No Fooling

This is for those who think it’s okay to slip a service vest on their dogs so they can slip into restaurants or onto planes with their pet.

This is for those who wave “authentic” registered-certified-licensed service dog papers so that store owners, hotel managers or theater ticket-takers will wave them inside, doggie, too.

This is for those who see no harm in pretending Fluffy is a guide, cane, hearing aid, medicine reminder for their pretend disabilities.

Perhaps your furry companion will behave during the flight or sleep through dinner.

Perhaps he won’t.

The vest won’t keep your dog from trying to play with mine while mine is busy keeping me from falling. The documents you purchased or printed off the internet won’t keep your dog from lunging, barking, biting at strangers.

Your dog would never lunge, bark or bite? Even while a stranger straps an arm down and stabs you with a needle? Or pries open what’s left of the car door at the scene of an accident? Really? Your pet wouldn’t try to protect you?

Unless you’re counting on Fluffy’s ability to read EMT on the stranger’s uniform, you don’t really know what your not-actually-screened-or-fully-trained ‘service’ dog will do. Might he harm the very people who risk their lives to save yours?

You can try to fool some of the people some of the time, but don’t ever try to fool a first responder. Ever.