm or leg. It wouldn’t be acceptable for your children to run up to a random person and start rubbing their leg or start feeding them. Obviously the parents have failed. So where do we go from here? Require people to pass a test before they can have children? I personally like that idea, but it’s hardly constitutional. My alternative solution is to have schools teach children to leave service animals alone. Disabled people with service animals should be brought into the schools. Then children would know what they look like and then be taught how to behave around them. There also need to be specific laws to punish those that harass, touch or feed service animals without permission. If such laws already exist, then they need to be strictly enforced and publicized.
I’ve also seen adults behave inappropriate around service animals. I was at a cafeteria a couple years ago and there was a blind man eating lunch. A young woman at the next table tore off bits of her sandwich and was trying to feed his dog. The dog didn’t take the bait and the owner noticed something was amiss. Don’t ever assume that a blind person is unaware of their surroundings. This is obviously a situation he’s been in before. He faced her direction and politely asked her to stop trying to feed his dog. She replied and this is an exact quote, “geez, I was just giving him a snack”. After which she shot up and stormed out of the cafeteria. I guess she felt he was rude to her. Someone should knock that girl up the side of the head with a blunt object. People don’t even try to understand the service animal program. That animal needs to have complete loyalty to the owner and unwavering discipline. If the owner is the only source of food and affection for the animal, then the owner-animal bond will be strong.
After my visit to the monument of commerce I went to a favorite local burger franchise, Culver’s. I was enjoying my meal and reading the paper when I heard a peculiar noise for a restaurant setting. There was a dog in the building and it was barking. Not much of a bark mind you. This was a small dog bark. High pitch, quick and like nails through the ear deep into the brain. I couldn’t see where this dog was and it had stopped making noise, so I resumed eating. A few minutes later I was in the middle of the Opinion section of the paper when I again heard the dog. This time it was behind me and much closer. I turned and discovered that it was in fact a small dog, a very small dog. It was a few tables away sitting inside a handbag. The woman who owned it was busy stuffing her face with custard and was completely unaware that her overgrown rat was an annoyance to the rest of the patrons. I’m fairly certain that it’s not legal to bring non-service animals into restaurants. It’s definitely annoying though. The dog had the unwilling attention of the entire restaurant. I was surprised that no employee approached the woman. I don’t understand why this woman brought the dog inside. She could have kept it in her car. It was not a warm day, so heat couldn’t be an excuse. Was there something in her car she didn’t want her dog messing up? Guess what? When you’re a dog owner, then you must take responsibility and provide certain accommodations for the dog, such as having a cage in the car or a kennel at the house. If the dog can’t be left alone at all, then you need to arrange to have someone watch it while you shop or stuff your face with custard. Should people be required to pass a test before they can have a pet? I think so. I think the Humane Society would back me up on that.
I wonder what position John Kerry would take on people touching service animals or pets inside restaurants. I don’t really need to wonder. I can extrapolate from his opinions of other topics that he would support the one option that annoys me the most. Then a few months later he would change his position to a newly discovered option that annoys me even more, but don’t hold him to that. He loves to exercise his right to change his mind and often.
Did you hear that? A hat just dropped and Kerry changed his mind again.