service dog on airplane Archives

March 24, 2013

Travels with Tommy

Act I: Leaving on a Jet Plane Entering the airport felt like stepping onto a movie set. Heads turned to catch a glimpse of the celebrity. Cameras flashed. Oohs and aahs escaped the lips of other travelers who slowed their hurried pace as they passed by us. In addition to this ‘puparazzi,’ all that is crazy-busy about airports drove Tommy’s sensory gage toward the red zone. I used my soothing voice to reassure him as neon lights blinked from all directions, suitcase wheels rumbled from behind, beeps rung out from unidentifiable sources. And the smells. Multitudes of smells. Still, my star companion listened to my cues as I directed him through the scene. He stayed in his service role despite a nervous start and in the end, gave a stellar performance. The Team Tommy Travel Awards Excellence in Boarding: Tommy Practice paid off. I’d been backing and tucking Tommy between […]

September 17, 2013

Mad About Service Dogs

My Parkinson’s diagnosis has thrown – heaved – perspective on my views of daily life. The irk-factor is one example. Degenerative disease, here: it takes more than a movie talker or airplane seat kicker to set me off. When I do get annoyed, I clench. Jaw, fists, eyelids. It doesn’t happen often and when it does the yogi in me tries to breathe through it, let it go, talk it out. On occasion, I yell. If annoyed moves into crazy-angry mode, I curl into a fetal position and cry. It takes something monstrous from daily life to get me there. Remember: Degenerative disease here. Incurable. Well, I encountered my first service dog fake. Not only is it a challenge to type with my fingers curled, it’s hard to see the screen though this blur of tears. I knew about them, heard stories. They clip a service dog vest purchased online […]

November 17, 2013

US Air and Service Dogs

Air travel poses innumerable challenges even to the least physically challenged among us. When Sir Thomas and I fly, we add four giant legs to the already crammed space called Leg Room (which is tight with my two legs). Delays, angst, discomfort all add to the stress of flying. So it’s safe to say that stress was on board the USAir flight that is in the news regarding the blind passenger and his service dog. Blind-man-with-service-dog causes one to, well, look. Whether it’s blindness, chronic disease, birth defect, mental illness, baggage or botched surgery, we’re all dealing with something that places us just this side of normal. My ‘something’ happens to show in the way I walk. Add a handsome, four-legged cane to the scene and we, well, we make for quite a scene. People look. They watch, comment: “Beautiful dog” or “What’s he do?” or “Are you training him?” […]

December 29, 2013

State Your Intention

More Travels with Tommy After I noted all the must-see’s in the travel guide, I made an inventory of might-be trip challenges ahead. I admit I was concerned about flying (always interesting, particularly with a giant dog) to the Caribbean (my first time!) to spend Christmas (BIG holiday with potentially big stresses) with family. My intention was to keep the challenges of travel – particularly with a service dog – to a minimum. With this in mind, I set out to be organized and prepared. I kept a folder of island highlights as well as do-not-forget scribbles (sunscreen! dog food for the plane!). I also adorned Tommy’s vest with another Do Not Pet badge and tucked and a copy of his rabies certificate in the side pocket. With a focus on minimizing distractions, I planned and predicted. I was ready with my Here’s-how-you-can-tell-when-he’s-working talk for the dog-loving relatives we were […]

October 20, 2014

An Open Letter to the Chambers of Commerce

An Open Letter to the Chambers of Commerce of Villages, Towns and Cities throughout the U.S. Please Help Empower Your Member Businesses Regarding Service Dog Access When You Can Say No to Fido In “Pets Allowed” (New Yorker, October 20 issue), retail management, staff and security personnel throughout Manhattan and Boston permitted “emotional support” animals ranging from a turtle to a snake to a turkey into their establishments. “There’s nothing we can do about it,” says a restaurant worker in NYC. “We have to let them in.” No, you don’t. Whether you run an inn, B&B, cafe, boutique, museum, theater, work for the airlines or manage a bait store, you do not need to open your doors to every Flufffy or pet iguana sporting a vest. Know the Law What you and your staff do need to do is know the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). While the law is […]

January 6, 2015

Up in the Air with a Service Dog

Travel Tidbits from Thomas The moment Sir Thomas steps into an airport, I wonder how he functions at all with the sensory overload. Suitcase wheels clatter and whir from behind. Neon blinks in every direction. Strangers’ hands reach toward him as they push past, pull ahead and pause to unlace shoes. He cuts a wake through air thick with the drone of announcements and the deep-fried, burnt-coffee odors of the food court. Airports exude stress. I’ve learned from him that if I keep to my senses, we can keep our stress levels down. Here are some travel tips that help us from getting swept up with the hurried masses: Sit The first impulse when entering the airport is to rush through the steps of baggage check, security clearance and gate wait. I now give myself oodles of time so we can sit and regroup when needed. When entering the airport, […]

March 7, 2015

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 […]

April 30, 2015

Picture This

In the midst of the food court’s strutting teens and screeching toddlers, Sir Thomas folded onto his mat in that sphinx-like move that Danes do and gazed those soulful eyes at me. I instantly aimed my phone at that regal pose (he’d even crossed his front paws!). But instead of his handsome image appearing on my screen, a message popped up: “Cannot Take Photo.” Apparently there’s a limit to how many I can store on my phone. Namely, 2,990, according to the count at the top of the icon. Smells of pan-fried, deep-fried and stir-fried lunch surrounded us as I focused on getting that picture. I deleted 277 blurry selfies and inside-of-my-purse auto-shots. But the phone insisted I was still out of storage space. Thomas let out a deep sigh, uncrossed his front legs and lowered his heavy head to rest between them. His message seemed clear: stop struggling to […]

May 5, 2015

In Business

Sir Thomas has a new business card. It explains that he has a job to do. My job is getting it in the hands of people before they get a their hands on him.

June 6, 2015

More Travels with Tommy

Short post following a long flight: The six-hour flight to Seattle left me stiff and slow-moving. With the help of Sir Thomas, we made our way through the seemingly endless airport, drawing the attention of the usual Dane admirers (to many of whom I needed to point out his working status, point to the vest, and make a point of Please Do Not Pet). One comment I’d not heard before came from a flight attendant (who thoughtfully did not even make eye contact with Thomas,). While in line for the tram to whisk us to baggage claim, she said, “It’s so nice to see a service dog working. A real one. All I see are frauds. So many of them.” That says quite a bit. Sadly. Another post to follow on our happy travels to Whidbey Island.