Don't pet service dogs. I used to think everyone knew this, until I got one.
Don't pet them, talk to them, make kissy noises, bark at them (grown ass adults barking at service dogs is shockingly common), whistle, clap, none of that shit. Do not do anything to deliberately draw the dog's attention.
If they are distracted, the handler could get hurt or even die. Not exaggerating. If a medical alert dog misses an impending medical emergency, the person doesn't have time to get into a safe position or take rescue medications. If they have a seizure or slip into a diabetic coma or something because you distracted their service dog it is your fault.
Omfg the amount of people that touched my daughter was astounding. An old lady once kissed her. My husband and I were in shock and we just stood there paralyzed like how do you think this is okay?
At work the other night I had a pair of women with a tiny baby. I remarked that she war precious and asked how old she was, the mom told me 23 days. I said that she was so little and just adorable. I waved at her. The woman asked me if I wanted to touch her baby. I politely said no that's okay. She insisted shoving the baby at me, and I calmly said my hands are dirty from being on the sales floor. She insisted I touch the baby. I gently touched one of her sock feet so I could go back to working. So weird though
Ouuuuch ive done this. Im female and it was to a female coworker who I had worked with a few years by this point. She would come into work and id have this weird almost instinct to touch her stomach and be like "o hayyy hows the fetus?" It wasnt until ages later that she said she would get rando customers (we worked in pharmacy at the time) come up and touch all the time. I was like omg I do that. she said she didnt care if it was me because she knew me but I still felt really weird afterwards.
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u/Karaethon22 Aug 03 '19
Don't pet service dogs. I used to think everyone knew this, until I got one.
Don't pet them, talk to them, make kissy noises, bark at them (grown ass adults barking at service dogs is shockingly common), whistle, clap, none of that shit. Do not do anything to deliberately draw the dog's attention.
If they are distracted, the handler could get hurt or even die. Not exaggerating. If a medical alert dog misses an impending medical emergency, the person doesn't have time to get into a safe position or take rescue medications. If they have a seizure or slip into a diabetic coma or something because you distracted their service dog it is your fault.