slinky + the boys

hey! i was out with anubis yesterday and we got a lot more questions than usual. it occurred to me that most people don’t know how to interact with service teams, but do truly want to be respectful. here’s a quick guide for interacting with a service dog and their handler:

1. the dog is not there to entertain you. even if the dog is laying on the ground like anubis here, they’re still working. medical alert dogs like anubis are constantly watching and waiting to act, and their brains are always on. distracting them while they’re working can prove fatal for their handler.

2. this should go without saying, but don’t touch the service dog. don’t talk to, make faces at, or make eye contact with them either. don’t offer food or try to get the dog to sniff you. these are all incredibly distracting things! imagine if someone tried to touch you, call your name, or held food in front of your face while You were working. super distracting, right?

3. most handlers will not give out their dogs names while they’re working, for the reasons listed above. some handlers will even give a fake name for this reason. please don’t hound us about our service dog’s name.

4. unless you’re accommodating for the service team, just ignore the dog. accommodating may look like moving your chair so the dog can have space to lay at their handler’s feet, or stepping around them while they’re tasking, or helping the handler with rude management workers while they’re facing an access issue. if we need something, we’ll ask! but otherwise, just treat us like a normal person, and please don’t talk directly to the dog instead of their handler. it’s super patronizing and annoying.

5. legally, service dog handlers can only be asked two questions by EMPLOYEES of the ESTABLISHMENT they are entering. this does not extend to other customers. the two questions are, “is that a service dog?” and, “what tasks does your service dog perform?”. in my case, the answers would be “yes” and “medical alert, psychiatric, and mobility”. most handlers will Not go into more detail about their diagnosis. please do not ask why we need a service dog, because it’s incredibly invasive and most handlers aren’t willing to share why. medical history, because service dogs Are medical equipment, is a very private and oftentimes embarrassing thing.