Not sure who needs to see this, but if a Service Dog starts backing into you, pushing you away from their handler, or they sit down at a leash distance from their handler
You Should Move Away.
They are performing a task known as "spacing" or "blocking" that helps reduce or prevent anxiety in their handler.
They are NOT "asking for pets" or being disobedient or asking to be spoken to. All you have to do is stay back from the dog and handler.
This is not a capslock PSA because I'm not sure how many people that don't have a SD actually know this is a trained task.
I did NOT know and this is both very cool that SDs can be trained for this, and very important that we all know how to respect it.
I’ve heard before that SDs can be trained to ask for assistance on behalf of a hurt handler,
How do I differentiate between needing space and needing help?
Needing space is usually a "passive" task. The dog will simply position itself between you and it's person. It may look at you, but if it's with it's handler, it's not going to be asking for assistance from an outside party.
The situation where a SD may go looking for help from a stranger is if their handler has a medical episode and falls or gets incapacitated and does not recover after the dog performs it's tasks. In this case the dog will be alone and will be insistently bothering someone.
Full disclosure, blocking is (in my experience) a WAAAAAAAY more common task than finding help, and the instances I've seen of "get help" the dog is trained to go find a specific person like a parent or care taker.
So generally, just keep a nice polite public distance from SD teams and all will be well.
Thanks for asking!
