Owning A Service Dog

        I found an article from the Lexington Herald-Leader titled "Joy of having service dog diminished by public attention", the author was an anonymous submission to the newspaper.
        The author of this article explains their frustration with  all the attention that their service dog gets when out in public. In a previous blog, I mentioned that once source stated that service dogs are there to provide service to their owners, they are not normal pets. Many people don't truly understand this. The advice that the article gives about interacting with service dogs is: Always talk to the owner of the dog first and never touch a service dog. Simply asking for permission first can help avoid an awkward situation. Also many service dogs are trained to try and avoid being petted, some are not to be petted unless they are sitting or laying down, and some are not to be petted at all. Don't try to feed the dog any food, as this could put the dog's health at risk, or ask any questions about why the person has the service dog, as these reasons are personal to the owner. Lastly, don't be offended if the owner doesn't want to talk about their service dog, it is a personal topic that can be a touchy subject for some people. Service dogs are great and absolutely adorable so I understand why it's tempting to walk up and play with them. They should be appreciated for what they do but they should also be respected.
       I thought this article was interesting and I'm sure that many people with a service dog can relate. I thought this would be good to use in our documentary because it provides the viewpoint of a dog owner and some of the downsides to owning a service dog. I wonder what other downsides owners would say there are to owning a service dog?